Mike Boucher Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Next, F-3A #1100 in Cape Cod Railroad's GN paint scheme at Hyannis, Cape Cod, MA in 1993 I believe that Cape Cod Railroad is an F10. Note the bulges on the sides after the rear door. That was put there to create interior clearance around some piece of equipment that I can't recall... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 I believe that Cape Cod Railroad is an F10. Note the bulges on the sides after the rear door. I must admit that it looks to me more like it's had a heavy shunt and the frame's bent - look at the angle the rear stirrups are at. But hey, what do I know... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Hi, It appears there is a problem with my scanner, seems to be causing some image distortion. Look at the rails below and they're distorted also. Checking the original pic, there is, indeed, a slight bulge behind the rear door. Strange co-incidence that this feature should highlight the scanner problem. cheers, Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 I believe that Cape Cod Railroad is an F10. Note the bulges on the sides after the rear door. That was put there to create interior clearance around some piece of equipment that I can't recall... Yes, r/ns 1100, 1101 and 1114 are listed as FP10A units. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 All the FP10 are rebuilds...the ICG's Paducah shops did them in 1979 for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. All were originally GM&O F3A units... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 And here's an FP9a in use a few days ago (and not on a preserved/scenic railroad) Just happened to turn up in my Flickr contacts stream before reading this thread Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 Alcanman; I see what you mean about the picture!! I didn't doubt that there was a bulge on that F10... I vaguely recall reading about it somewhere, but as CraigZ points out, they were re-builds, not an original EMD product. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davknigh Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 Just for the sake of comparison, a pair of VIA units; Cheers, David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted May 27, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 27, 2011 Just for the sake of comparison, a pair of VIA units; No doubt about it, the FPA on the right has the blunter Alco nose. Mind you, the GM nose on the left is a much more functional thing than was provided on early E units - up to E6 had a longer, "slopier" affair which looked classier but added little value except in some minor wind-splitting way, maybe. That's another story waiting to be re-told here - the development of E-units. Political history may become involved at some stage, with GM's dominant market position after 1945 much helped by the Big 3 steam manufacturers being told during the war to keep doing what they were doing, building better dinosaurs, while GM polished its act with future-world Es and Fs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davknigh Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 A few more from the days when we had a bit of variety on the local rails. The GM units are nice, no denying that but the MLW units have a real presence. Cheers, David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWB Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 Here is a set of three Genesis FP7s in PRR Tuscan. The PRR ordered these with the intent of running them on freights, but on runs where they could easily be recalled and assigned to protect east-west trains whose E units had failed. However, they arrived just in time for the first set of 1950s passenger train discontinuances, and almost immediately the PRR had enough spare E units that the FP7s weren't needed for this role. I have a few DVDs showing red units mixed in with ordinary freight dark green Fs. I just got finished installing metal short P2K couplers, the sort they supply with their own Fs. The Genesis units have plastic McHenry couplers, which I don't trust. I run fairly long trains on my layout and have some grades, as well as using magnets for uncoupling in operation, and the plastic clones just don't cut it. On the other hand, the inductive train phone antennas are very delicate, and the units are difficult to work with upside down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 That looks a pretty impressive part of your layout, JWB... any chance of more pics (maybe a thread)? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted May 28, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 28, 2011 From davknigh's photos, 6776 is at Williams, AZ on the Grand Canyon Railway, but wasn't operating when I was there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWB Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Thanks, F-Unit Mad, let me think about what I might do. The layout is 95% complete re track and benchwork, maybe 65% complete for scenery -- I just discovered that photo angle when I took that shot, trying to get as many of the 3 units in as I could, and noticed I got quite a lot else in as well. It's very helpful to me at this stage to take photos, as they tell me what I can do to improve each scene. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted June 2, 2011 Author Share Posted June 2, 2011 Seeing as we're getting a few Prototype pics on here, here's a little challenge... Are there many pictures around of the 'back' end of A units..?? Obviously the cab end is the end that's most interesting, and photographed 99.99% of the time, I suppose, but it occurs to me that pictures of the other end of the A units must be really quite rare? Even the ends of B units don't get much coverage; when trying to detail a model it's usually the ends (cabbed or not!) that need all the details adding, and that's when we realise the lack of reference pics - and for those of us 5,000 miles away and 30 years too late to go visit our chosen loco, pics are what we must rely on!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted June 2, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 2, 2011 Back ends of A units? Best I can offer is a E8 (FEC at Miami Railroad Museum) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWB Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Here is the end of an F B unit. This had had its prime mover removed and replaced with a smaller diesel for generating HEP on a Washington State dinner train. However, this unit is now on the Sierra Railroad in California as part of their collection of useless junk. There's one puzzling thing to notice: the door of the preserved E8 above is essentially flush with the end. The door on this unit sticks out more. For all the obsessively detailed discussions that took place over the past 40 years about diesel phases, there's a great deal that isn't covered or explained. Craig Z may be able to offer insights here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 GIven the way that poor B unit has been chopped and hacked, I'd be careful about thinking anything's still as-built on it. But if I look at the lifting eyes over the door on that B and on the E unit, the doors look pretty much the same to me. One thing that many roads changed on F units was the canvas diaphragm on the ends...they tended to take them off as a maintenance headache. I seem to recall reading that EMD stopped fitting them at some point, presumably because their customers asked them to leave them off. Doors varied with different E and F units...change occurred sometime during F7 product with the window in the door changing shape from round to square, or visa versa. I can't recall.... I've attached a photo of a Seaboard Air Line E4B...which happens to look pretty much identical to the Seaboard's E7Bs...and most other roads' E3B, E6B and E7B for that matter! The Seaboard fitted that extra grill up high on the near end, as well as that extra square opening below and to the right...some sort of additional grill was a common modification on E3/4/6/7 units...evidently to help the steam generator area 'breath' better in this particular instance. The SAL's E4 units were built before WWII and had diaphragms when new...long gone now. Notice no reverse light as on that E8 above...but there is a personnel light illuminated just inside the door. Fuel tank skirting is cut back too...by the time of this photo the unit's pushing 25 years old and on its last days. The Seaboard's E4s and E6s were geared for 119 mph too...I knew a Seaboard retiree who told me he saw the speedometer needle bouncing off the pin at 120 mph many times. Must have been something to see... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Excuse me if I appear stupid -but why do they have steps and handrails that appear go nowhere? Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Excuse me if I appear stupid -but why do they have steps and handrails that appear go nowhere? Best, Pete. At the ends? Federally mandated "safety appliances" to give the crew a safe place to hang on while the engine is moving...same thing for the steps and grabs on the corners of freight cars... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 The Seaboard's E4s and E6s were geared for 119 mph too...I knew a Seaboard retiree who told me he saw the speedometer needle bouncing off the pin at 120 mph many times. Must have been something to see... 120mph??!!?? :blink: Blimey!! I must admit that high speed isn't something I associate too much with US trains; probably because the focus is mostly on freight, and then on Short Line freight which can be even slower..!! It's easy to forget about high speed passenger services. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Thanks Craig. it is the sort of question I should have asked 30 years ago..............but didn't. Jordan, You got to come over, stand next to a mainline (that looks as beautifully "kept" as any in Europe) and watch, hear, experience a 10,000 foot double-stacked intermodal freight go past at 60 mph.....then you'll know. So ,make a date! Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWB Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Craig, if you get a chance, compare the blind end doors of As or both ends of Bs on P2K F units vs Stewart (just as an example). The P2Ks stick out like the doors in my B unit photo, while the Stewarts are flush with the plane of the end like the E8 photo. Not only that, but the Details West detail set originally intended for Stewarts has new doors that stick out like the P2Ks. I'll take photos if you need them. The Santa Fe warbonnet Fs in Sacramento also have doors that stick out. You can see an example at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/atsf/atsf0347Bmfa.jpg I don't think these are post-EMD mods, but some sort of change that EMD made during production (possibly for some reason not on all units), but none of the diesel geniuses has created a phase for it. I heard a presentation by Scott Chatfiled at a Prototype Modelers meet that more or less throws everything we thought we knew about phases for GP7s thru 18s completely out -- the rhyme or reason over sill slots, for instance, has to do with fuel tank sizes, not with production dates. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
highpeak Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 A good place to find F3s in New England was Northern Maine Jct on the Bangor and Aroostook. I think I posted these a while back when the subject of the B&A came up, but given the topic here, perhaps they are worth another post. Looking a bit work-stained in Bangor blue: I am not really sure whether the final BAR scheme really suited the F3s, but #42 looked very smart, fresh out of the paint shop to pull the business train: There weren't too many B units left in the Northeast by the late 70s so I was quite lucky to catch this F7B at Portland's Rigby yard, I think in October 1978: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 Jordan, You got to come over, stand next to a mainline (that looks as beautifully "kept" as any in Europe) and watch, hear, experience a 10,000 foot double-stacked intermodal freight go past at 60 mph.....then you'll know. Oh, that sort of thing is undoubtedly impressive - and so are those "Pacing" shots on the likes of You-Tube - we just don't have anywhere available in the UK to do that sort of thing, as far as I know anyway... But 60 mph is one thing - 120 is quite another ..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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