These are some of the projects I have been working on over the past few years. Most of them are locomotives of one sort or another, although i am branching out into railcars more and more.
A large part of the challenge I see in locomotives is how to cram all the necessary DCC electronics, wiring, lights, pickups, and speakers into a locomotive shell. This is one of the aspects of the hobby I enjoy the most, because there is a definite end point, and that is when the unit runs in the same manner as the prototype you are modeling.
Flashing lights? No problem.
Big speakers and power hungry capacitors? They'll fit in here somewhere...
Quiet drives that lug without trouble and noise? Gotta have 'em!
Speed matched to the nth degree? Yeah, those'll run together.
Old school hardware that outshines the new, factory-built stuff? Absolutely!
Project:
BNSF Dash 9-44CW
The Three Brothers
A year ago, I picked up three Athearn Blue Box Dash 9's decorated for BNSF. Having seen all three laying on various tables around the swap meet I wandered around in, I picked them up, deciding to build a DPU set for a grain train. Well, the first place to start with any train is the locomotives, so that's where we started.
Want to see how this project turned out?
Project:
Modern Boosters:
SD40-2 A-B-B-B-A
For some reason I can't explain, booster units, or B units, have been a source of interest to me as long as I've been kitbashing. Traditional boosters don't catch my interest, just too early, I guess. All my equipment is modern, and as far as I know, it still rides the rails to this day. My first kitbash effort still rides my rails these days, and has picked up some company along the way...
Come see the custom-built unit, and the others that complete the set!
Project:
Modern Boosters:
Another Booster unit, this one struck me as being fairly easy to build, and there was a sale at the Local Hobby Shop (LHS) on Atlas GP38-2's! Fortunate timing led me to pick up three of them, and one remains in my fleet today. These units were my first experience with Atlas locomotives. I am very impressed! The unit has recently returned to service after additional work on the shell, and looks and runs very well with the Twins.
Interested? Take a look inside!
Project:
The Twins
Two GP40-2's, both having ridden the rails from middle school on. These units have been with me for decades, and were the first units to be converted to DCC when I joined River City Modelers. I still can't forget the huge grin I had when I saw the units take off down the track at the club with a train in tow. It was great!
The units carry the same road number, and I'm not planning on changing that anytime soon. They are my local switch crew, along with the GP38-2B.
Come meet the Twins!
Project:
GE Booster
A chance encounter with a picture of this unit led to the ethereal chase through the web of a suitable nose kit. Knowing high-hood GE's had to exist, I reasoned a high-hood kit had to exist also. Once the Holy Grail (err...nose kit) was found, this unit was the result. I've never seen another like it, so I may own the only one!
Partnered with a U30C, this unit is half an A-B set. Look over this way!
Project:
Salvage Rights
This is something of a rather sad tale...with a happy ending.
My first locomotives...when I was seven years old.
Fast forward 26 years...and the no longer operable wrecks sitting on my desk. Throw them away...
Or rebuild them?
Project:
Double or Nothing
When the horsepower wars first cracked the 5000 HP boundary, these units were the result.
Double motor, double decoder...double the work and double the pride! These units shake the layout when they come thundering by, and there is no need for sound decoders here. Nosirree, we get all the rumbling and thumpin' we need from those huge four-axle trucks.
Take a look under the hoods!
Project:
Bar-Be-Que
Huh? What does the fine Southern art of long, slow cooking have to do with locomotives?
Well, what else do you do with a back deck this big?
Inspired by a former hogger's tales of "surfing" on an SD40-2's porches at speed, and brought to life by the excellent directions at Brian Banna's website, this unit is one of my pride and joy. See what is involved!
Project:
Old Warhorse
Sometimes project units come from the most unusual sources, sometimes most unexpectedly. This is one of those stories, about a unit that ran long and hard, and still serves, much further down the rails than the rest of it's line. Come see why this Old Warhorse still runs!
Project:
Modern F Unit
This unit entered the fleet about the same time as the Proto 2000 F7's for the Empire Builder hit the stores. Everybody and their dog had a set of them, so I figured I could use an F as well. Of course it's the modern incarnation of a line stretching back to the first diesel-electric locomotives, and is making a history all it's own!
Project:
Latest and Greatest
SD90/43MAC
Spokane is the meeting place for the Union Pacific, BNSF, and CP. The remaining SD90/43MAC's are based out of Hinkle Yard near Umatilla, and are a common site through here on CP trains headed south. I like big engines, and when I found a good price on this, I jumped on it. Plus, these units have some interesting history to railfans as well. Something of a failed experiment during the horsepower wars of the early 2000's, these units were designed around a different diesel engine than what they are equipped with now. This is why bigger isn't always better.
Project:
Modern Boosters:
B30-7A Booster
After completion of the GE U30C Booster, I had another high-hood kit for a GE locomotive. No use for it at the time, but I figured something would come up. The inspiration for this came from a calendar shot of a brace of SD40-2's and B30-7 boosters crossing the lake near Sandpoint, ID. Here's what goes into a booster.
