White Pass diesel Fn3 -1:20.3 scale

funandtrains

funandtrains

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I happed to find some prints of White Pass drawings of the modern diesels as "modelled" by LGB on ebay for the cost of a pint and won them thinking that in the future it would make an interesting scratch building project. However having got the LGB version I was not aware of the true size of these locos! They are 111" wide which scales at 139mm in Fn3 which is about the same as the Bachmann 45 ton switcher. They are also a similar height as the Bachmann diesel but about 3 times as long. I had no idea that these locos where standard gauge size with only the gauge reduced, in fact they would be as large if not larger than most British Rail Co-Co main line locos.

Clearly this project will not be attempted any time soon as I know no one with a track with the clearances to run a loco of this size! The loco would make my K-27 look small!

For anyone who is interested these are not manufacturers's drawings but Skagway paint shop drawings for the green and yellow livery.
 
Interesting! I remember seeing the Alcos in 1999, they are big engines but no where near the size of a standard gauge North American locomotive, which were much bigger with less of a restriction on loading gauge. I'd guess they're about the length of an F7 or GP9, but with a much lower profile as the tunnels on the line have a lower height than standard gauge.

Late last year there was talk of an extension north of Whitehorse to serve a mine, and there has also been talk of laying a third 'standard gauge' rail to allow the use of more modern off the shelf power for the proposed ore trains. Both sounded pie in the sky at the time and I've not heard any news since?
 
The last I heard was that they had got all the sold odd diesels back and where running regular full route passenger services.

I've got a DVD that has a film of the whole route as viewed from the train pilot speeded up which is interesting as it shows that it is just a one track line with regular passing loops. During the peek years there must of been train after train stacked up.

The locos are smaller than mainline US locos but the same height and width of industrial standard gauge US locos and British mainline locos. The only difference that I can notice is that the driving wheels are smaller diameter the similar size standard gauge locos.
 
That's interesting. I have four of the LGB ones and I had wondered how rubbery the ruler was...

I am sure I have seen virtually identical (at least superfically) on standard gauge on you tube - i think working in the yard of some kind of industrial facility.
 
That one isn't a rebuilt one, it's the sole Montreal Locomotive Works built example - the rest of that order went elsewhere IIRC. They were ordered very late in the day (late 70s?) and I think only one was delivered before the line closed... delivered in the White and blue livery.

The original Alcos were built by Alco, whereas MLW was building Alco designs under license but the safety cab was a Canadian development.
 
Wow Ian - I'd not seen that! I've got a subscription to Trains, and I don't recall seeing it in there, that looks pretty nasty.

Here's an interesting link which details the history - I've mis-quoted, they were actually all MLW built Alco's, but the later one was MLW/Bombardier... http://drgw.free.fr/WP&YR/Engines/Diesel/Diesel_en.htm < Link To http://drgw.free.fr/WP&am...s/Diesel/Diesel_en.htm
 
CoggesRailway said:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=173765
It was rebuilt from this crash but yes I see you were right it was already different. I assumed the newer cab design was done after the accident.
Click to expand...

Mmmm, one careful owner

However, yes, the difference between 1:20.3 (Fn3) and the LGB/Bachmann standard (ish) 1:22.5 is most noticeabl in the width of the models.

The happy little red fat chap is bringing me an Fn3 Bachmann 45t in the latter part of December, but SWMBO hasn't hidden it well enough, and I've been able to take some sneak measurements. It's just about the 140 mm which is wider than the tender of a Connie :bigsmile:
 
I've been comparing specs with BR standard gauge locos and it looks like the the Alco class 101 are similar in size, weight and power to the BR Class 31. The White Pass locos however are wider than any BR diesel loco which are mostly 8'10" wide (106") and therefore even if they were regauged to standard gauge would be too wide to run on UK tracks!
 
These were built under license in NSW in standard and 3' 6" gauges.
f9e545bac621446d94b70ed692322a93.jpg
 
The Alco pictured in Simon's post were actually built for three different gauges for Australian railways. The NSW railways version were 4'8.5", while the South Australia Railways took delivery of versions built for 5'3" and 3'6" gauge. The SAR narrow gauge versions operated briefly on the northern division, but mostly worked on the isolated Port Lincoln division (Google "Peninsula Pioneer" for information on this amazing railway). Some of the NG Alco's also the found their way to Tasmania after both the SAR and Tasmanian Railways were absorbed into Australian National Railways. All the Alco's were built under license by A E Goodwin in Sydney.
 
funandtrains said:
I've been comparing specs with BR standard gauge locos and it looks like the the Alco class 101 are similar in size, weight and power to the BR Class 31. The White Pass locos however are wider than any BR diesel loco which are mostly 8'10" wide (106") and therefore even if they were regauged to standard gauge would be too wide to run on UK tracks!
Click to expand...

They don't seem to conform to normal North American loading gauges.
Standard width Plate B thru K is 10feet 8inches, Plate J being 9 ft 11.375 in for 89foot flats.
 
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