Model Railroading > IAIS's West End - RS36 900 complete

Following up from the earlier thread at http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,3775262 , I thought I'd post some photos of the completed IAIS RS36, an upgraded Atlas Trainman model, after finishing paint touch-ups and weathering Saturday.

Photo 1 - March 13, 1999 John Schumann photo of the 900 at Council Bluffs, from Railroad Picture Archives.
2 - Conductor's side showing new metal handrails with drillled-out Atlas stanchions.  Grab irons, most lift rings, and the air and MU hoses are from the Bowser/Cal-Scale RS-32/RS-36 detail set.
3 - Roof shot.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/15 10:02 by iaisfan.

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Photo 4 - View of the newly-opened dynamic brake vent.
5 & 6 - Meeting C420 850 at Atlantic, Iowa.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

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Photo 7 - John Schumann prototype photo of the rear of the 900 from March 13, 1999...
8 - Model view from a similar angle.  After being used to modeling EMDs, the prototype's grab iron arrangement seems like overkill, but I think it adds a lot of interest to this unit.
9 - Rear of engineer's side.  The Atlas fuel tank was narrowed, and the cast-in air cylinders were replaced with 3D scratchbuilt cylinders.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/15 06:21 by iaisfan.

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10 - Front view of engineer's side.
11 - Model view.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/15 00:19 by iaisfan.

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Nice work!

Joel Brazy
Coatesville, PA

May I suggest that you partially drill out the class lights just deep enough to fit an MV lense in there - adds a nice touch.

Excellent work!!

I hope she sounds as good as see looks.  Does she produce large amounts of black smoke when starting a heavy cut of cars?

Beautiful work Joe!

Regards, Bobby

Thank you all for your encouragement!  Very kind of you.

>May I suggest that you partially drill out the class lights just deep enough to fit an MV lense in there - adds a nice touch.

I like the suggestion, but looking over the prototype photos, it appears as though the class lights are pretty much covered in that beautiful Alco grime. :-)  Being both cheap and lazy, I took the easy way out and just highlighted the factory class lights with a bit of grimy black Pan Pastels.

Looking over the photos this morning, I also realized that my application of Dullcote washed out a lot of the original Pan Pastel weathering, so I touched it up a bit this morning and shot a few more pics (attached).  After taking these, I finally saw and fixed the broken handrail chains fore and aft, and removed a couple strands of cotton leftover from my Q-tips.  I could shoot them again, but life beckons. :-)

>I hope she sounds as good as see looks.

The friend who sold me the original Atlas model I started with had already installed a Tsunami in it, and I prefer those to Loksounds anyway due to their support of the independent brake and home-brewed coast functions, so it was a great fit for me.  To me, she sounds great!  I have the momentum set really high, so when starting a heavy cut, I can crank the throttle up to 100% for a few seconds to really get that Alco "chug" going strong, then back the dial off to normal speed before she's much more than just starting to move.  One of the reasons I really like the "coast" function is that, when running light power, I can repeat the above to get the units started using a lighter touch on the throttle, then activate "coast" to cause the prime mover to drop back to idle, just as the prototype would do.

>Does she produce large amounts of black smoke when starting a heavy cut of cars?

She certainly sounds like she does!  My memories of seeing the prototype at work fill in those blanks.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/15 14:51 by iaisfan.

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Last one.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

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Sure looks good.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

Are the ditchlights operational?  If so, does the Atlas factory decoder support them?  I have some GP40-2's without ditchlights and was curious.

Outstanding work and beautiful scenery to go along with it!!!
What would it take to get you to come to Indiana to help out an old man wwith his scenery??? lol
Russ

Give the MV lenses a shot of dullcoat once installed & they give you that real "Alco" prototypical look. 

Thanks FBE and Russ.

RFandPFan Wrote:
> Are the ditchlights operational?  If so, does the Atlas factory decoder support them?

Mine are not, and unfortunately for the sake of answering your question, all my fleet has Tsunamis aside from a handful of Loksounds which I'm trying to find a new home, so I have no Atlas decoders with which to test.  I'm sure someone else here can help though.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/15 18:23 by iaisfan.

Joe,
You don't like the Lok sounds?
Russ

Russ wrote:
> You don't like the Lok sounds?

I know others will disagree with me, and I admittedly don't have a great ear for the finer points of sound, but to me, the two brands sound pretty comparable. What gives Tsunamis the clear edge for me is their support of a working independent break and the home-brewed coast function. Those features are now must-haves for my operations, but aren't supported by Loksound today.

Posted from iPhone

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

Nice work Joe.
Eric W.

Posted from Android

Beautiful work, Joe, really a stand-out unit in a fleet of really top-notch models.  Keep up the great work!
~RGDave