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 Posted - March 25 2018 : 12:04:41 AM
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I just don't get it. Despite almost every electric railroad owning one of these, and every class 1 interacting with such electric railroads, nobody seems to have produced a viable electric locomotive smaller than an Amtrak toaster. Why is that?
GE with Alco and Westinghouse with Baldwin Locomotive Works produced hundreds of these little brutes, to which several other makers & car shops copied this design. Just two power trucks with some switchgear and an air compressor stuffed under two slanting hoods, surrounding a cab with a full view of everything. It's as basic a locomotive can get in the prototype, with a chasis that's practically a GE 44 ton, yet this project has been untouched by the likes of Athearn or Rivarossi.
Where can I get a good steeplecab for an interurban my railroad club is looking to make?
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Posted - March 25 2018 : 2:12:37 PM
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I totally get that. Every new catalog appears to be a variation of a GP15 or the venerable F.
Perhaps part of the answer lies in the fact that it is extremely expensive to create a completely new
locomotive, and if it flops it will be hard to recover from, so better to stick with the tried, true, and dull.
I have no idea if his one is scratchbuilt or brass:
This one I slapped an extra pantagraph on top of a Roundhouse Box Cab:
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Posted - March 26 2018 : 4:39:41 PM
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quote:
I just don't get it. Despite almost every electric railroad owning one of these, and every class 1 interacting with such electric railroads, nobody seems to have produced a viable electric locomotive smaller than an Amtrak toaster. Why is that?
GE with Alco and Westinghouse with Baldwin Locomotive Works produced hundreds of these little brutes, to which several other makers & car shops copied this design. Just two power trucks with some switchgear and an air compressor stuffed under two slanting hoods, surrounding a cab with a full view of everything. It's as basic a locomotive can get in the prototype, with a chasis that's practically a GE 44 ton, yet this project has been untouched by the likes of Athearn or Rivarossi.
Where can I get a good steeplecab for an interurban my railroad club is looking to make?
Originally posted by Islanderh93Â -Â March 25 2018Â :Â 12:04:41 AM
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Besides brass or shapeways, there is one other option. Red Ball and Cannonball Car Shops kits live on in a small business called Model Railroad Warehouse. They still offer the Cannonball steeplecab body kit. With the body kit, you must then acquire the truck sideframes/detail parts from AMB, and mount the lot of it on the mechanism from an older generation Bachmann GE 44-ton or 70-ton. It is not a simple process but it produces a very nice model.
Go here to learn more: www.mrrwarehouse.com/?page_id=22
Yes, it bothers me too that nobody's ever made any RTR steeplecabs. It would make a lot of sense.
--CRC
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Posted - March 28 2018 : 11:15:44 PM
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I think the problem is that the traction market is very small, and every traction railroad had it's own modifications and unique equipment on locomotives. The few who model traction are usually rivet-countery enough that they want all these specific details, so combine a small market with a massive amount of variations and you'll find out why they haven't really been offered.
sim-al2
Also since they cut track maintaince the trains had huge trouble making over the railroad by the end
純那
yeah
They did a Rock Island volountarily
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Posted - March 30 2018 : 07:23:57 AM
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If you're not TOO picky, the European HO market has a few steeple-cab models . Flieschmann, among others, has some. Yeah, yeah, not USA design, but beggars can't be chosers. I have a few of them myself. They're cute little traction models.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - March 30 2018 : 07:42:16 AM
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Here is a post about a build of a steeplecab kit with alot of info in it. I show and name the maker of 2 different kits there.
http://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14217&SearchTerms=steeplecab
Here is a tyco thread with a photo of a re-detailed Fleischmann steeplecab.
by redwoods his post. Go down 9 posts to his.
http://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18087&SearchTerms=steeplecab
I got this last year at a train show. it is made by Fleischmann. It is a steeple cab and it is ready to run, and runs great. It is made by a few other European manufacturers.
frank
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
Edited by - toptrain on March 30 2018 08:59:50 AM
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Posted - March 30 2018 : 07:50:33 AM
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Here is one that was made by Lima. it is a little longer. Fleischmann also made a 0-C-0 electric.
frank
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
Edited by - toptrain on March 30 2018 08:51:12 AM
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Posted - March 30 2018 : 12:58:33 PM
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Beautiful Steeple Cab, Frank. Flieschmann always has made the
most beautiful and beautifully running German two rail DC. I am
surprised how closely it resembles the US prototype.
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Posted - March 30 2018 : 8:18:58 PM
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One of our members took this approach:
http://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14217
Carpe Manana!
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