LGM's New F9

[grande man]

Hi all. I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

LGM got a new train (imagine that ). The locos are a Stewart F9 A/B set I ordered from our very own Nate, of Susquehanna Hobbies. Since Nate had the Cal Scale Detail kits, we got those too. The cars are Athearn heavyweights I ordered from Engine House Hobbies in Wichita. Here's a few pics before and after detailing and weathering the F9 A unit.

LGM on Christmas morning. He new beforehand about the passenger cars, but not the F9's.

Here she is, straight out of the box, Christmas morning.

And after a little asthetical "tune up".

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the Stewart Boys...

 

[ak-milw]

Grande man,
Excellent pic's and work. Just my opinion but I like the gold and silver better!!

 

[jbaakko]

Nice, looks like he's happy!

 

[grande man]

Andy, I know one thing for sure, the F9 was the more difficult of the two to detail! The grabs on the glare panel and eyebrows made for alot more drilling. As for which I like better, I can't decide...

Josh, What's not to be happy about when you get a new Stewart A/B set?

Well, I need to get started on the B unit. Speaking of the B, it's CRYING out for a sound decoder.

 

[lginc]

WOW! grande man, the detailing job is nothing less then AWESOME! i hate to say it since the other unit is yours, but i gotta agree with Andy, i think LGM's F9 is the better looking of the two. please be sure and pass on to LGM, he has a heck of a GOOD LOOKING train! OH YEA, AWESOME shots!(as usual)thanks -Dean

 

[chrismoore93]

Wow the locos and pass cars look excellent! Have fun LGM!
Chris

 

[jbaakko]

Josh, What's not to be happy about when you get a new Stewart A/B set?

Well, I need to get started on the B unit. Speaking of the B, it's CRYING out for a sound decoder.

Whining...? Reminds me, over the weekend, I watched a train pass, with 4 BNSF Dash 9's, one was SCREAMING like it I was in run 8, and was sure blowing ALOT of heat...

 

[grande man]

LGM will be stoked that ya'll like his engine. He's a bonafied F unit fan, chip off the old block.

As a side note, the Grande only had two F9 A's, best I can tell. They were used for Cal Z power. The proto F9 #5774 was wrecked at Grizzly, CO, 3/29/1968 and sold for scrap the following year! The 5771 is the unit that got all the publicity pulling the Cal Z and was the last cab unit in the Grande's inventory. It wasn't retired until 1996!!! It now resides at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colo.

F9 #5774 consisted with F3's leads a freight on the Platte Canyon Spur.

 

[lginc]

As a side note, the Grande only had two F9 A's, best I can tell. They were used for Cal Z power. The proto F9 #5774 was wrecked at Grizzly, CO, 3/29/1968 and sold for scrap the following year! The 5771 is the unit that got all the publicity pulling the Cal Z and was the last cab unit in the Grande's inventory. It wasn't retired until 1996!!! It now resides at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colo.

grande man, THANKS for posting this info. i LOVE to learn stuff like this. (I'm a fact fiend) i wish more people would do this, it's VERY interesting. thanks -Dean

 

[dthurman]

Eric,
I wish I had you as a Dad when I was growing up. LGM is one lucky fellow, has a father into MR'ing and knows what to buy to for Christmas

 

[IronBeltKen]

Eric,
I wish I had you as a Dad when I was growing up. LGM is one lucky fellow, has a father into MR'ing and knows what to buy to for Christmas

Ditto to that... and I wish my son would have gotten interested in trains, I guess I must've been born with a recessive gene...

I was wondering when I would be seeing some gold-and-silver cab units and passenger trains on your pike. They sure do add variety!

 

[grande man]

Dave/Ken, Thanks for your kind words. As for LGM, it's been GREAT for me to have a little buddy to run trains with too.

The Gold/Silver scheme does add some spice to the RR. Up until now, we only had an Athearn BB F7 set and their yellow paint isn't even in the ballpark with what the Grande used. I've been thinking about a repaint/detail project for them. What do ya'll think? Are BB locos worth the effort?

 

[IronBeltKen]

... Up until now, we only had an Athearn BB F7 set and their yellow paint isn't even in the ballpark with what the Grande used. I've been thinking about a repaint/detail project for them. What do ya'll think? Are BB locos worth the effort?

IMHO, the sharp-cornered and oversized windshield openings on an old-style BlueBox F7 are too glaring to hide - it'll always look like a BB, albeit a BB with a lot of added details. I remember trying to use squadron putty and other techniques to get the 'squareness' out of my F unit windshields, but the arrival of the Stewarts made me see the futility of my efforts.

Just my .02...

 

[grande man]

Ken,I think you're right about the Athearn F's. I'll just let LGM practice his detailing skills on them. Before long, he'll be showing me how it's done.

As for detailing, the F9 got green class lights today...

 

[IronBeltKen]

Ken,I think you're right about the Athearn F's. I'll just let LGM practice his detailing skills on them. Before long, he'll be showing me how it's done.

As for detailing, the F9 got green class lights today...
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL615/3680850/7585034/123314409.jpg

Mega-cool!
Did you drill holes and put larger diodes behind them? I never thought anybody mfr'd LEDs as tiny as that...

 

[grande man]

Mega-cool!
Did you drill holes and put larger diodes behind them? I never thought anybody mfr'd LEDs as tiny as that...

I did it with a single LED. The rounded front was filed slightly to create a flat surface. Then, two strands of .020" fiber optic material were bonded in place to go to the class lights. As you can see, one decoder FX function covers both lights.

Originally, my intention was to use a bi-polar LED to allow for red and green lights. Problem is, the way the LEDs are biased, the ground has to be switched to change colors. The decoder isn't capable of that, only applying power. I need to think about this some more. Any of you electronics guys know of a bi-polar LED with a common ground?

I'm thinking fiber optic caboose lights would be cool too. I may try that down the road.

 

[GatorDave]

They look great GM. I need to spend a little time with my locos in the
detail shop. The difference is very noticable.

I also want to echo what the others have said about LGM being lucky
to have a dad like you to enjoy modeling and railfanning with. Not to
sound like a whiner or anything, but my dad bought my brother and
myself a Lionel set and a sheet of plywood when we were young and
that's the last time he showed any interest in model railroading. I'm
not faulting him... it just wasn't his thing. But to see how you two
enjoy the hobby together puts a smile on my face. So, y'all enjoy
the "together time". Also, keep the detailing and weathering photos
coming... I need the reference material! Good luck, Dave

 

[grande man]

They look great GM. I need to spend a little time with my locos in the
detail shop. The difference is very noticable.

I also want to echo what the others have said about LGM being lucky
to have a dad like you to enjoy modeling and railfanning with. Not to
sound like a whiner or anything, but my dad bought my brother and
myself a Lionel set and a sheet of plywood when we were young and
that's the last time he showed any interest in model railroading. I'm
not faulting him... it just wasn't his thing. But to see how you two
enjoy the hobby together puts a smile on my face. So, y'all enjoy
the "together time". Also, keep the detailing and weathering photos
coming... I need the reference material! Good luck, Dave

Dave, thanks for the great comments. Ya'll need to know something though, I'm having as much fun as LGM does. I'm very thankful for him (and the rest of the family), and we do have some serious fun. Plus, it's much easier to do model railroading when Mrs grande man knows it's for LGM.

 

[dthurman]

But Eric, what happens when Mom asks and he blames Dad for the MR time and $$??

 

[grande man]

But Eric, what happens when Mom asks and he blames Dad for the MR time and $$??

Dunno!