I happened on a Stewart Baldwin VO-660 on the auction site, decorated for Frisco, so I took a flyer on it. Much to my surprise, I won. (Sorry if I outbid anyone here). The question I have is on the numbering--the unit is in black and gold, but it's numbered 601. I've pictures of it as 61, but never as 601. Elsewhere on this site, though, I found a Baldwin numbered 600 in the original blue/white paint. In the corner you can see it says the numbering was changed for the VO-660s from 600/601 to 60/61. http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/vo-series.341/page-2#post-2830 http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/vo-series.341/#post-2795 Anyone know when the number was changed? Is black/gold correct with the 601 number?
The two Baldwin VO-660's, SLSF 600 & SLSF 601, were renumbered to SLSF 60 and SLSF 61, respectively, in June of 1951 in order to make room for additional purchases of EMD GP7's, which filled up the 500 series and eventually were numbered from SLSF 500 clear up to SLSF 632, with the exception of SLSF 550-554, which were ALCo RS-2's. So, depending on the date you are modeling, either 601 or 61 would be correct. Ken |-|
Thanks Ken. My modeling date is a little squishy--around 1950 or so--so this loco will fit right in. Wish I could find switchers in Black/Gold for Frisco other than Stewart Baldwins.
Try these: Atlas GP7 - r/n's SLSF 500 & 502. A few "phase errors", but decorated quite nicely & run great Atlas RS-1 - r/n's 101 & 110. Recently released. Very nice, look good, run good. And, of course, the Stewart Baldwin VO-1000 (three numbers + no number) and the DS-4-4-1000 (two numbers). Plus, they also did VO-660 SLSF 600. The Stewart Ajin Baldwins run great, but I don't like his font for the lettering and numbers. All in black/yellow. I see each of these listed on eBay often. Ken
Thanks Ken. I have Stewart VO-1000 #213 in Black/gold, and now I'll have VO-660 601--Baldwins aplenty! The SW1500s are probably a bit late for me, but an SW7 would work. I have a weakness for Fairbanks-Morse, so a H10-44 would be nice, or even an Alco S2 or an NW-2 would be welcome. I have these locos in other road names, so I suppose I could strip them and paint/decal them myself, but I'm lazy and trying to get all the gold stripes in place makes my eyes hurt. I've thought about the RS-1. I'll keep an eye out for one.
I have the Stewart VO-1000 as SLSF 213 as well, along with Stewart BLW's SLSF 224, 238 and 601. BTW - the Stewart Baldwins I really like are the two TRRA's: VO-660 TRRA 533 and DS-4-4-1000 TRRA 603, both gray, not red. I've done both of those, and they look absolutely terrific! Back to SLSF 213: Not a very good pic (I'm not much of a photographer), and I've upgraded #213 quite a bit since such that it looks much better as a result of toning down some of the "Stewartisms", but here is #213 right after I first built it two years or so ago. I am fairly happy with the way the nose number plate turned out. I about went blind trying to get those numbers in there! From viewing distance on the layout, the "coonskin" number on the nose looks great. Ken
