1. Joe D'Amato

    Joe D'Amato TrainBoard Member

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    Numbers, numbers, numbers..

    Hi Randy,

    Just to add to the pile here, as a starting point consider this....Total production number are

    GP35: 1,333
    GP7: 2,724
    GP9: 4,092

    Your right though, as hard as it is to believe, the GP9 Soldiers on in Class 1 Railroads today as well as many smaller lines as well. We knew we would have sort of a bottomless well of prototypes by choosing the 9 over the 7 though most would consider it splitting hairs. Lots of transition folks have "New" motive power and those of us deeper into the 20th and 21st century have options for switching and short line interchange. Part of my attraction to Dunsmuir and modeling it in the 1960's was gained during research of the GP9. It was one area where you didn't see any of the traditional switcher like the SW's, the GP 9 took care of any of those duties there, also provided freight power even coupled up with F7B units. I have a photo of an SP GP9/F7B unit leading a line of freight out of Dunsmuir North towards Oregon and always thought the lash up to be an interesting one. The other cool thing about the GP9 is that your not too far from a GP 10/11/18 and a few others....I've even toyed with making an RS11 out of the shell...square off the ends, add new side detail, a little more here and there and you have an ALCO..

    Also thanks again for everyone's support for the GP9, sales are setting speed records and Management has not missed that point.

    Cheers

    Joe
    MTL

     
  2. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    Yes! Please slap an RS11 shell on that GP35 mechanism for us! New truck side frames, and you can do all the RS line! :D
     
  3. Don A

    Don A TrainBoard Supporter

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    Just received two Northern Pacific MTL GP9's. Just wait until you see how high the bar has been raised this time. Two shades of red; two of yellow; one white and super details. Begins to look as if Joe can make anything. Even the rock load in the B&O gondola is pretty nifty. This is going to be a fun year to come! O.K. guys, shed your bad habits and start saving for Joe's kids education. These new units are really nice!! ...don
     
  4. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    Mine should be here tomorrow, so I am really jazzed! :D [​IMG] [​IMG] MTL [​IMG]
     
  5. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    Yay! My GP's showed up today! I gotta go to the garage now, talk to you guys later! [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
     
  6. Chris333

    Chris333 TrainBoard Supporter

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    Robert,
    When you take photos... instead of 1 locomotive pulling 40 cars, try 40 locomotives pulling 1 car ; D
     
  7. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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  8. shamoo737

    shamoo737 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Robert, are you starting to strip the engines yet. You know that no color scheme is sacred. :D
     
  9. zmon

    zmon TrainBoard Member

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    Hello All;

    Well my new GP9 arrived Monday via hand delivery from Gwyl at Z Train Station (thanks again Gwyl). Last night i found the time to finish programing of the decoder and run testing the new engine.

    What a sweet new loco!!!!!

    i can report that the Digi Tracks DZ123MO will fit under the shell but only upside-down. This presents a small progaming challange to change the direction of travel via CV29. While progaming, i found that the FX3 function on the DV dedecoders are pretty cool, and something i had not looked into previously. I was able to not only program past the direction problem, but also change my front headlight the a prototypical "Mars" effect like that used by the Rio Grande. Pretty cool stuff. Also i figured out how to control the lights independ of the direction of travel.

    Tony B....
    Wasatch Z Club
     
  10. Don A

    Don A TrainBoard Supporter

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    How about telling us how to do the upsidedown programming. Thanks. ...don
     
  11. Ajayrav

    Ajayrav TrainBoard Member

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    I'm assuming these are not the new run of DZ123MOs with the tiny SMT LEDs. I suppose these can be installed right side up without a problem...right?

    Thanks,
    Ajay
     
  12. minzemaennchen

    minzemaennchen TrainBoard Member

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    Hi,

    I received my first GP-9 today from Loren, thanks! Looks great, runs great. But it's a bit chubby on the hips, or I'm wrong? I compared the widths against AZL GP-7.
    Nevertheless, good value for money!
     
  13. shamoo737

    shamoo737 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow, isn't that pretty fast mailing service to Australia considering that some of us still hasn't receive our Ztrack.

    Ajay, you can install it upside down. I recommend that you break the retaining post. It can cause shorts.

    Tony, can you tell us wich cvs you use to produce the mars lights. You know that men dont like to read manuals. :D
     
  14. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    Yes, the MTL GP9 has a wider hood than the AZL GP7. It is noticable, but I can live with this, especially due to the great running characteristics of this loco, and the price of course.

    The AZL GP7's are very accurate and beautiful locos, and carry a small premium over the MTL GP9's, but the MTL GP9's are just enough more affordable that people will want to use them for more customizing and kitbashing projects.

    I am already planning the removal of the BD Housing, Bigger Fuel Tank, and doing some Torpedo Tube mods to some of mine. :D
     
  15. zmon

    zmon TrainBoard Member

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    John:

    I read the e-file of the decoder manul that YOU sent me a few months back and found the FX3 functions. CV49 is for the front head light, and CV50 controls the rear. Both CV's have multiple settings for different lighting effects, but you must first set CV's 61 and 34 too the appropriate settings to enable non-directional control of the lights.....I.E. that the lights do not change over with the direction of travel, but remain either on or off depending upon your preferance. You still have independent control over each light as well.

    As for the upside down decoder..... well i stocked up on DZ123MO's back in January, and all of mine have large LED's. I have not seen the ones with the smaller ones yet, but having heard this little bit of info, i plan to order a few right away.

    I put the decoder in upside down so that i did not have to cut or modify the shell of the new GP9 at all. the shell simple snaped back into place quite neatly. I used CV29 to reverse the FWD/REV of the loco, but found that this only rectified the diretional problem, and the light problem still existed. This is what lead me to find the above mentioned CV's 49/50 and 61/34.

    What happened next is a pure example of us contractor types that think on our feet and solve real world problems very quickly. Once i found out how to control the other CV's, i decided to trick the decoder and swap the head/tail light functions. Since my loco ran fine and in the correct direction, but my lights still were backwards, i programed them to be independent of travel and the rear as the front with MAR's effect and the front function as the rear and "Presto!!!" i had it all working.

    I can now use two different funtions to independently trun on/off both the front and rear lights and have the correct direction of travel with and upside down decoder.....

    For my next trick i plan to fart money........:teeth:LOL

    Tony B....
    Wasatch Z Club

    PS; I had major problems trying to program on the Main in OOP's mode with my new NCE Pro Cab. But once i reset the decoder with CV8 and mover over to the seperate Program Track, i had flawless programing. So my advise would be if your system has a Program Track feature like NCE's Pro Cab......Use It!!!!!!!
     
  16. Loren

    Loren TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well Tony, that will be one neat trick to watch.....you don't mind if I stand back behind the barrier do you? :O)

    Loren
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 17, 2010
  17. JR59

    JR59 TrainBoard Supporter

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    Received my GP9 today. Great Engine! Compared to the AZL GP7 the MTL GP9 sure looks a little bit "fat" but I'm not a rivet counter and I'm happy that we have another different Engine for our Hobby. Here are some big pics. :)

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  18. RSmidt

    RSmidt TrainBoard Member

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    Dynamic Brake housing

    Robert, if you cut off the DB housing instead of filing it down, and aren't using it yourself, I might be interested in it. I will eventually (as I'm sure Bryan will point out, not anytime soon) need an extra DB housing from the GP9 for a NS road slug I want to kitbash.

    Thanks,
    Randy
     
  19. Torsja

    Torsja TrainBoard Member

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    Okay it's fat, but how does it match up with the fat GP-35?

    It sure is a cool paint scheme. Did a GP-35 also run with these colours?
    :)
     
  20. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    The only locos in these NP colors were FT's F3,s F7,, RS1, RS3, SW1200, GP7, GP9, GP18, 2 different obscure DRS models, the U25C, U28C, U30C, and SD45's.





    Oops! not FP7's as they were passenger only in Lowey Green.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 13, 2007

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