I found this and was wondering if they are exactly the same as the SP models or not, or to be specific, are the Athearn someday to be released versions the same (if you want a blow up, they added it to my regular SP GP9 I just got, I was confused when I noticed roof air tanks)? I'd also like to thank Athearn for NOT releasing a few with factory SP&S colors.
Well, to add to the fun, Athearn will NOT be releasing the torpedoes unpainted. Anyone know how to strip a Genesis unit without destroying it's fine details? I've had to strip a resin model once and that wasn't exactly fun, but it did survive, but these aren't resin.
Alright, so I've been told by a few members in the HO forum how to strip a shell without destroying it which brings me to another issue. What color is SP&S Green and What color is SP&S Yellow? Keep in mind my LHS, like most, is running out of most of their Floquil. I'm partial to acrylic and loathe Testors enamel paint.
I was wondering, SP&S seemed to have an addiction to Alco, but never bought a Alco passenger locomotive. Further more, what's with the one E7 unit? I get that they were a short line, but they did own quite a few F7A and B units as well as a few F3A and B units. I guess I'm just curious as to why they bought Alco FA and B units, but never any FPA, FBA, or PA units.
it may have been equipped with one, in my SP&S loco diagram book it says passenger extra and passenger standby. GP9's #150-153 with T.T. , GP9's #154-155 are road service only w/o T.T..
Yeah, that's what I gathered from the photos. I've seen 150 in the Green & yellow stripe paint scheme with torpedoes. I put up 151 and 152 since those look like a lot of baggage cars and a few passenger cars behind them. I've also ran across a few photos of them behind a F unit. From going off of just photos I'd say they didn't get to see any of the glamorous trains unless they were subbing. I would think they would have stuck to local trains and freight mostly. What I did notice too however was absence of the circular radio antenna that SP used.
Going back a bit, here is a source of SP&S paint http://www.trucolorpaint.com/index.php?p=1_2_Paint-Products.....I've used it and was happy with the results. It's a close (but not perfect) match to the paint used on the new intermountain cars. You can order from the company direct. I just bought a bottle of each off ebay last week.
Thanks I'll have to check them out. I'm aiming for ball park since the 3 diesels I have right now have 3 different shades of green and yellow, and I'm thinking my centurys I preordered from Bowesr probably won't match the any of the other 3. If I am to do a torpedo, it'll be the green on yellow scheme. If I had the money, I'd buy another E7 and paint the 750 in dark green, replace the horns with the single unit, and add the later in life strobe. Just for fun, does anyone have a photo of it in GN's EB paint scheme? I've seen photos of it in 4 out of the alleged 7 schemes.
Nice. That makes 5 schemes I've seen it in now. The BLI custom run order I have has it in the green over yellow two tone scheme like the Bowser century units are going to be in. In fact, all but 2 of my roster for SP&S will be in two tone. A colored 700 would be something to see though.
I would love an N scale #700, KATO!!! #750 and friends. [video=youtube_share;SNrMa9ulmXo]http://youtu.be/SNrMa9ulmXo[/video]
If you can find one, some NP northerns can be bashed into the 700 since all it is, is a oil burning version of the ones NP ordered. I've seen a few "conversions" now in N Scale. The ready made for HO seem to all be brass so you can imagine the price on those.
It's been slightly modified since it was new. The one I have in HO looks more like the 700 did during the farewell to steam run with it's silver smoke box and 'I'm willing to over look' missing signal lights on the tender. When it comes to preserved steam locomotives you should just pick a time frame and model it off that more then anything else. Right now it looks like the active 81 year old steam locomotive that it is, with some weathering included. On the right side it looks like they added modern oilers which isn't a bad thing, but those weren't a part of it when it was in revenue service. I do know that outside of regular maintenance replacements and restoration replacements, nothing crucial has be altered on it. I'd say that with the minor additions and restoration work they did to it, it's probably as close to new as you can get without building a new one. If you wanted to model it at the end of it's life with SP&S however, keep in mind that they skimped on some maintenance and paint so it was pretty shabby for a while before it was parked. No reason to waste time and money when the diesels are coming. If you want pictures, bring a wide angle lens. We didn't But pictures don't do it justice. It's one of those things you have to see in person. Same with the 4449 and the Alco PA. The SP 4449 is undergoing boiler inspection so if you go any time soon it might still be in pieces.
Still wondering. Oh, and I found a Baldwin VO-1000. It's in BN livery, but it's still a Baldwin. I missed the boat for the ones in SP&S livery. Things are also looking up for a SP&S GP-9 torpedo. It might not be 100% accurate but I'll try if things work out.
I found a "local" Hobby shop that carries them. Any idea how Micro Scale decals will look with it? I'm not worried about the red on white logo, but the green lettering and numbers has me concerned. I broke down and ordered Athearn's Genesis B&O GP9 Torpedo since it requires the least amount of work. It looks like SP&S ran long hood forward and had the steam gen in the short hood. No idea why they needed 2 sets of grab irons on each end of the loco or all weather windows.
UPDATE: Well my B&O GP9 #6615 by Athearn Genesis arrived. It has been stripped, had the wind deflectors and sun shade removed, and had the all weather windows, a dodgy looking pair of steam gen vents added (Details West vents are backordered) a similar horn set added and moved to the cab and 2 more sets of grab irons added since SP&S had 4 on theirs. I'll add the marker light on the cab after the paint arrives (Easier to paint the cap and base separately). Decals already arrived too. Hopefully my first attempt at kit bashing won't devalue it to much. I'm aiming for 80-90% accuracy. Oh, and it's going to be the 2 tone paint scheme since it looks like it's the easiest.
I picked up "Spokane Portland and Seattle In Color Diesels of the Northwest's Own Railway" by Ed Austin. In my opinion its a really good reference and I even found out why SP&S owned 1 E unit.
