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  • PB-1 exists

  • Discussion of products from the American Locomotive Company. A web site with current Alco 251 information can be found here: Fairbanks-Morse/Alco 251.
Discussion of products from the American Locomotive Company. A web site with current Alco 251 information can be found here: Fairbanks-Morse/Alco 251.

Moderator: Alcoman

 #275667  by GOLDEN-ARM
 
Tell Doyle, maybe HE wants it........ :wink:

 #275738  by EDM5970
 
While I agree that the DRGW power car should be preserved, I don't think it would fit into Doyle's scheme of things too well. The NKP simply didn't have any PBs.

Also finding yet another pair of Alco (or FM stand-in) A-1-A trucks would be difficult, if not impossible. Perhaps it would be best preserved as what it is now; it has spent a more of it's life in it's present form.

Hey, I've got a CF-7 that I would like to eventually restore, but I can't take it back to its original F-7 form, either-

 #276064  by N. Todd
 
Well consider that Nickel Plate didn't have RSD-4s either...

As for the trucks, not everything has to be 100% prototypical. For all I care you could put EMD A1A trucks underneath it. Besides, there are plenty of similar standard-gauge Alco A1A trucks in South America and Australia.
 #276119  by EDM5970
 
The Paulista (Brazil) locomotives were built to 5' 3" gauge, not standard gauge. As for the "World Truck" (Australia and elsewhere) it's wheelbase of 13' 9" would look out of proportion under a PA or PB, which was built with 15' 6" wheelbase trucks.

These dimensions are from Steinbrenner's book, BTW. If there was an easier alternative to adapting FM trucks, with different centerplate diameters, I'm sure Doyle would have taken it.

 #276283  by HighlandRail&DEY-7 652
 
I beleive Doyle recovered 3 sets of trucks. Which means there a set for the two SF PA's and a spare set...................

 #276664  by GOLDEN-ARM
 
I also believe there are some cut down units, working as slugs, or stored, with those trucks underneath them, isn't there? Who says you can't restore that Cleburne Geep? A little sheetmetal, some rivets and Bondo. Come ON!!!! Imagination is the key.............. :-D

 #276721  by N. Todd
 
Who do you think owns these slugs?

As for de-converting a CF-7..., you'd be better off using balsa wood and poly vynl wrap.

 #276756  by Allen Hazen
 
As long as there is more than one pair of trucks...
The Smithsonian is, I believe, having their unit restored COSMETICALLY, for STATIC display. If there were a serious possibility of restoring a second unit (either the B-unit that may still be in Colorado, or maybe a Paulista hulk) for operation... What I'd try to do would be to persuade the Smithsonian to mount their carbody on (discrete, unobtrusively painted) blocks with (balsa-wood and duct tape) cosmetic trucks, and lend their pair of "real" trucks to the operator.
--
(Though for the moment the whole thing seems theoretical enough that I'm not going to start pestering them about it now.)

 #276938  by GOLDEN-ARM
 
A "nod" to Red Green, didn't go unnoticed, Komachi. :-D If using balsa wood, might I suggest Elmers Wood putty? Quick drying, no-mess, and cleans up, with water...... :P I do recall a carrier, in the not too distant past, cutting down all of the Trainmasters, on their roster, and converting them into slugs.
If needed, the trucks could be, created from scratch. The center castings are easily recreated, possibly even by the original supplier. Drop equalizers, are just plate steel, also easily recreated. Journal boxes, springs, etc., all readily available, today. It's NOT really as hard a project, as some of you have attempted to portray it, to be. Steel, is probably the easiest medium to work in, as it can be formed, and reformed, practically forever. Might I "suggest" someone take a few minutes, to verify if this thing is still even there, not gone to the scrappers? Someone on this forum has to live near there..........

 #276955  by N. Todd
 
Red-Green... certainly, that show displays innovative ideas. Duct tape works for everything. I've used it to temporarily patch a hole in a boat.

You could use this stuff instead of paint on your new trucks. Up for it?

Norfolk & Western cut down the Trainmasters that weren't traded in into slugs- they survived the Alco demise of 1986, but information as to their current status is sketchy.

Hey where has John been?

 #276990  by pablo
 
I respectfully submit that if this beast even exists (a big if) and if anyone can pony up the money to buy it (which is also unlikely, not only because it could never really be leased) that it be painted in Nickel Plate colors to match with what will be the only operating PA left, Doyle's.

There is no other intelligent alternative. Naturally, I think I'm right.

Dave Becker

 #277048  by EDM5970
 
The six axle Trainmaster trucks are C-C, while the PAs ( and Erie-built FMs) were A-1-As, a different truck entirely. Some of the N&W units are/were at RMDI, and RDG Tech is supposed to get one, IIRC.

As for the CF-7, it will remain a CF-7. Some lifetime or another it will get a decent painting and 26 air. These things take time and money-

 #277059  by GOLDEN-ARM
 
Pablo sez: "There is no other intelligent alternative. Naturally, I think I'm right."

With the price of scrap steel hovering around $200.00 per ton, I can think of another alternative............ :P