The circuit board to the rear is what controls the motor speed, headlight, and the ersatz mars light.
John's Loco Workbench - More Projects Begin...
- Thread starter jmupton2000
- Start date
KriegslokBR52
Well-Known Member
Isn't that red nose wrong also?
The whole thing is too light, and is more what you would see from an engine after several (many) years' service in the sun. You could arguable get away with that on a freight engine, especially SP, but a passenger engine would generally not be allowed to get that faded.
jmupton2000
John M Upton
Yep, much like another SD9 from the same stable I did a few years back, it is a complete respray job!
jmupton2000
John M Upton
The great shades of grey debate can be amply illustrated here, out of the box Proto 2000 SD9 in the same way too pale grey with way too dark red ends (circa 1998) alongside an identical Proto 2000 SD9 of the same production run that has has been detailed and resprayed:
Proto did get it right eventually, witness GP9 5800 from some years later (this is a bodyshell currently in my spares pile)
Proto did get it right eventually, witness GP9 5800 from some years later (this is a bodyshell currently in my spares pile)
jmupton2000
John M Upton
The E8 is being stripped for preparation:
And I have decided to bring both SD9's in for work, the done one needs some tidying up and the other one needs the full detail and respray treatment, after the E8 is done.
And I have decided to bring both SD9's in for work, the done one needs some tidying up and the other one needs the full detail and respray treatment, after the E8 is done.
jmupton2000
John M Upton
The E9 has had a hole cut n the roof to install the missing Dynamic Brake Fan:
For the time being I am having to use this one which is wrong but all I have got:
I do have the Cannon parts kit but try as I might, I cannot get them to assemble properly, not helped that someone stuck a whacking great sticker over a major part of the instructions!!!
The pale SD9 has now stepped forward and been pulled apart, details added and preparation continuing:
And the E8 now is in primer:
For the time being I am having to use this one which is wrong but all I have got:
I do have the Cannon parts kit but try as I might, I cannot get them to assemble properly, not helped that someone stuck a whacking great sticker over a major part of the instructions!!!
The pale SD9 has now stepped forward and been pulled apart, details added and preparation continuing:
And the E8 now is in primer:
KriegslokBR52
Well-Known Member
This just popped into my recommended list:
Also, have you ever watched the movie "Duel"?
jmupton2000
John M Upton
Lovely, something to watch later! I am a big fan of Duel ever since I first saw it, probably early 1980's. It is what got me interested in the Espee and the reason for 6909 being the chosen number for my SD39 a few pages back.
The E8 now has a red nose...
KriegslokBR52
Well-Known Member
Nice work. I'm not really an Espee fan, but your work is one of those on this forum which gives me a good kick in the a$s to get on my own projects. I first saw SP locomotives when i came to the States back in 1986. I was 11 at the time and really didn't know any specific models, although with limited literature in communist Poland, i did read about Big Boys and knew about streamlined diesels roaming the rails. From watching "Westerns" i also knew about the famous 4-4-0 "Americans" during XIX century. Dad took my brother and i from New York to Florida and across the southern route through Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico all the way to California. So it was in fact Espee when i saw and counted my first 100+ car trains. Not knowing the specific models, i did notice four axle diesels with four up front, four in the middle and four in the back on numerous trains. I do have a pair of slides which my dad took at my prompting during one of our fuel stops. Both are of SP four axle diesels, but i have no clue about the location, it was somewhere in the south west where the SP was going along side of the highway we were on. I'll try to locate them and maybe with some improvising will be able to post them here. Years later in 1994 while being in the service, i was sent to California for three months for training. It was in the middle of summer and that's when i got my own first car. Almost every weekend train chasing commenced and Tehachapi loop was one of my favorite haunts. Not knowing that SP was about to become history, they presented some of the most interesting power. One could witness pure 1970s power lashups with SD45s leading the consist. I don't know if it was the lack of funds, but SP sure did keep a lot of older power running during those last years. I also cought a few diesels in the "Kodachrome" scheme in the consists, which was always a reason for joy.
jmupton2000
John M Upton
I really must do a GP9 or SD9 in Kodachrome at some point but thus far have not managed to acquire the confidence.... I have a spare undecorated SD9 in the stash though....
For the most part they are simply Blue and Yellow ATSF paint jobs with red instead of blue.
jmupton2000
John M Upton
Gave into temptation and rescued another cheap spares/repair Blue Box job:
I think I have spotted the problem....
I think I have spotted the problem....
jmupton2000
John M Upton
Painting of the base colours of the SP E8 has been but now progress has halted as the transfers I was using for the wings turned out to be so old they just disintegrated the moment they hit water.
Replacement sheet on order along with the correct dynamic fan.
The SD9 has moved to painting and I am deciding what will follow it.
Replacement sheet on order along with the correct dynamic fan.
The SD9 has moved to painting and I am deciding what will follow it.
jmupton2000
John M Upton
The SD9 now has an identity...
jmupton2000
John M Upton
And then there were two...
The varnish is still drying on 3878 by the way!
I recently acquired a very well repainted and weighted boxcar cheaply off ebay from a dealer, branded for the Davan Valley which from research I can only assume was someone's possibly Canadian based fictional short line, and given how a lot of these dealers specialise in reselling bulk lots, often from sale room auctions and deceased estates, I reckon we are looking at a Fallen Flag here.
Oddly, a few weeks later a second Davan Valley box car turned up and duly bought it, reuniting the two cars that are obviously from the same source:
Whoever repainted them, did a very good job including custom made lettering and logos. A search for any other DV stock has so far come up blank, but there must have been at least a few more items out there at one time, maybe even a loco.
It seems a shame when someone's creation is lost and becomes a Fallen Flag so I am keeping these two as acquired and am tempted to put together from spare parts, a matching loco for them. I shall be keeping an eye out for any further examples coming up for sale though.
The varnish is still drying on 3878 by the way!
I recently acquired a very well repainted and weighted boxcar cheaply off ebay from a dealer, branded for the Davan Valley which from research I can only assume was someone's possibly Canadian based fictional short line, and given how a lot of these dealers specialise in reselling bulk lots, often from sale room auctions and deceased estates, I reckon we are looking at a Fallen Flag here.
Oddly, a few weeks later a second Davan Valley box car turned up and duly bought it, reuniting the two cars that are obviously from the same source:
Whoever repainted them, did a very good job including custom made lettering and logos. A search for any other DV stock has so far come up blank, but there must have been at least a few more items out there at one time, maybe even a loco.
It seems a shame when someone's creation is lost and becomes a Fallen Flag so I am keeping these two as acquired and am tempted to put together from spare parts, a matching loco for them. I shall be keeping an eye out for any further examples coming up for sale though.
jmupton2000
John M Upton
Fond of Geeps, especially SP ones!!!
Speaking of which, a little light maintenance this evening on a couple of Cotton Belt examples, 3642 is a renumbered and detailed Proto 2000 GP9 PhIII, it's colleague here is unique GP7 304, the very first custom US outline model I ever did many years ago.
jmupton2000
John M Upton
SSW 3642 has a friend, another from the same Proto 2000 production run that I acquired for a very reasonable amount last week, still fresh unused in its box:
To become 3644, as per 3642, it will have the usual light show added both ends to the Proto 2000 factory paint job, renumbering, relocating the horns to the cab roof plus this one will need the spark arrestors added on. Photos I have worked from show 3644 with them and 3642 without them.
Also, the horizontal handrails need painting yellow, apart from that, a pretty simple project, helped by the factory applied paint scheme being pretty much spot on.
The usual cracked gears have been attended to but the motor is binding somewhere so needs to be dismantled for attention.
To become 3644, as per 3642, it will have the usual light show added both ends to the Proto 2000 factory paint job, renumbering, relocating the horns to the cab roof plus this one will need the spark arrestors added on. Photos I have worked from show 3644 with them and 3642 without them.
Also, the horizontal handrails need painting yellow, apart from that, a pretty simple project, helped by the factory applied paint scheme being pretty much spot on.
The usual cracked gears have been attended to but the motor is binding somewhere so needs to be dismantled for attention.
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