B&M GP18 high nose??

Hi all

Looks like Walthers will be having an N scale B&M GP18. What confuses me if that the art shows a high nose engine. Did the B&M get them with high noses, then chop them down at a later date?

JD

NellsChoo wrote: Looks like Walthers will be having an N scale B&M GP18. What confuses me if that the art shows a high nose engine. Did the B&M get them with high noses, then chop them down at a later date?

EMD built GP18s with both high and low noses, but the B&M's units were built as the latter and were the first low-nose Geeps on the railroad. (I was almost going to write the first low-nose diesels, but then I remembered the oddball BL2s!) That was very much a new look back in the early 1960s when they arrived.

Interesting. Come to think of it, the various model manufacturers have come up with all sorts of oddball things that never existed... high-nose GP38s in BNSF paint, F59PHIs in NS paint, F40PHs in UP paint, etc.

Seems like a silly thing for Walthers to do! They finally put the B&M name on something, and they get it wrong! Wouldn't the paint scheme be wrong, too? All blue? Not the blue/black/white scheme?



JD

Nell, my understanding is that walthers/lifeless is going to do a low nose version. Their new catolog came today and it shows several road names listed as #1 and #2. So they probably haven't picked roadnumbers yet. There were only 6 so hopefully they don't screw it up.

I normally pass on their stuff but a pair of these would be a nice addition to the fleet.

Also, they were delivered in the bluebird blue/black/white but were later repainted in the shown scheme, then some also made it to the roughly 1980 scheme with the darker blue and the Boston and Maine spelled out (my favorite actually!). Thats what I would repaint mine into.

years back there was a nice proto2000 gp18 with the low hood in the bluebird scheme that was made...i got two of the and there still going strong...not sure if they still make'em

Another thing you modelers will have to take into consideration regarding the GP18's is that of the six units owned by the B&M, only the 1755 had the "standard" 48" cooling fans. The other five, 1750-1754, had paired 36" fans like GP-7/GP-9's, which were re-used from BL-2 trade-ins.