10-23-2012, 11:41 AM
Larry;
Yep, that would have been a real hassle to go though every time you started one up! But was interesting. Here's a photo of one of the F&C GE 70 tonners that my friend made (he has models of all of them) and once again it's my favorite No. 102.
If you look closely, you'll see that he modified the Bachmann model to be a Phase I version by eliminating the front radiator opening, changing the headlights and a few other details to match the F&C engines. Even made his own decals for them. Compare it to the prototype photo.
In the background, you can just barely see his model of No. 100, in its as delivered paint with the short exhaust stack and simply lettered "F & C RR Co". Only thing wrong with the paint job is that the center area of the top of hoods should be black, but he's corrected that, including adding the missing horns; since I took my photos.
Probably the best you can expect from Bachmann, would be to get one in solid red and go from there. I know that people modeling various Pinsly railroads have approached Bachmann several times about doing the 70 tonners in various Pinsly schemes, but Bachmann feels like they wouldn't appeal to that many people. I think they'd score, if they produced the model in the Pinlsy scheme, but unlettered and provide decal sets for the various roads, they'd sell a lot of them!
He brought all of his F&C models over here one night to test run them, as he doesn't have a layout or even a test track and we were a bit disappointed with the performance. The DC only versions varied from very poor to okay in performance - most very noisy and stalled frequently. The one that was DCC equipped didn't want to run that great either but wasn't as noisy. But then they would probably run better if additional weight was added to them.
Modeling the F&C would be hard to do, other than to model just a particular area of the railroad, but there were so many features that you'd want to try and include, making that a tough decision. I know a couple of people that are trying to model the F&C, but their track plans have no resemblance to anything on the prototype. I had considered just modeling the Old Grand Dad Distillery as a switching layout, but then changed my mind and decided to just go freelance.
One of my favorite Kentucky short lines was the Flemingsburg & Northern. Of course it was gone by 1955, but it was a nice little operation that could be easily modeled. Just 6 miles long, one locomotive and a push-pull type operation to boot. I'm not into steam or that era, but I have considered something like the F&N a few times over the years.
Yep, that would have been a real hassle to go though every time you started one up! But was interesting. Here's a photo of one of the F&C GE 70 tonners that my friend made (he has models of all of them) and once again it's my favorite No. 102.
In the background, you can just barely see his model of No. 100, in its as delivered paint with the short exhaust stack and simply lettered "F & C RR Co". Only thing wrong with the paint job is that the center area of the top of hoods should be black, but he's corrected that, including adding the missing horns; since I took my photos.
Probably the best you can expect from Bachmann, would be to get one in solid red and go from there. I know that people modeling various Pinsly railroads have approached Bachmann several times about doing the 70 tonners in various Pinsly schemes, but Bachmann feels like they wouldn't appeal to that many people. I think they'd score, if they produced the model in the Pinlsy scheme, but unlettered and provide decal sets for the various roads, they'd sell a lot of them!
He brought all of his F&C models over here one night to test run them, as he doesn't have a layout or even a test track and we were a bit disappointed with the performance. The DC only versions varied from very poor to okay in performance - most very noisy and stalled frequently. The one that was DCC equipped didn't want to run that great either but wasn't as noisy. But then they would probably run better if additional weight was added to them.
Modeling the F&C would be hard to do, other than to model just a particular area of the railroad, but there were so many features that you'd want to try and include, making that a tough decision. I know a couple of people that are trying to model the F&C, but their track plans have no resemblance to anything on the prototype. I had considered just modeling the Old Grand Dad Distillery as a switching layout, but then changed my mind and decided to just go freelance.
One of my favorite Kentucky short lines was the Flemingsburg & Northern. Of course it was gone by 1955, but it was a nice little operation that could be easily modeled. Just 6 miles long, one locomotive and a push-pull type operation to boot. I'm not into steam or that era, but I have considered something like the F&N a few times over the years.
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"