Rebuilt GP7 and ALCO Slug on ARR

[pjd]

Here is a project from several years ago that I have not seen done any where else. The photos are larger than life size and do not do the loco justice.

alaskarails.org/creations/PD-mate1/index.html

Go down in the link to see the slug. cutting the gear tower off the old Athern trucks so they would mount under the slab floor was the tricky part. I did it the same way the ARR did with access holes in the steel deck over the bolster pin and the blower motor locations. The rest of the deck was a concrete slab.

The two slugs, Mate 1 and Mate 2 built from an RS1 and one from and RSD-1 only operated for a few years before they became rip rap.

Pat Durand

[Raeder]

I can't say I'm much of an Alco fan, but I like those units. I really like the weathering on the trucks. It is light and well done, the details pop out at you. The two look like a well matched set. You're right, I havent' seen any of those anywhere else, either.

Kevin

[pjd]

Stephen & Kevin

Both the locomotive master and slave Mate 1 are long gone from the roster. You can see the entire roster at alaska.rails.org along with proto photos. My challenge is to build one of each locomotive in each class in each paint scheme. As a result I have built four iterations of this single EMD GP locomotive in four paint schemes and two numbers.

The combos were used at the Healy Yard where coal was loaded on trains and headed North to power plants in the Fairbanks area. They saw some limited use in the Anchorage Yard as well.

Keven, I believe in a light touch on most weathering. While I am not a rivet counter, the goal is to capture the three dimensional image of the locomotive or model at some point in time. Many times a little paint can infer details that are not there or provide geometry to a part such as the brake cylinder piston rods or the brake shoes that would go without notice. I finish many models by adding shadows with flat black and road grime and sunlight with chalk applied with first soft brushes and then down strokes of white with a stiff brush.

Thanks for your kind comments guys.

Pat Durand

[RunningExtra]

Excelled job Pat, I am a sucker for mother slug sets!