Model Railroading > Rare and Obscure Locomotives

Athearn is going to find out how profitable it is to come out with models of rare and obscure locomotives such as the GP40X's. I think as rail fans we all remember the times when we witnessed the operation of something that was quite rare. Seeing them was like striking solid gold. Often, these are our favorite locomotives, and we will go nuts to run them on our layouts. As we discussed a couple of days ago, there is probably enormous pent-up demand for a high quality plastic Alco C636, but the manufacturers think they will be less profitable because there were relatively few prototypes produced... WRONG! Tower 55, Athearn, Atlas, Kato, Precision Craft...here's your chance! I would give Tower-55 the nod here because Brian Marsh already has a complete set of blueprints for HO scale C636's ready to go from his last run of [incredible] brass C636's and M636's.

MARK

We've gone over our "wish lists" before, but this seems as good a place as any to do it again. I'd like to see some mid-1980s vintage GEs like the C36-7, the C32-8 and the C39-8. I've got three of the Proto Power shells for the C32s but have never gotten around to doing anything with them and they're rather crude compared to what could probably be produced today. Let's see what could be produced prototypically:

C36-7:
Conrail
Conrail Quality
Norfolk Southern
Conrail/CSX renumber

C36-7 (high filter box):
Missouri Pacific (UP colors)
Union Pacific
Norfolk Southern

C32-8
Conrail
Conrail Ballast Express
Conrail Quality (CR 6619 only)

C39-8
Conrail
Conrail Quality
Norfolk Southern
CSX YN2
CSX GN1 (there was one of these, right?)

Nope, not a lot of Western roads. Maybe that's the big problem. The Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific seem to be big driving factors in model locomotive development....

> Nope, not a lot of Western roads. Maybe that's the
> big problem. The Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific
> seem to be big driving factors in model locomotive
> development....


Your right about the lack of western roads for the power
listed above, if UP would have bought these units, guarantee
they'd be out in plastic by now. I know they got the 36-7's
but they were Mopac Yellow first.


Nathan Z.

Grande-Fan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Your right about the lack of western roads for the
> power
> listed above, if UP would have bought these units,
> guarantee
> they'd be out in plastic by now. I know they got
> the 36-7's
> but they were Mopac Yellow first.

If somebody came out with a Mopac Yellow C36-7, I'd probably buy a pair of road numbers as "run-through" power.

My only encounter with those in the real world was during my first trip to California in 1988. A pair of the C36-7s was bracketing a brand-new C40-8 on an uphill UP train at Cajon Station that Saturday afternoon. Silly me, I was all agog about the new unit in the middle.

I dunno--If my road had only one, I'm not sure I'd bother, unless it played an obvious role in the area and era of my layout. I'm trying to make mine emphasis the "typical" in prototypical. If the SP only had a couple of a unit and they ran the Coast ONCE, I'd not bother to be honest. Its the F7s athat get produced because they had the numbers in real life.

how about Ingalls 4S locomotive that was sold only to GM&O

in plastic not brass

shovel nose front
turrent cab top
full vestibule rear step

only one ever built rare

http://www.pcrnmra.org/coast/contest/contest_sep_2006_ingalls_diesel_info.shtml

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=4289147551&idx=15

http://www.globaloutlet.com/ingalls-4s-diesel-locomotive-c-24.html

http://www.pcrnmra.org/coast/contest/contest_sep_2006_ingalls_diesel_info.shtml

fantasy schemes

Here's some other suggestions:

Alco T-6 in PRR and N & W
Baldwin center cab in SOO, Duluth South Shore & Atlantic and PRR
NW-5 in GN and BN
SDL-39 in Milwaukee Road and Wisconsin Central
E-5 in CB & Q
Erie-Built in Milwaukee Road with the chrome grille
"Baby Trainmaster" in Milwaukee Road and C & NW
U-25C in NP, BN and PRR

Dave

I would still like to see a C430 that looked like a C430 should, not that hideous Tyco thing. A U25C in Oro Dam would look pretty spiffy also!

Later version (ah heck BOTH versions) Kraus-Maffei Diesel Hydraulics, Alco-Haulics

I would expect some of the Baldwin Cab Units that seemed to show up in the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania areas and not too much anyplace else. The demand in those states ought to be close to what the SP, ATSF and UP and later Cal RRs seem to drive

stivmac Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I dunno--If my road had only one, I'm not sure I'd
> bother, unless it played an obvious role in the
> area and era of my layout. I'm trying to make mine
> emphasis the "typical" in prototypical. If the SP
> only had a couple of a unit and they ran the Coast
> ONCE, I'd not bother to be honest. Its the F7s
> athat get produced because they had the numbers in
> real life.

Well, Intermountain just announced plans to produce a U18B, including a model of Providence & Worcester 1801, which was a singleton on that railroad. Right now, they're doing it in the later brown-orange paint, but if there were demand it could be done in the earlier orange-white scheme. They have also announced U18Bs in Seaboard Coast Line (black), CSX (Bright Future), and Maine Central (orange). Obviously there are other schemes that could be done, including Seaboard System, early CSX schemes, MEC/Guilford, and maybe Family Lines (I don't know if any U18s were repainted that way).

I don't know if there were as many C36-7s built as there were U18Bs, but it would be close.

Sure, there's a lot more demand for F units because they were more common. But production technology apparently has reached the point where smaller runs can be done profitably, and that's what is motivating these "wish lists" for the fans for whom F units are not the be-all and end-all of railroading.

I'm certain that when I started railfanning in 1987, C36-7s easily outnumbered Fs on Class I rosters (if any), and possibly outnumbered all freight Fs operating at that time. And depending on how closely their exact details resembled C36-7s, Conrail's C30-7As could be produced, too. I'm not much of a rivet-counter, so I don't know what the exact external differences would be other than probably some variations in the sizes of hood doors.

I know, I know, a U50 B+B and an Alcoholic C855!

SantaFeRuss

My vote is with the C36-7's ...

How'z about that double cab Baldwin the CNJ had. I'd like that.
Clarence

Athearn has done the SD38 and SD40, now how 'bout the SD39??? Santa Fe and SP both had 'em (but the only roadname I'd want is Illinois Terminal!)

Also wish manufacturers would do more limited-runs of locos painted for seconhand/smaller owners. Athearn did offer the CF7 in a variety of shortlines, and I understand from the LHS that they sold pretty well. Between Athearn and Walthers/Life-Like, there are about 20-30 roadnames worth of shortline/regional GP38-2s waiting to be done (my personal wish list includes IAIS, IT and TP&W).

NZ

Athearn got the molds and such for the GP-40X, SD-38/40 and CF-7 when they(or was it Whorizon by then, anyway ..)took over Rail Power Products, upgrading them a bit and making some money off what they own.
An Ingalls $-s would be cool but an absolute one-off - unless you used modelers license to say "yeah, GM&O liked them enough to buy x-amount or they demonstrated on road -x and they got some too ..." which is of course perfectly acceptable. I'd like one myself but I'm not gonna fork over $700+ for a brass it (MP-15ACs in many flavors) and maybe an Intermountain U-18 just because.


TCS - 2 hours til train time

I don't know, I still think we could use more F Units. Maybe Kato's new announcement will be F7s!

We can only hope.

...
Foamer

More F units!! You are joking...right... I personally would love to see a C636, or a U25C, or even a U23C, but please no more F units !!

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They have also announced U18Bs in Seaboard Coast
> Line (black), CSX (Bright Future), and Maine
> Central (orange). Obviously there are other
> schemes that could be done, including Seaboard
> System, early CSX schemes, MEC/Guilford, and maybe
> Family Lines (I don't know if any U18s were
> repainted that way).

The U18B's wore pretty much every main CSX scheme except the current one, and the
CSX Transportation scheme. So if you wanted to do every CSX and predecessor variation,
you have SCL, Family Lines, SBD, CSX (blue and gray, blue and gray w/blue underframe,
solid gray, blue and gray with yellow nose/frame stripe, bright future/YN2, and pumpkin)
Many came to CSX in SCL paint, a few in Seaboard System, and at least one (CSXT 1974) in
Family Lines. During the Family Lines days, SCL 340 was in Family Lines paint, and 376 (which
became 1974, so obviously it wore the scheme back then)...I'm sure there were others, but
those are 2 I can document for sure :)

And speaking of things titled by this thread, I got an invoice from Kaslo saturday. All I can say is Thank You Sir John !, the check goes out today.
And to all the others that put their names on the dotted line (so to speak)Thank you too.


TCS - now where did i put that sd-35 ???

I would also vote for the C36-7 in MoPac Yellow/Gray...I'd buy at least 6 units!!

Thomas Austin
Centralia, IL
Joppa Sub Layout Site