Alco and GE Diesels

A

alec dawe

Railways, Cars, Wine!
Does anyone know of a manufacturer who makes any of the following USA built diesels

Alco D560D
GE C30-7
GE B39

Regarding Steam, the Bachmann Baldwin 2-8-0 seems to be as close as I am going to get to the Andes class locos in 'ready built' form, does anyone have any experience of these? I see there's a 'starter set' on E'bay with the 2-8-0, a couple of open vestibule coaches, and some (steel) track. Worth looking at or a pile of rubbish?
 
Crikey, a dash 7 would be big in G! Never seen one, nor a B39 I'm afraid, you'll have to make do with an SD40-2 or a Geep.

What's a 560D in normal speak, is that an export model?

Bachmann 2-8-0's are usually OK, some early ones suffered from split gears (like an HO P2K loco).
 
Alco D560s were supplied to the Central of Peru, now FCCA Run by the Railroad Development Corp of Pittsburg Ohio
Its a Co-Co diesel, vintage (I think) about 1964. (short hood/cab/long hood type). I wonder if there's anything of similar outline?

I'm trying to see if I could model a bit of the Central of Peru, complete with 1 in 25 and 1 in 20 grades!

I'm not very much up with USA Diesel names and classes, so just quoting from the FCCA stock list!
 
alec dawe said:
I see there's a 'starter set' on E'bay with the[Bachmann] 2-8-0, a couple of open vestibule coaches, and some (steel) track. Worth looking at or a pile of rubbish?
Click to expand...

Don't think I've ever seen a set with the 2-8-0?? The 4-6-0 turns up in sets.

The Bachmann 2-8-0 isbuilt to 1:20.3 scale, a larger scale than a lot of other "regular" G scale stuff. It's a nice model, I really like mine. As has been mentioned there were a few problems with the gears on some models. Also beware of the tender bogie sideframes which can come loose from the bolster if too much sideways pressure on tight curves (but this is easily fixed with longer screws).

The Bachmann 4-6-0 was pretty basic and not so reliable in its early versions, but from the "Anniversary" ("Annie") version onward it seems to be reasonably well thought of. I've only got one of the early ones, it doesn't come out much but it only cost me £15 second-hand.
 
Might be worth getting the book A Garden Railway Adventure which has several Bachmann 2-8-0 converted into peru looking loco's painted red on the Southern Cross Railway .
For a Peru looking diesel how about a Aristo SD45 high nose or Alco RS3
 
For the Andes class, I think you're going to have real trouble starting with the connie 2-8-0, which is not only NG outline, but outside framed. I'd be more inclined to start with one of the Aristo eight coupled locos - either take the new 2-8-0 (still pricey), reletter it and then do more fundamental body conversions to bring it closer to the Andes as time/skills/budget permit, or buy a second hand 2-8-2 (probably cheaper) and perform some more immediate surgery to change the boiler for a parallel one and shorten the back end before putting it into service as a 2-8-0.

Diesels are probably easier/harder, depending on the prototype accuracy you want (assuming here you're working in 1/29). None of them are available RTR, and with the possible exception of the C30-7, aren't likely to be either. For accurate reproduction, probably the only option is to source suitable wheelbase trucks and set to with the plastic to build the body from plans. More sketchy versions could be made by conversions

Alco D560D - reckon the nearest you'll find is the LGB white pass diesel. This is supposed to represent an Alco/MLW DL535 NG loco, but this model in particular received liberal doses of LGB's 'rubber ruler' so you might find it actually looks all right. Worth borrowing someone else's to check for size with your other stock before commiting I'd suggest.

GE C30-7 - a suitably massive rebuild of an Aristo dash-9 ought to be possible - the trucks at least are basically right, and you'll get a lot closer appearance wise by changing the cab and the radiators, but for real accuracy it might be preferable to build a new body. At least one person has built a C30-7 ( http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/8/aft/123680/afv/topic/Default < Link To http://www.mylargescale.c...afv/topic/Default - scan down to the fourth post ), but I don't know how much is new and how much is donor aristo.

GE B39 - Should be able to get quite close with a simpler Aristo U25B rebuild - bulk up the nose a bit, modify the cab roof to the more modern (flatter) pattern, as well as raising the cab generally, change the skyline on top of the long hood to mimic the B39, and I think it'll look pretty close. For once the B-type trucks are wrong, but the sideframes are cosmetic and just unbolt, so you could leave them in place until you were happy with the replacements.

Jonathan
 
The Aristocraft website or catalogue would probably be worth scanning as the U boats are also close to some south American designs.
I'd agree the LGB alco is close and those and the connie 280 by Bachmann could certainly be made to represent the 3ft lines.
The sets will be the 460 rather than 280.
Also I'm another to recommend Garden Railway Adventure by Nick Trudigan, worth every penny at the full retail price, search around and there's bargains to be had.
 
mmmmm...I've got an Aristocraft 2-8-2..... wonder if it might be better to see if the front pony truck could be easily converted into a 4 wheel bogie, and try to make the rest into something like the 4-8-2 100 class FCC loco (hated and feared by all, especially 112!)

Perhaps I could see if an SD45 could be made to look more like a DL 560?
 
Just for the record Pittsburgh is in Pennsylvania. ;)
 
I Know.........Now why did I type Ohio?????????
Do you think its galloping old age?
 
Haven't got my reference books here, but I think the Peruvian D560 is very close to the (Australian) NSWGR 45 & SAR 600 classes which were D541s. In ALCO speak I think they are RSD 20s.

As far as I know there is no RTR verions of them, but there are a few G scale (at about 1:29) running around Australia. They are either kitbashed or scratchbuilt (the lines probably blur) - the only one where I know the owner started from an Aristo RS 3 base as the wheelbase is about the same; and it was a fairly involved bash. I think he ended up using USA Trains 3 axle trucks although I'm not sure which ones. I've never bothered to rivet count enough to see how accurate a representation that one is but it and other one or two I have seen certainly look the part from a distance.
 
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