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In spite of having over half of my
cars painted, I still have 40+ locomotives to
complete. Alas, I hope I live long enough to
complete them and see them run…. Click on the photos to make them
larger Baldwin BF16 “Sharks”
These are Omnicon urethane BF16 “Sharks” I bought them painted
from eBay. They were a kit offered in the early 1990s with NWSL drive
components. The decal job could have been better. I pretty much painted over
all of the areas that were not decaled, added an all wheel pickup electrical
system, made the drive bulletproof, added DCC and lights, and lots of stick
on tire weights! They have really good pulling power now. They will
compliment the River Raisin/Boo Rim http://riverraisinmodels.com PRR A-B-A set I got. I also got a
River Raisin B&O A-B set. (Below) I went from 0 to 10 Sharks in March
2006! I am now cut back to 7 total as I sold an
unfinished Omnicon A B A set. River Raisin Models B&O RF16
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PRR E7a
Added 10-21-12
I
sort of “found” this E7 in my E unit pile. I forgot this 1 was painted. NONE
of the Overland PRR E7 A units is correct as they suffer from a clash of era
details, where all of the details could not have been on the unit at the same
time. I made the parts to make them more correct for the mid 1950s like the
large numberboards etc. It is just a matter of getting to finishing them. Much
of the involved work is making them all wheel pick up.
This
paint job was “presentable” but still not completely correct, and since I sold my
running E7 A B A in the spring of 2012 set I got it out and threw a Tsunami in
it. I found out when I thought I was done the wheels were all tight for gauge
so that was about the 3rd unexpected disassembly and repair. That
will teach me to look at the gauge when the wheels are out for cutting wiper
grooves in the back of the wheels!
PRR E8a
This is another Overland engine I bought mostly because it was
already painted. I have never seen a single stripe paint job on an S Scale
engine. This paint job is OK but could be a little better. I don’t know where
the decals came from. I repainted the trucks, fuel tank, added all wheel pick
up, real glass windows all around, and made the curved numberboards. I also
added a little dusty weathering and DCC. It looks much better now than when I
got it.
PRR F7 ABA Set
This is a plastic F7 ABA set made by S Helper Service. I did some
detail work to it, including adding the Trainphone Antennas, extra grab irons, nose
lift rings, and modified the pilot coupler doors. The “how to” article for this
set was featured in the January 2005 Mainline Modeler.
Alco PRR FA2 FB2 Set
These FA2 and FB2 were made by Overland Models in the Mid to late 1980s. They are very nice, from the period that
I call Overland’s “Golden Age” where Ajin was
producing very nice models for a reasonable price. I have an A B A set of these
that need painting. I bought this set on eBay in June 2007 because they were
painted for about what I thought they should sell for unpainted. All I had to
do was add DCC and I had added another set of diesels to the roster, or so I thought.
When I opened the box it was immediately apparent that the seller mangled the
antennas as it was put in the model box for shipping. We made good on that
issue quickly. I got an assembled wood Phosphate car. But the repairs lead to a
month long side project to repair the antennas, make the drive line slip proof,
add all wheel electric pickup and sound units. I made
rolled ring baffles that mounted the speakers directly under the roof fans.
There was some touch up and we are good to go! I also added a 2 wire plug that
runs between the units to insure pickup at ALL times not matter how dirty the
track may be. The plugs get hidden in the diaphragm between the units. After a
good lube job they run amazingly
well! I hope all of my Overland units run this well.
May 2008 – As a result of me meeting the seller of these
locomotives, he is back in trains bigger than ever. We are VERY good friends
now!
(But he is NOT getting this FA set back!) Life works like that sometimes!
PRR GP9
This is a plastic American Models GP9 released in about 1990. It
has had extensive rework to get it to the above photo.
In about 2006 I started reworking it for DCC and sound. It
remains a boxed project for being finished some day.
PRR NW2
This is a stock out of the box PRR EMD NW2 made by S Helper
Service. It has a stunning Soundtraxx EMD Tsunami factory installed.
Check out a video of the NW2 with the Tsunami in action here:
PRR RS1
This is a rather rare S Scale locomotive. It is a Locomotive
Workshop Alco RS1 that was released in 1973. It came as a kit with the long and
short hoods formed, but everything else was flat etched brass sheets that
required the builder to form and solder everything. The kit was not for the
novice or faint of heart. It has a
rather interesting truck gear arrangement that features a movable wheelbase
that also equalizes. I bought it pretty much as is from the collection of Larry
Sokol. When I first got it, I had plans for a massive rebuild with a new drive
and complete detail makeover. After spending a few days with it more recently,
I am now not as sure. It would take LOTS of work to make it
better. In August 2008 I added an NCE decoder, all wheel pickup and new
headlights so I can at least run it. That should due for now.
PRR RSD5
This is a part of the run of the very first commercially produced
S Brass locomotives in 1982. It was made by Alco Models and Samhongsa and was
Alco Models only venture into S scale brass. A few various versions of the RS2
& RS3 were made as well. This run of locomotives has a problem in that the
truck gearbox castings were diecast white metal that swelled,
disintegrates and became brittle with age. The swelling clamped down on the axles
making running impossible. I am very lucky to
have this locomotive run at
ALL let alone how well
it does run. Further the real
PRR RSD5 did NOT have antennas! This shell will be swapped to a
RS3 drive as a part of a massive planned 5 unit RS3 & RSD5 project – also
for some day. It is shown here on my layout on 7-30-12 – my 50th
birthday!
PRR SD9
I have 2 of these PRR SD9. They were
made by River Raisin Models in 1994. There were only 18 pieces of this version
made. I did not finish these models as I was just getting into DCC at the time.
They both have sound units and lots of lights!
Conrail SD40-2
Egads! Conrail! Yes, this was the major
project after the PRR GP9 above. This too has LOTS of work to it. Like the GP9,
the numberboards and corner markers light up. I added THREE flywheels to the
drive. There are 4 constant lighting units crammed in there. This was done in
Pre-DCC days of 1991. I did not want to weather it much as that was a new
concept for at that time. Unfortunately, you could not accuse Overland of using
too much solder on this model. Some of the handrail stanchions and major hood
cross braces have come loose. As of October 2012, it remains DC powered and has
not been run in a very long time.
PRSL Baldwin AS16 6015
This PRSL Baldwin AS16 is a one of a kind scratchbuilt plastic
shell. I acquired it as a shell only in a “no holds barred” buy and trade deal
about in about 1993. I extensively reworked a drive purchased from eBay for it
from a brass 1997 GP30 run. There is a page HERE
showing the very extensive history and progress of this model.
I would be interested to know if there are any other S Scale
PRSL Modelers out there. Please contact me if you are.
Updated 12-1-12
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