The January, 1969 edition of All Aboard had a page in it that showed new equipment acquired in the past year. As you can see, GE U30B SLSF 835 has a coonskin herald applied to its nose. Is this a doctored photograph? If it is, they did a good job on it! Rich
Rich, Ah, the picture you posted struck a chord in my feeble memory bank. This same picture is in the 1968 Frisco Annual Report, inside back cover. SLSF 835 looks brand new in the picture. I am wondering if the coonskin herald was added to the nose for a public relations shot, or if it ever entered service with it. U30b SLSF 835 is a unit I have modeled, in fact it is one of my favorites. As a result, I have a bunch of pictures of the real unit. None of the pictures show SLSF 835 in service with the nose herald, but that does not say it never wore it in its early life. I kind of like the look. I wish they would have used the herald on all the Mandarin orange and white road units. Ken
Ken, I would like to think that they painted the coonskin on the nose for the public relations shot and then let it run around like that for a few years until its first repainting. But who knows? It is certainly a good enough excuse to add it to a model of SLSF 835. After all, there is photographic evidence! I too would have liked to see coonskin heralds applied to all classes of Mandarin orange and white locomotives. However, I am sure the ghost of Clark Hungerford would ask "how much revenue are those nose heralds bring in?" Rich
Heralds, like paint, do not pull tonnage, and make zip on revenue, but in my opinion it would have made a positive impression. One can get too austere.
U30B SLSF 835 Just noticed something interesting while searching through Dr. Condren's outstanding Frisco web pages. He has a photo of SLSF 835 taken June 1970 with a bald nose. Normally the boundary between the orange and white runs all the way around the front of the nose, however on this unit at that time it was white all the way down to the walkway deck. Just thought that was a little different and might make a unique modeling opportunity. Brad
It definitely looks painted on to me. They must have blasted it off afterward and repainted the nose, other wise it would have shown through later, which sounds like an even bigger waste of money than just leaving it on it. Check out these pictures from the archive: A year and a half later it not only has a plain white nose, but they painted the entire nose white, giving the unit even more of an odd duck look. http://frisco.org/mainline/wp-conte...-Rolla-Missouri-in-June-1970-Mike-Condren.jpg Here is SLSF 835 again in 1978. The extra white nose is a giveaway that the unit has not been repainted yet. At this point, there is not any evidence of a nose herald breaking back through. http://frisco.org/mainline/wp-conte...ham-Alabama-on-August-3-1978-Arthur-Deeks.jpg Finally, sometime between August of 1978 and the merger, SLSF 835 was repainted and the Mandarin orange strip across the bottom of the nose made a return. http://frisco.org/mainline/wp-conte...835-at-Tulsa-Oklahoma-on-December-24-1980.jpg
Installation of the Gyralite would pretty much cost the herald. It would have to have a notch cut into the nose, then welded into place, Bondo, etc. IF it was painted on at GE, then there would not be a supply of stick-ons to replace it. Remember, the Frisco was all about "Waste not, want not".
I thought the same thing, but I remembered at some point seeing pictures of a GP38 with a nose herald. I was able to find the old thread with the pictures. The short version is it still fits but the nose is very full. I think it would be even more full on the U boats. http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/gp-38-slsf-633-enid-negative-collection.2999/
