Model Railroading > WP U30B's and high line pool power/caboose questions

I have a couple of questions. First, I have 2 Proto 2000 (Walthers) U30B's in WP green/orange stripes. I need to know what type of air-horn that was used on those particular engines. And what kind of paint i can use (I want to change the air-horns on the units).

My second question is on the joint BN/WP high line trains, I am trying to find the appropriate caboose (circa 1972) since I am running the following diesel consist: 1X Alco C636 (SPS colors but with BN renumbering);1 X BN EMD F45 in Green/Black; and 2X WP U30-B's in green and orange stripes. Could I use a BN caboose or alternate and use a WP caboose? I have the freight consist all done.

Suggestions, Recommendations?

Sincerely Yours,

John Ruehle
 

Some photo reference for U30's. It appears horns were Nathan M5.
http://wplives.com/archives/diesel/U30B/index.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/15 22:09 by KA7008.

It's been a while but it seems the WP cabeese ran all the way to (at least) Vancouver, maybe because of the radios for the WP Highline. Both WP brown and the red ones was what I remember.

I dont have any of the Proto WP GEs, but Tru-Color does make WP green, which may be a close match. Back 20+ years ago, when I was in the custom paint business, I used Scalecoat 1 CNW dark green.

Also, WP had a few different shades of Perlman green through the years, probably due to batch runs or formualtion changes by the paint manufacturer. I would suggest you could probably paint the horns with either paint, and have them pass the 5 foot rule. If you are weathering the models, even better, and also keep in mind, horns got moved form one unit to another during maintenance.

JB
SP3800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a couple of questions. First, I have 2
> Proto 2000 (Walthers) U30B's in WP green/orange
> stripes. I need to know what type of air-horn that
> was used on those particular engines. And what
> kind of paint i can use (I want to change the
> air-horns on the units).
>
> My second question is on the joint BN/WP high line
> trains, I am trying to find the appropriate
> caboose (circa 1972) since I am running the
> following diesel consist: 1X Alco C636 (SPS colors
> but with BN renumbering);1 X BN EMD F45 in
> Green/Black; and 2X WP U30-B's in green and orange
> stripes. Could I use a BN caboose or alternate and
> use a WP caboose? I have the freight consist all
> done.
>
> Suggestions, Recommendations?
>
> Sincerely Yours,
>
> John Ruehle
>  

I painted the M5s on my WP Atlas U23B a few years ago and I can't remember if I used Southern Green or CNW Green, or a Pullman Green.  As you know the CNW is probably the closest, but if brush painting directly over the brass part then it can get slightly tricky with color matching.  

Perlman green faded pretty quick and after about 3 months out of the paint booth, no two units looked the same.
So you do have a bit of leeway in the color. Plus the horns were subject to that wonderful GE U-Boat oily, sooty exhaust too.

Very few have addressed the caboose question but I feel that there were SP&S cabooses which came down with their units (late 1968-69).  This obviously happened after the run through agreement in the late 70ies but I thought there was run through in the SP&S era.  I was even surprised to see an SP&S unit on the line to/from Portola; I think that was in a Charles Smiley video.

I recall asking at a WP convention if ever the D&RGW cabooses came onto the WP in the late 60ies or early 70ies and I was told "never".  Then right here on TO, I was going through the videos uploaded from Virgil Staff and there is a D&RGW caboose heading westbound somewhere around Marysville.   

Rick

The BN-WP power pool commenced in March, 1971 and lasted for about 10 years. I can't remember for sure, but I am pretty sure that cabooses ran through as well.

Best regards,

Rob L.

I saw BN cabooses on the Highline. DRGW power ran west of SLC to Elko and Portola in the late 60s and I suspect DRGW cabooses ran west too in that period which would agree with Viril's movies.

During the late 1970's (a little bit later than your consist) there was a plethora of foreign line cabooses running through to Stockton (and sometimes all the way to Oakland):  UP, BN, SP, DRGW, Frisco, D&H, N&W etc..  During the early 1970's I believe that this was less common, but still occurred on occasion, just not as often as the late 70's.

As another WP viewer from Stockton, I would not call BN and pre-merger painted cabooses a rarety at all on the highline trains!  For some reason, CB&Q silver cabooses really stick in my memory!