Having three months overseas to ponder things, it soon became clear that some things that I really wanted to do were not happening due to a half hearted loyalty to.....well goodness knows what really. The decision was simple, more 'me' time and the GEVO etch project was the start of that journey as are a few other things I should of stopped hand wringing over long before now.
Anyway, whilst at Telford my eye was aimed more at shores overseas and whilst browsing around with Steph looking at a nice German Pacific and comparing it to another we'd just seen (both with eye watering price tags
) next to some very nice brass SD45's (equally eye watering price tags) I spotted a 3rd Rail Sunset box tucked away on a stand. a quick chit chat with my (quickly becoming) favourite store holder saw the box opened and inside a UP Challenger, an early one to boot...and this is important to me. A price was worked out and whilst steep wasn't overly so and a fair price to be honest, anyway back the box went and I ambled off to think about it. It wasn't long before I was passing by again and noted some one else looking at said same box and that was all the incentive I needed....having missed one at Kettering earlier in the year (late model). I do feel sorry for the other guy as I just walked up with card in hand and said I was here to pay for the model, though to be fair I think he was just looking.
So off I walked with a huge box into which was a UP Challenger.
On first impressions it's....well big!
Very big!
Now I know a little about these engines and had been researching models whilst overseas so I wasn't expecting Kohs or Korean brass quality, but even then, some of those have areas of compromise for model trains.
The first thing to decide what to do with it, it's second hand and whilst in good overall condition, it's not perfect and would fetch a good price back on the market, or, use it to scale off and along with the drawings from the UP historical society work up my own brass model. Another option is to make this a keeper and 'tart' it up, I've seen some nice ones that have simply been cleverly weathered so it has potential.
However if it's going to be detailed a little then a few areas are a must, one is the valve gear, new etched gear is a must. Small sand box up front limits this to early service model, later in their lives the front sandbox was more than doubled in size.
A new bogie and thickening of the frames to try and close the gap to the base of the boiler might be a good start as well, all simple stuff that will give the model a little more mass. At the rear end a new ash pan and under cab gubbins as well as any pipework that's missing will help. A new Delta truck is a must and there's a big slot in the front of the firebox that needs filling, I suspect this is from older models with their angled drive shafts.
The tender, and this is the difference between early and late models as well as the single/double chimney, is the biggest area of improvement.
My eye tells me, though I've not measured yet, that the wheels are too small, probably to compensate for the bulky model bolsters, either way the whole under frame needs beefing up and ideally new Buckeye trucks, fairly sure PSC do a set for a respectable price.
One other idea I bounced around was to convert to P48, but upending the engine shows rather large blocks underneath and a new chassis isn't worth the overall effort I feel.
Keeping the chassis blocks shows there's limited clearance to reduce the gauge.
In doing so all lateral play will be virtually removed, not that I wish to go around 18" curves ......
......like some, but a little side play might be handy if the engine gets invited to Laramie.
The tender as noted above.....well it just needs some help, fairly sure those Buckeye frames are way too wide.
So that's the Challenger and it's sitting in the box waiting for some care in the future whilst I gather a bit more info.
The other goodie procured at Telford was an MTH GEVO. It was on the bring and buy, know idea how long it was there but it wasn't there many minutes after I first spotted it!
Now just four days before I'd finished my etch test build so it would be good to cross reference some basic sizes and shapes, one presumes MTH had access to better data than me....though that comment is strongly contended later as we go along.
Again first impressions are it's big and black, very black in fact.
Now the sharp eyed here will note quite quickly it's not BNSF or UP or that NKP ever had GEVO's, however it is a NS engine and they have painted a few, quite a few actually, in heritage schemes and 8100 is NKP, personally I prefer 8102 PRR or 8025 Monongahela but am not adverse to the default NS prancing stallion. Either way NKP is going.
A quick overall look rang a few alarm bells, first off the nose door on the LH (conductor) side with no window is a little odd, not unknown but quite rare and certainly limits the number of 1:1 GEVO models to choose from, then there's no hole in the nose for the headlights, all GEVOs have a hole for the headlights and only NS opts to leave it empty and add brow lights.
The cab is the more modern Mk II affair so that's right but the steps are woefully wrong, in fact this style of step cut out went of production way back with the Dash 9's and early AC44CW models, you can see the vertical notch for the hand rail, later models are smoothed over as per my etch.
It also has six steps which is the more modern set up, notched footwells had five steps, except a few models retrofitted with six step set ups later in their lives, CN for example. In addition the front deck is now the wrong shape for the cut out and does not have the extended anti climber, extended anti climbers have the handrails coming out of the deck, not attached to the front, actually they're in the same place just that the decking has been extended.
Looking at the first photo we can see three dynamic brake openings behind the cab, flush too, correct for all NS ES44AC so that area is good, however, moving back to the radiator compartment there's an extra large grill back there, not a ES44AC feature, it's more common on DC versions, both NS and BNSF sport this feature, though in fairness, a large batch of UP AC's do but they all sport Mk I cabs, as do the NS and BNSF AC versions.
The windowless cab door on the LH also matches the UP engines and some BNSF, but they both have nose holes for headlights and no brow lights and Mk I cabs.
I haven't checked all my photos, or all of the possible grill permutations but it's not looking good for the authenticity market and I don't think there's actually a genuine engine out there like this.
8100 it most certainly isn't, triple flush dynamic brake openings and brow headlights are pure NS, steps...no idea!
Basically, like the Polish alphabet where they just throw all the letters in the pot and pick them out at random to spell, MTH have done the same with a GE parts bin.
The question now is what to do with it, it'll be handy to check over some basic shapes and dimensions but for the purest it's a rolling disaster, on the plus side it has sound and I've not tried that yet, that might be the clincher between keeping it or moving it on.
The one area that cannot be changed is the radiator and engine room door layouts without a lot of messy hacking around, so that'll be the driving force in finding a prototype, the dynamic brake area can have grills added or blanked like the real thing so that's no real concern, the cab would need a window in the nose door (etch overlay), nose light opening and brow lights sealed up.
The step well openings will need rebuilding to modern standards what ever happens and on reflection it might be easier to pull the whole cab and front end off and etch up a replacement, that way you have full control over the details.
It's certainly a challenge that's for sure
MD