Last month I got a PM from our own Karl Brand (Thank you Karl), that he had an Oriental U25B High Nose version, that he was willing to part with. The deal was done and it arrived safe and sound, it was the right color Scalecoat Black, that was another bonus, a few loose parts here and there, the shell is great. But I gotta say and just like Karl has said before, the drive chain and chassis, well not so much. It is typical of earlier brass chassis, no flywheels power pickup only on one side of the trucks on and on. So that all had to change for me and I expect it to run with all my other locomotives, so after a few hours in a mill, using an Athearn frame, I milled about half of the original fuel tank away. I then added a sliver of a 1/2" piece of round stock to the bottom of the fuel tank to round it off like the prototype, then added .134 of styrene to the front and back of the fuel tank to match the Oriental fuel tank dimensions, had to do it this way to have a place to mount the motor. After getting lucky again I found that DW air tanks for GE U boats were the right size and had better detail, so I used them, added all the piping and details I could to the under-frame, never could find where the bell was on this. If you have any info on that please let me know. Anyways decal-ling the ends of this was a bear cat, as you can see the ends are tapered towards the top, but flat compared to other units, so had to shorten the decal by almost 2 scale ft to match the images. Now, if you look at the prototype images the chevrons on the corners stop right at the tops of the battery/valve boxes on either end of the loco, a couple decals met their end and were duly mourned, I used the Mask Island chevrons (cut down to fit) and Microscale for the other decals, plus a few very short "be safe" I had to make, had to make the number boards too. Another thing I noticed about these units, is they came equipped with "tight lock" or "alignment control" draw bars, that is interesting to me. Mounted the Antenna, beacon, our Frisco Leslie 5 chime horn to the body, also Custom finishes wheel slip modulators on the fireman's side, a speed recorder on the engineers side trucks, also used craft type Yellow paint for the handrails, grabs, man it is difficult to get proper coverage Yellow over Black. As Ken Wulfert and others have said this is not an exact representation of the SL-SF High Nose U25B, the class lights are a bit low, and there are very few minor differences to some steps, maybe a couple other things, but not a single thing that would make me want to change any part of the shell, the castings alone for the pilots and steps are very heavy and impressive. I would like to thank Karl again for thinking of me on this little project, I sure enjoy figuring out how to modify them to make them work for me. The original chassis is unmolested and the shell can easily be attached to it if the person that's gets this after me wants to take a few steps backwards IMHO. It will get a lighting package now, some real glass windows and weathered, although Vicki, has already threatened me about too much of that. Enough of my ramblings. Anyways, thanks for taking a look!
Very nice, Tom. I have a project waiting in my drawer using a Stewart U25B and an extra body to try to make one of these.
Thank You Keith, It was a fun but extensive kinda complicated for my feeble mind kinda project. I have a Rivarossi U25C for sale now myself, that was intended for that very purpose. It looks like a lot of work. I did contemplate a Stewart shell for the aft portion of this project for the screens, but that was very short lived.
Thanks Ken! You gotta admit this has a face only a mother could love though. I would like to meet the guy that designed the end handrails, and admire the guys that had to build them. I also never saw a single image with the builders plates shown. I am pretty sure they came with them, so I placed the plates where the diagrams shows their typical placement, Also the decals under the cab on both sides didn't last very long. Our Frisco never met a "Be Safe decal" they didnt like. I mean they were all over this thing.
Looks great Tom. Glad you got one of those. I agree they are good looking models. I regret not casting mine in resin before I painted it. Or at least the nose and pilots. I will go ahead and PayPal you now for this and the old chassis. Ha Funny, I think I am the only person on earth that thinks these are good looking. Thanks for posting this. Glad to see at least one more got painted and will see some use.
TOM, as Mr Magoo would say, "By Jove - You've Done It Again". Very Impressive! If I understand - You swapped the chassis and internal workings with the Athearn innards?
John, When I make it out that way one day I will bring it with me Steve, Thanks, Its kinda growing on me. Its not so bad to look at I guess, kind of getting used to it. Karl, Thank You! And yes it will get some weathering, I really need to do it to bring out all the under-frame details, there is a lot of Black piping under there. Just dont want to do it right now. I kinda got to be in the mood for doing that, it takes so much time. Sherrel, Yessir you got it right, good old Athearn, runs like a Swiss watch. With the updated motor and hex drives. Thanks everyone for the comments!
Finally got the lighting kit (Richmond Controls) and some weathering done to this locomotive. Used glass for the windows too. Here it is in service. Thanks for looking
Tom - Great to see you upgrade this model. Also thanks to Karl for making it available. Homely as they were, it was a Frisco classic, and was the first step in the Frisco leading the way on the GE U25b. See, I always said you will become a U-boat fan! You'll have to rehearse a "chuga chuga chuga" chant as this thing climbs a grade on your wonderful layout. K ps - I've examined some pics, and can't prove it, but the bell is likely, IMHO, under the frame behind the front truck ahead of the fuel tank somewhere. I seem to recall mounting them on U-25b's on the left side in that location.
Ok, Tom, I will agree with everyone on the outstanding job of modeling this unit, but I do have one question for you. What did the out bound engineer do to make the hostler angry at him to put that unit in the lead with the other more suitable units trailing? Those high nose U25s were horrible engines to have in the lead. Rough riding, toad stools for seats, poor visibility, noisy, cord for the whistle instead of the typical handle. I always wondered if the hostler was angry at engineers in general when they would set up the consist with one of these units in the lead. I must say that I enjoy this unit more as a model than the real thing. Terry
Looks like the Hostler was too lazy to turn one of the other engines in the consist. Cutting away and turning one of the other engines, then hooking it all back together would have required some effort and Hostler's do the least they can, right? Andre
