I just check my email, got one of the monthly eflyers from athearn. They are coming out with a SD45. #'s 911, 927, and 943. Here is a link. http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH95383 My hopes for the loco. 1. genesis motor. 2. will run on 18R. I've heard of there newer SD40T-2 and SD45T-2 models being capable of 18R.
Excellent detective work Ethan. Looks like these units will have the all important L shaped window for the engineer. Not Genesis but these may be another winner for us. The unit color seems closer to the Atlas orange which a lot of us like. The drawing shows a coonskin on the nose of 911 and I am not sure 911 had one. I think 912 and 915 did. May have to mask over that. This would be a good job for our crack research team. Thanks. Ship IT Behind Frisco SD45s ! Rick
There are pictures of the 911 taken in 1969 and 1980 on the Fallen Flags website that show the 911 proudly sporting it's coonskin on its nose. El Bob Oh (Rockford Agency Jr. Detective)
Excellent. Less work for those who buy these units. Ship IT on the SD45s !!!!! Rick PS I have been waiting for quality SLSF SD45 to come out for a looooonnnnnggg time. Now my KATO undec SD 45s are available to sell.
yes, but why did they have the shell of a SD45 #911 and not list that as a number they're releasing? Anyone notice that is the the page for 910? I would really, REALLY love to have one of these on the layout, but if it's gonna be like the SD40-2 I practicably will turn it down. But if it has the Genesis motor and will run on 18R sign me up for 1 maybe 2.
Ethan, are you sure the "Cadillacs" ran on the Iantha Branch? From what I've heard, very few six axle units were ever used on the line to Fort Smith. Too much power and weight. If you've got the Frisco in Color book, you can see the type of service they were used for.
You mean to tell me I bought all those P2K SD45s (at a deep discount, mind) for nothing?!?!? Oh well, I'm happy to see Athearn come out with the SD45s in Frisco colors. Overview Prototype specific details that may be applied to this model: -High or low nose -Grilles -Fans -Bell -Snowplow -Headlights -Fuel tank -Electrical cabinet/Air Filter Box -Air Horn -Truck sideframes -Battery access doors -"L" window Already I'm a happy guy...........just need 3 of these jewels, and I'll have about 10% of the fleet (to follow Rick McClellan's rule of thumb, which I've been doing for quite some time). Should go with the RPP/Athearn kitbashes I already have. (And as a former resident of a Cherokee Sub town, I remember well seeing those 900s rolling thru.........)
GLA, your P2K models might be better than these new athearns if they don't have the genesis motor. And I thought you were an N scale guy. Steve, the Iantha Branch is made up. It is my new layout. Basically it is a branch off the ash grove sub that starts in Iantha. I guess it may not be much of a "branch". It's an Oval w/ yard, engine service facilities, 2 grain sidings and another siding that I have not determined. I don't have the room for a around the walls layout. And BTW, you would see SD45's on the Ash Grove Sub. And it don't run to FT. Smith, it goes from KS city 19th street yard, through FT. Scott and down to Springfield.
Now if we could just get 'em to come out with an F9B in Frisco colors.....lol.....we could splice that between the SD45s and have a unique-to-Frisco lashup.
Now you've been "trapped in the 60's" LOL Wont see that in the late 70's. Good idea though. I've also seen an F3,7, or 9 B in between a couple of gp's.
As those of you who know me are aware, I am a 1st generation Diesel SLSF b/y guy 100%. However, I have dabbled in several of the Frisco o/w units that are available in HO as I have so many fond memories of chasing the Frisco watching them with son Kurt when he was a little boy in the 1970's and early 1980's. Recently, I had about reached the conclusion that I was going to move off the o/w units and concentrate on b/y. That would have made several decorated Atlas and Athearn o/w units (SW7, SW1500, GP35,GP38,GP38-2, GP40-2, U39b, B30-7, MP15) plus some Kato and Stewart undecs (GP35, SD45, U25b) available for moving off to others. However, the new Athearn Frisco SD45 - our clear favorite Frisco unit as Kurt and I chased the SLSF back in those good days, make me rethink my position. Those big, loud, smokey SD45's sure were neat to watch as they ground up Rolla Hill from Newburg and roared through Rolla, St. James, Cuba, Bourbon, Sullivan, etc. Hmmm. Ken
In the same Athearn product announcement, there's an item that might be of interest to Frisco modelers whose layout has a Dixon Hill/Newburg theme. It's a Kenworth cement mixer lettered for "Rolla Ready Mix". http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/092209/23_KW_mixer_092209.pdf I'm not sure of the vintage of truck models, but maybe it could pass for late 1970's. Rich
Good Call Rich. Another one to note is 28053 Platte County Ready Mix. Platte County is a MO county just north of KCMO and would be appropriate for layouts based on the KC area. It just keeps getting better. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
Actually, it was possible to see such a power consist as late as 1973 or so, and IIRC the last of the Fs were retired in 1974, so I wouldn't be surprised if such a lashup operated in '74. Even though I model Frisco in its last 5 years of existence, I also have several "blasts from the past" on my roster, such as a 44-tonner, RS1, RS2M, a GP7 in full cat-whisker striping, and an E8A in full "racehorse" regalia. I even have an HO scale Athearn F7B I "converted" to an F9B. And somewhere I also have an HO FA1 shell with details showing an EMD repowering......... There's a bit of a time warp around my place.............
I went on athearn agin and discovered they have now changed the number on the listing from 910 to 911 to match the pic. It looks like they will still also have 927 and 943. I was snooping around on Mikes web site and found pics. 3 and 4 are of 910 (originally thought to be a model, but no longer will be) and pics 5 and 6 are of 911. As you can see in pic 5 it has a rotary beacon. I wounder if athearn will add it.
Now that we are on the SD45 kick, I want to go back memory lane and have someone comment on the situation of splicing a 4 axle unit between two SD45's or for that matter with two SD45's period. Wasn't there a bridge in either St. Louis or Memphis that for weight distribution purposes mandated the placement of a 4 axle unit between two 6 axle ones? Also in Marre's "Frisco in Color" book on page 118 it states: "It was common to add one four-motor unit to a pair of six-axle SD40 or SD45 units to maintain higher tractive effort at the higher end of the speed/traction effort curve." The photo in the caption has the 4 axle unit at the back, not in the middle. Bob Hoover FriscoFriend
Another observation I have made while plowing through my books is that if Athearn is going to produce unit #943 it should have a nose gyra-light. The final order of SD45's (943-948) was placed after a corporate decision in 1969 to equip all subsequent power with the device. That poses the question as to whether the SD45's had the same 88" nose as the SD40's? If so, maybe I could get my contact at Athearn to put the gyra-light nose on this unit. Can anyone on the forum positively answer this question? Bob Hoover FriscoFriend
