"free lance" locos (diesel)

[coyote97]

It seems noone of the supplieres care for the 1:20.3 scalers with nice diesel-locos.
All we can get are switchers.
No WhitePass-Engines...nothing...

I thought of a (Aristo??) RS 3 to be fitted with a bigger cab. Would taht look good?
Anyone did think about, too?

Frank

 

[Rhinochugger]

It seems noone of the supplieres care for the 1:20.3 scalers with nice diesel-locos.
All we can get are switchers.
No WhitePass-Engines...nothing...

I thought of a (Aristo??) RS 3 to be fitted with a bigger cab. Would taht look good?
Anyone did think about, too?

Frank

Yes, this is something that I've been moaning about for a long time.

The nearest I could find is a Worsley Works etch for the SAR Class 91 - which is a small US Export diesel similar to a U6B. Trouble is, the etch costs £260 - but boy, am I tempted :admire:

 

[mikka]

There was a railway in the us called the PD&Q Paradox,Dilemna & Quadary RR

it utilises the RS3 with cab to upsize it to 1:24th

so it seems feasable but youll need to make it bigger

 

[coyote97]

Hi mikka, didnt find something about it.
In my head is just a thought about....COULD match optically.....but perhaps tac has a plan..

Tac,

what means "i have plans"?-- that sounds pretty good! but: does it sound like "thats something that can be affordable???"

???

??

LOL

(means: do you plan to build and sell?)

Frank

 

[JonathanJ]

I think part of the problem is the genuine lack of wideranging prototypes - most USA NG was gone before it hd a chance to dieselise, or hung onto steam long enough to turn straight into a steam-for-pleasure operation. Remember also that Bachmann got badly bit with their diesel - a large proportion of the production run went to the discount warehouses, and a second run will probably never happen.

From memory, I can think of the following 3ft gauge 'mainline' unit types
1. White Pass #81(2nd) - one-off variable gauge Alco, ex-US Army #3000 http://narrowmind.railfan.net/WPYR/diesel/81_diesel/81-wpyr3.JPG < Link To http://narrowmind.railfan...81_diesel/81-wpyr3.JPG
2. White Pass GE shovel nose Co-Co - can't remember the designation but one line only
3. White Pass Alco D535B - as far as I can remember, they were the only US customer for these - and while far from perfect, LGB's effort limits the market size for anyone else
4. White Pass MLW DL535E - 4 built, one on the WP, one written off, two with US gypsum I think
5. Georgetown loop switchers 130&140 - U4/5or6B's I think, ex US Gypsum, definitely switcher outline, there's talk of a brass model anyway
6. another US army owned units that ran on colorado lines in the late forties, #4700N http://narrowmind.railfan.net/NG_Diesels/USA4700NDPL.jpg < Link To http://narrowmind.railfan...00NDPL.jpg Been looking for plans of those for years.
7. GE 70 tonner on C-C trucks for US potash http://narrowmind.railfan.net/NG_Diesels/GE_70T_CC_36in_US.JPG < Link To http://narrowmind.railfan.../GE_70T_CC_36in_US.JPG
8. SP #1, GE50 tonner B-B.

Only the first 2,3,4 really meet your criteria I think, plus maybe 1 and 6.

Apart from that, what have I missed? Most non US users of export type US diesels have been metre (northern and east africa, india, asia and much of south america) or cape gauge (newfoundland, southern africa, australia), so are more logically modelled in 1/22.5 or 1/24 anyway - 3ft is used on some south american lines, columbia, peru and cuban I think, but that's it.

J.

 

[coyote97]

Hi Jonathan,

good list....and good ranking.
I have some fantasy, so i have no problem with creating new Railroads (as mine that is located a catjump east from durango, reaching the weminuche area and vallecito lake)
So, on those "virtual" RR anything can happen.
To make a genuine "prototyp-model"-RR, im very straight though!

But all the world has built ridiculous engines, so why not having such a "single-fighter" on a virtual RR??

As an example may the German "Hohenzollerische Landesbahn" be used. sometimes you can think that administration took every single loco-testtype to use in regular duty.
They used silightly differed diesel-switcher-locos as the Deutsche Bahn had in a regular passenger with a württemberg-coach of 1886 or so.

I think, in early steam-area, white pass was the same....


Thanks for the suggestions and infos!

Frank

 

[coyote97]

ok tac,

sorry to hear, because that locos are very nice.
And impressive, yes. They had hard work to do!

(i always wondered what the white-pass line did with a 2-2-0 Steamer?????--it needs winds from behind to go up that line without load!))

So, if i ever decide to go into loco-building, i come back to yours, ok?



Frank