Model Railroading > Scale Trains SP 8800 summer of 1979

Lots of Scale Train news this weekend so I suppose it was good weekend to get back to the bench. I photographed this locomotive at John's layout here: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,5082857,5082857#5082857 and had intentions of weathering it as close as possible to the 1979 Photobob photo. So after testing and checking the locomotive out, I decided to move the front coupler out .040 of an inch to prevent Kadee uncoupling glad hands from opening the coupler on the snow plow if it's ever the trailing unit. That's it! Then had some fun weathering to match the way it looked on Donner the summer of 1979. The iPad camera lightened the tones a bit, but I'm hoping I got that mountain locomotive look with its sanders working hard producing that light dust effect seen on locomotives of that era. When I finished,I discovered a lift ring missing. Need to find a replacement.

• Thanks for the inspirational photo of 8800 westbound in helper service about to enter Colfax Photobob!

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Beautiful stuff Dave.
Regards,DK

That was a popular number to buy

Looks like the SFZ in that Colfax photo!

Posted from Android

Very nice!

Regards, Jim Evans

Nice work.

Nice work Dave!
Plano makes good replacement lift rings that are scale-sized to match the SXT lift rings.

Cheers,
Harry

Whoa that looks good!

I remember having 8800 on an all-night drag from OAK down to Newhall Yard one night.  One unit with about 65 cars.  I told the yardmaster to have the herder line me up so I wouldn't have to stop at Brokaw Road.  I would have never got started again on that hill.   

Very nice! A whole lot of soot and sand!

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Nice weathering work Dave! Definitely saying "ESPEE" to me! Long live your SP 8800!

Tim Dickinson
La Verne, CA

alcoc636 Wrote:
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Long live your SP 8800!
>
> Tim Dickinson

Thanks Tm! 
Long Live the real 8800 at Union Station in Utah. Visited 8800 (now 7457 after the GRIP rebuild re-numbering) in 2019 during the 150Th anniversary of the transcontinental RR
See Utah Rails site for SP GRIP rebuild info: https://utahrails.net/sp/sp-r8-grip.php 8800 was the first SD45 of 354 for the SP (in case you didn't know) and is preserved. Would b nice to see it renumbered back to 8800. Rail fanning the SP in the 70's, SD45s were everywhere in the system.
Dave
 

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The only problem with renumbering it back to 8800 would be the GRIP program details like the battery box door.
The purists would not be happy.

PHall Wrote:
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> The only problem with renumbering it back to 8800
> would be the GRIP program details like the battery
> box door.
> The purists would not be happy.

Not to mention the Dash-2 style electrical cabinet and the full set of rear lights.

Nice Dave.  I'll second Harry's endorsement of the Plano lift rings.  In fact, I replace the original Genesis and Scale Trains rings with Keith's.  I looks like the the red paint on the fuel filler caps and the emergency cut out haven't fared as well in Bob's photo as on the model version.

I 'll make a note to strike 8800 from the list of possible numbers when I get to my undecorated version, so we don't run into a potential progrmming conflicts ;-)

Elizabeth



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/21 16:35 by Betsy.

Betsy Wrote:
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> I 'll make a note to strike 8800 from the list of
> possible numbers when I get to my undecorated
> version, so we don't run into a potential
> progrmming conflicts ;-)

Maybe 8801 seen here in Dunsmuir? We need to run both our beet trains at La mesa some time. I have a 64 car loaded train now. Your train can be the empties!
One beet car took more than twice as long to weather than the 8800. I may do some tweaking to 8800's weathering, but I stopped there for now as I liked what I saw..
Dave
PS: I've attached a photo of 8800 in later years. Showing some REAL nice patina



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/21 08:05 by dmaffei.

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Nice photo's Dave!  The SP SD45 is probably my top favorite all time diesel.

BTW, I have some beet gons that will need some weathering when I get some time.  Would you share some of how you weathered yours?

Cheers,
Jim

ScaleTrains has described these models as from the 70ies.

Which (if any) detail differences would be there in the late 60ies (before the appearance of the big SP on the nose) ?


Bernd

Adelsdorf, Germany

schroed2 Wrote:
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> ScaleTrains has described these models as from the
> 70ies.
> Which (if any) detail differences would be there
> in the late 60ies (before the appearance of the
> big SP on the nose) ?
>
>
> Bernd
>
> Adelsdorf, Germany

Hey Bernd, Thinking the number on he nose and the ACI tracking label on car body is only difference. This is 8800 as a new born at Taylor.

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SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> BTW, I have some beet gons that will need some
> weathering when I get some time.  Would you share
> some of how you weathered yours?
>
> Cheers,
> Jim
Jim, I can do that, some time this week or so...

dmaffei Wrote:

>
> Hey Bernd, Thinking the number on he nose and the
> ACI tracking label on car body is only difference.
> This is 8800 as a new born at Taylor.

Hello Dave,

I hope you are right...the book by Joseph Strapac on the SP SD45s does not list any other differences...

Bernd