Okay a little update of sorts, my passion for GE wide cabs is apparent to anyone who's even briefly trawled through these pages and the acquired MTH premier model last year, whilst nice, didn't really fit the bill.
I mean talk about generic, it's so generic it doesn't actually fit any of the 10,000+ models produced by GE, I mean c'mon
This leaves a few choices, build your own (which I'm doing slowly in the background) heavily modify the MTH model (which I still plan to do, though not so heavy as originally planned) or try and acquire one of the rare brass models floating around, primarily Overland (OMI - AJIN).
The latter is not so easy, they tend to be small runs and whilst brass and detailed do tend to fall short of modern levels of detail, for example the body doors are all half etched, very 2D when the real engine is 3D when you get up close. Even so the search continued and by chance I stumbled across one on a web site you'd not normally associate with American brass or even anything American really.
The photo showed an all brass Overland C40-8W one of the very first generation of wide cabs, shipped to several Railroads the ones sent to ATSF were distinct with their gull winged roofs and this was a copy of said item, okay, not my preferred choice but I can work with it.
To boot it was local and the price respectable and a tentative phone conversation ensued with mixed results, it was still available, but had since been painted in ATSF livery, DCC fitted and basic sound....and the price had gone up.
I let it stew for a week and decided, sod it, you only live once and agreed to collect for the stated sum. So I now own a Overland ATSF C40-8W and very nice it is too.
It's a little grubby, initially I thought that might just be dust or dried condensate, some of it may well be, but it appears to have had some basic weathering applied with a broad brush.
My initial concern over the 3rd party paint job was null, it is really nice, the only minor niggle is the Santa Fe decal on the side has silvered/possibly lifted and the edge of the decal is quite noticeable, I'll ponder solutions for that in due course.
The rad cubicle is okay, a little dirty and I'm sure there should be panels to enclose the cores, maybe not, I'll have to check 1:1 detail photos to be sure. The 2D doors are readily apparent, as are the knuckle duster handles.
I'm not sure why it has green ditch lights, I'll have to see what colour they light up when powered and the main headlights are too bulbous, they'll have to come out, these are all after market addon's, Overland bare brass rarely comes with these details or glazing, which on this model is nicely done.
I'm not convinced the gull wing roof profile is correct, it looks overly aggressive, again I'll have to check 1:1 images to be sure, but in all honesty, there's little you can do about it anyway.
The rear end is nice and tidy, there is hose supplied in the box with cast glad hands and I'm not sure the rear lights would be red and amber, again real photos or a good read of the review in Diesel Era should confirm the specifics.
Underneath we have the typical Overland drive system with the centre wheels being a tower drive for a large single motor in the middle, all of which results in full cab details, the staining is easy to see and does like like it has been purposely applied. Also apparent is the big hole under the cab, that will have to go and whilst there are more than a handful of pipes, there's no where near as many as there should be, maybe a few more can be added
In the end it's a nice model and there's a couple of choices, leave alone and sympathetically scrub it up (outside of my era really) and add the under details where relevant, or, strip it down and bring it forward into modern times. Many C40-8W have gone to the scrap yards and the later C41-8W (basically the same engine with a little more grunt) but BNSF acquired these and revamped some and painted them in a new heritage scheme, it's nice but not quite my preference.
Recently CN acquired a handful, all I think, and have been upgrading them with new cooler groups and I understand internal upgrades as well, these are now being turned out in CN's distinctive black with red nose and white sash, very appealing
So that's where the story would end, but no, whilst chit chatting about the weather with the proprietor and another customer and looking through the display cases I noted another brass engine stuck down one end, on closer inspection it was a SP cab forward, pretty rare and especially in brass. I prefer brass as you get to really see whats under the paint, sometimes best not to
Anyway, I voiced how nice it was and then he said "it's overland too", which I didn't think it was as I've not recalled Overland making a SP cab forward, but we moved on and chatted a bit more, "it's for sale you know" Oh dear
I tried to say something intelligent but nothing came forth, I'd already paid a fairly hefty figure for the Dash 8 and the card was still smoking and besides, it was brass, SP and a cab forward, it'd be well outside of my price range, as have every other one I've ever seen for sale.
So I just smiled and my mouth said "how much" which I can assure you is not what my mind was saying, the reply was even equally staggering, that must be just for the tender surely, but no it was the whole model
The end result was a given, it had to leave with me, I thought the Overland GTEL was a once in a life time gift but here was another, could I afford it....can anyone ever, was it a good price.....hell yes (no import duties, postage or taxes), would I ever get this opportunity again....probably never.
So I walked away with it, we couldn't test it as the rear engine was stuck out of line and there was no box, all of which I could easily live with.
If nothing else, it's big, bloody BIG.
It looks to have be lacquered and is quite tarnished but overall it appears whole and a couple of bits broke off on the way home, steps and some other sundry part. There's also some green mould from flux residue which there really shouldn't be, closer inspection reveals damage repairs by previous owners and not flux from manufacturing, it'll clean up I'm sure.
Underneath is nice and clean and most importantly the wheel treads are immaculate = zero run hours, it's a mint example.
There's also a etched label and it states Precision Scale Co, which makes obvious sense as they do make import brass cab forwards, it's also model 0028 of how many I've no idea. A little research reveals it's a late model AC6 with streamlined cab, rarer than the more popular flat front cab if the WWW is to be believed.
Closer inspection reveals some damage
The right hand cab spectacle plate does not line up with the cab shell, it could be that the cab isn't fitted correctly but other items more or less line up so it might have had a ding or just not assembled correctly to begin with, it's not a problem to resolve either way.
There's also damaged pipework up front behind the steps and the firebox foundation ring blow down valve pipework has been repaired (badly), the same applies to the other side and is not surprising as this is a natural pl;ace to pick the model up, as the pipework above bears witness to.
The foot plate has some blobs of factory solder showing so that'll have to be cleaned up but overall it's not too badly damaged.
The left side shows the broken steps, some previous repair work under the cab deck, damaged cinder screen frame, as well as the damaged/repaired blow down pipework.
The pilot is odd, it's half way between flat and bow fronted engines and many had revised pilots and ploughs in later years when working on the mountain divisions.
The rear engine has locked slightly off line and I don't want to force it, I suspect one of the articulated steam pipes has bound up and it won't be hard to resolve once it's stripped down. The green cable down the middle of the rear engine needs disguising and the set up on the draw bar shows it's has the common US style of pick ups.
The final (for now) oddity is the builders plate, nicely detailed and readable in places, such that the engine is Baldwins serial #60668, which according to the records is an AC4 which means I'll have to source a new one at some point.
The tender is also in good shape, better than the engine really and only really needs cleaning up with superficial repairs (hand rails, pipes, rear ladder etc) before painting.
Again, perfect wheel treads indicating zero run hours.
I am in the US in a couple of months and just up the road (Sacramento) is the only preserved example, although it's an AC12 many parts are common, maybe a field trip is required
.
Until then, to save money and make amends, I'm on dog biscuits and tap water
DSC_0335
but I'm sure you will cope...
