RailNet C36-8M 7001

[Canadian Atlantic Railway]

My starting point for this project is an Atlas C30-7 that was originally a yellow bonnet ATSF unit. A couple hours in stripper gave me a blank grey body to work with. I already hogged out the stack area for the larger exhaust assembly.



This is the first of 10 units I will be modifying for my RailNet. HELM rebuilt a few C30-7's into C36-7M's for UP and as far as I can tell the only external difference between the stock GE C30-7 and the HELM rebuild is a larger late Dash 7/Dash 8 exhaust stack. BC Rail did the same thing but called them C36-8's so I split the difference and am calling mine C36-8M's. Dash 7 body with 600 more hp and Dash 8 electronics and wheelslip. Some of the details will vary from unit to unit to give them a little bit of different identity. The nose, cab and rad area will be ATSF yellow and the underframe & carbody will be black. Some units will have silver trucks while some will be black for variety.

[Canadian Atlantic Railway]

I added a Details West anti-climber, A/C unit, 5-chime horn, Atlas B23-7 cab (that took a slight bit of filing to fit) and for giggles I cut the mounting tabs off of a B23-7 rad assembly and had to a bit of filing lengthwise on the shell to get it to fit.



The rad is narrower than the stock C30-7 piece but I am assuming GE used the same sized assembly on the B23/30/36-7 and C30/36-7. So I think I will file down the shell to get the fit I want since the stock rad is solid and really doesn't look as good as the newer rad.



Old v.s new comparison

[Deleted]

I like what you have done with the radiator screens, I was looking to do something similar myself so thanks for testing it out for me!

[Canadian Atlantic Railway]

Thanks! The shell sill looks good by today's standards but that rad section really kills the look of the unit. I will file the rad contour on the body down to match the B23-7 assembly but the newer rad isn't as tall so I will need to build up the shell with styrene to get it to sit flush.

[antlorch]

Not to bad looking, since its a rebuild why not go with a -9/AC4400 radiator? That would be very different looking. Just throwing some ideas at you.

[Canadian Atlantic Railway]

I considered going with the Dash 8 cab and rad but I just like the look of the Dash 7 body too much to change it. Maybe one of the ten units will get a "Super 7" rebuild with the square Dash 8 parts.

[Canadian Atlantic Railway]

Filed the shell rad contour down to a 90% fit



Difference in height



I am waiting on glue, styrene and putty so I am going to call it quits until I get under the rad built up then I will finish shaping the body.