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Post by Raeder on Oct 31, 2009 23:49:28 GMT -5
I think they started because they had some SD40-2's lying around (literally - they were wreck units) that needed cab rebuilds, and they decided to experiment. Apparently they were somewhat successful, since they are still in service today.
Kevin
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Post by railfan1354 on Dec 11, 2010 20:30:07 GMT -5
I sure am glad to know I am not the only B Unit fan here. I think they are really cool as well and what better way to put to use a wrecked unit? Dont scrap em' rebuild em'!
Paulie
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Post by Raeder on Dec 12, 2010 0:35:47 GMT -5
No, you are definitely not the only fan of B units around here. This forum is a hideout for a lot of people who like oddball units. B units are somewhat normal compared to some of the stuff you see around here...
Speaking of rebuilding a wreck unit...I'm debating building another copy of BN 4500, a wrecked U30C booster. I wouldn't normally consider it, since I already have one, but I had a U30C take a dive, and well, the unit survived, but came home in pieces. There may be another rebuilding in the future...
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Post by Santa Fe Sammy on Dec 12, 2010 12:39:02 GMT -5
I'm a huge B unit fan too (I have 4 running on my layout at any given time) and your B unit looks great!
I saw that thing years ago, a few months after it was painted by BNSF and I was in shock that they painted the whole front clip of the thing orange!
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Post by m a y o r 79 on Dec 15, 2010 13:51:47 GMT -5
Excellent work! B-units always looked interesting to me, I just dont have a good excuse to model any.
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Post by Raeder on Dec 16, 2010 8:45:25 GMT -5
Who needs an excuse? Make one and figure it out later? Maybe it is a lease unit or something, I don't know. Me, I just model whatever, I don't really look for a reason to model it. The B-units I have didn't run in the area I model, but so much stuff comes through, I figure the COULD have run through here at some point, so if they were on the roster that year, that's close enough for me!
And even if they weren't, well, I'm flexible!
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drgwguy
Chairman
Modeling the DRGW in the 70s-80s!!
Posts: 528
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Post by drgwguy on Dec 16, 2010 11:15:58 GMT -5
great job!
It really is different seeing the cabless section in orange, I never realized that they repainted any of the ex-BN Bs.....
Rick
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Post by Raeder on Dec 20, 2010 13:20:27 GMT -5
Yeah, they did repaint them. I think I would've figured out a different paint job for that area, as it is a very bright nose section. I'm sure it makes it easier to see...but I have to say I'm glad they used some other colors on the regular units! Painting all that orange was NOT fun!
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Post by m a y o r 79 on Dec 20, 2010 13:35:23 GMT -5
Hey, what do you have against orange  Kevin, I could do a B-unit for my frelanced CMW, but the bulk of my modeling is the Milwaukee Road and I've never seen them running B-unit run-thru power. Though thats not to say it's never happened, I just haven't ever seen pictures of it. |
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Post by Raeder on Dec 31, 2010 23:19:09 GMT -5
Given some of the rebuild programs they did, it wouldn't surprise me if they did one just to see if it could save them some money that way. You might see if something like that was ever done? I know BN did it, and I know Milwaukee searched for every possible way to save money, so they might have gone that route.
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Post by m a y o r 79 on Jan 1, 2011 17:00:33 GMT -5
The Milwaukee never did that for the SD40-2's, towards the end they couldn't even afford to do maintenance on them. Plus the era's I'm looking to model would be more when they were still new (or relatively new) so I doubt there would have been any consideration for making a B-unit at that time. And since I'm trying to stay prototypical with my Milwaukee modeling I don't want to create a "what if" unit. Now I could justify modeling one for my freelanced railroad, either as run-thru power or a rebuild from a wreck damaged unit. That could be fun, and give me lots of excuses to run it |
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Post by sd45longhoodfoward on Jan 1, 2011 21:30:32 GMT -5
fantastic job on that B unit!!!!!!! for anyone intrested I have an article I can email you on the Kato BNSF b unit or you can find it in a libarary somwhere it is in the JULY 2002 issue of RAILMODEL JOURNAL Once again GreaT job!!!!!
another good guide and info source on the b unit is in the Diesel Era Vol 11 #3 i have it.and BN had On it s roster at one time 129 cabless B units
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Post by diesel on Jan 4, 2011 1:23:28 GMT -5
Kevin Johnson, Nice job! just flippin through this section... so I found out the orange doesn't cover first time around as well. I noted in that thread; from now on -PRIMER. lol Nice job on this unit. If you do another Kato SD40 the thing to do is take out those brass rails that run the length of the frame and hardwire like any other loco. The new ones are like that anyway.
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Post by puddlejumper on Jan 6, 2011 15:46:13 GMT -5
The B30-7A had a cab version and a cabless version, the B30-7A(B). I don't know if B30-7A(B) is an official designation, but that is how I have seen the BN units referred to.
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Post by danraitz on Jan 6, 2011 22:32:05 GMT -5
Diesel Era Magazine had a write up a few years back on all of the BN B-Units -- and also had some info on the B30-7A (which is a B unit but they call it an A go figure) --- Lance Lance, The reason for the "A" in its designation, just means that it is powered by a 12 cylinder engine versus the 16 cylinder in a standard B30-7. Both the 12 and 16 cylinder engines are rated at 3,000 hp. |
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Post by Raeder on Jan 9, 2011 0:38:04 GMT -5
I have actually done a B30-7A booster as well, i need to finish writing that article up and post it. Turned out fairly nice, though I didn't do an all out conversion on it by any means. lancelot: I have read the article in MR about the conversion for 7501...that was the first unit I ever modified into a different loco. I still have it, though I need to go back and redo some things that didn't turn out all that well. I've also read about the Soo Line SD40B they purchased from BN. That would be an interesting one to do, but I don't model the Soo line, and I don't know when the Soo purchased it from BN. I find it kind of interesting that GE experimented with reducing the number of cylinders in their engines while keeping the same output even back when these units were built. I thought that was only something they did with the GEVO's until Dan mentioned that. I recall hearing that before, but never put the two together and realized what was being done with these units. Does anybody happen to know if the 12 and 16 cylinder versions sounded much different? The reason I ask is because the unit is a Gold line sound-equipped unit and I hope the sound is still correct for it. |
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Post by poweredby251 on Jan 9, 2011 17:46:38 GMT -5
The 12 cyl B-30-7AB should sound something like a U-23-B/B-23-7, both also 12 cyl.
John
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Post by Raeder on Jan 25, 2011 20:35:51 GMT -5
That makes sense, thanks for the info! I will have to see if I can get the engine reprogrammed, though that is a long ways down the list of things to do. Still, good to know. Thanks John!
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