Raeder Industries

GP50's: CNW 5053

Background

One of the first two locomotives I ever had, this unit ran all the way through my childhood and up to college. At the end of high school, I knew it would be a while before these units saw the rails again, so they, and the rest of my collection were all packed well so that they could be moved when the time came without any additional rework. A little bit of foresight on my part, as I didn't end up taking them back out of the box until 2006. They more-or-less survived the two moves intact; what they didn't do so well on was surviving the use I had put them through.

When they came out of storage, both this unit and UP 53 were in sad shape. This unit was in the better shape of the two, so I started work on it first. Not without a lot of soul-searching, mind you. I was in the process of cleaning out the real junk in my fleet, and this unit was real close to heading to the trash can. I figured I would at least try to salvage it, and if it didn't work, I wasn't out any money, and it would be junked anyways.

The damages were mainly to the front and rear steps. Both were were crushed inward from numerous falls to the floor and couldn't be straightened out. There was paint scraped off all over the units, mostly at the corners, and the cab had CA gooped on the sides from an earlier attempt to secure handrails. The cast-on fans were broken and damaged, so they would have to be replaced.

Steps

Fortunately, I had some noses and steps left over from the DD35's I built, and realized they were a close match for the GP50 steps. Out came the saw, off came the broken steps, , the new steps were sliced from the Rail Power shells, and attached to 5053 walkway. Not a perfect fit, but close enough that I considered the unit to be repaired to the point where it could be operated again.

Fans

For some oddball reason I have never figured out, the local hobby shop stocks Q-fans. Not sure why I don't know who is buying them, beside me, of course! After seeing them on the wall of detail parts, I decided they would be used on this project. The old fans were ground off and out, and the new ones assembled, painted, and installed. A huge improvement over what was previously there.

Cab

All kinds of work up here, starting with an entirely new cab. A new Atlas cab was stripped and repainted, decaled, ,and fitted with the Atlas glass, headlight/numberboard, and interior cover for the numberboard casting. Then the Atlas cab interior was installed into it, and loaded onto the unit. A rotary beacon was added later on, drilled and fitted with a 1.5v bulb, and programmed for rotary beacon simulation.

Trucks

Not much work had to be done here, Mainly new air brake lines and new sand lines were bent up and glued on, then painted. Brass wire for both of those, nothing too hard. It sure adds an impressive new look to the unit though.

Long Hood

The only improvements here that are not already covered were the grab iron on the end, and the eyebolts throughout the roof. All of these were drilled, installed and painted, including the angled grab behind the last fan.

Short Hood

Some different work here. Grab irons, of course, and a CNW nose-mounted gong bell. Plano makes a kit for these now, but mine was mounted before that came along, so it was all saw work for me. Still, it turned out nice enough.