C&NW Repowered Baldwin

[slowfreight]

This started as an accidental project to do a quickie repaint on a Stewart Baldwin S12 to match a unit C&NW repowered with an EMD engine.

The proto photo that I used was in a copy of North Western Lines, so I don't have it digitally, but here's an earlier photo of the same unit:

www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1191205

In the pic I used, the unit had just come out of the paint shop in 1981 looking like a new loco--so much so that it's the only thing I've ever built that needed NO weathering at all! Anyway, except for the two EMD stacks and railings, it's essentially unchanged from as-built appearance.

At first, I planned to add switcher stacks and paint, and nothing else. Then I started studying the pics more carefully. Unfortunately, Stewart's model is of a non-MU loco, and that made for just too many missing details. I ordered the stacks as NW2 replacement parts from Kato. I modified the factory end railings with styrene and added the raised walkway into the cab. The raised walkway is an etching for Dash 9 radiator grills that looks like diamond tread and could be folded into the proper shape. I scored a set of Smokey Valley stanchions at the LHS that gave me exactly enough to finish the loco.

In-progress pics:







After painting:







It was a fun project and the unit runs beautifully. It just took a few weeks longer than I originally planned..

[dtinut]

Very Nice! I like the handrail work you did. That stuff always takes a lot of patience to do.

Brian

[kcs1967]

Nice work

[icghogger]

Excellent Job! The end railing detail turned out especially nice, and the finish is Superb!

[carlmarsico]

Nice work! I always liked the CNW's repowered Baldwins, but they were purged from the roster just before the start of my modeling era.

[slowfreight]

PEIR, the North Western repowered just about all of its Baldwin switchers, and rostered several dozen plus what it bought from the Katy. Some were done by EMD and got SW-type hoods. The ones (like mine) that were done in-house kept the Baldwin hoods and features. North Western Lines did a whole issue on the Baldwins about 3 issues ago, and that's where I found the photo I used for my prototype.

The last of the switchers were retired in 1981, and the Katys made it to 1982. C'mon, Carl, you know you want one!

[danielsokyrail]

very nice work

[m a y o r 79]

Turned out really good!

[carlmarsico]

I would like one, but I'd have to hide it everytime one of my 4100 series GP7's or 4550 series GP9's decided to come out

Additionally, the Athearn SW7 I've been holding on to for conversion into a TR2A has been collecting enough dust....

CJM

[slowfreight]

If you check the latest issue of Diesel Era, it has pictures of quite a few 4300- and 4500-series geeps (mostly chop-nosed) that were contemporary to these things, which is why I built one anyway. And a TR2 wil never have the sex appeal, anyway. The nice thing about this conversion is that it's so straightforward. It kinda bugged me though, that I bought the stacks from Kato for $1 and then they wanted $6 for shipping. But I got the diesel cheap enough that it worked out.

Still, it's a fine line with the GP7/9 fleet and running these small switchers, cuz there's only about a 4-year period where everything was contemporary to each other.

BTW, icghogger, I did a tutorial on masking and painting this unit at modeltrainsweathered.com. I won't say there's nothing to it, but I've learned where shortcuts are OK to speed the process. Since yellow likes a base coat of white, I used a rattle can of Rustoleum white primer because it's so much quicker than loading the airbrush

[icghogger]

Sept 17, 2010 20:14:46 GMT -5 slowfreight said:

BTW, icghogger, I did a tutorial on masking and painting this unit at modeltrainsweathered.com. I won't say there's nothing to it, but I've learned where shortcuts are OK to speed the process. Since yellow likes a base coat of white, I used a rattle can of Rustoleum white primer because it's so much quicker than loading the airbrush

Thanks for sharing the info about your tutorial, Slow. I plan to check it out this weekend. Always interested in how others do it, learn somrthing new everytime! ;D

[carlmarsico]

I did pick up a copy of the latest Diesel Era - I've always wanted to do one of the late GP9's with the "GP20 style" large fuel tanks and air reserviors.

If I recall correctly, the last two TR2A's lasted until 1989...and outlasting more modern switchers such as the SW9's, a good number of the SW1200's, and even the sole SW1500
(which was a second-hand purchase). Now that I think about it, I do have a undec Blue Box SW1500 with a pair of AAR-A trucks on it that I set aside to model this unit....

[sprailtrax]

Hi all. Great modeling work. Yeah i too love your end handrail detailing.
Hope to see more of your modeling.
Thanks

[rs2mike]

great job there!! Looks like it came straight from atlas or kato.