My favorite Frisco GP35's were not the "torpedo tube" units, but instead the seven of them (SLSF 725-731) that ran on AAR Type B trucks from trade-in Alco FA1/FB1 cab units. I liked almost anything that ran on those trucks - a result, I think, of my childhood Lionel UP Alco FA-FA locomotive, which I dearly loved. Following are pics of two of those GP35 units - SLSF 726 and SLSF 730. Please forgive the 730 pics as they show the unit wearing its late-in-life "gangreen" colors! I don't recall ever posting a BN gangreen unit on frisco.org before. I'm doing so now only to show the detail shot. I'll try not to post anything in gangreen again! o GP35 SLSF 726 is shown on a Sunday afternoon in 1980 highballing a freight out of St Louis' Lindenwood Yard down the Eastern Division. 726 is in the lead with SD45 SLSF 919 following and another SD45 behind that. The train was moving pretty fast, and I snapped the shutter a bit too soon. But, you can clearly see the former Alco AAR-B trucks under the GP35. The location of the picture is at the familiar intersection of Big Bend and Geyer roads in Kirkwood, where the Frisco crosses through the middle of the intersection on the diagonal. The former Frisco commuter station of Windsor Springs was just ahead of the train, behind where I was standing. o GP35 SLSF 730 (BN 2580) is shown in her gangreen colors at Cherokee Yard in Tulsa in the summer of 1982. This shot was taken during the FMIG meeting held in Tulsa that year, which included a very informative visit to the yard. By that time, many of the former Frisco GP35's had been put on a reserve basis and were sitting idle there waiting their future fate. SLSF 704 (BN 2554) was coupled to 730 in the same situation. The GP35 was a good locomotive, but suffered from frequent maintenance troubles resulting from having to pump 2500 HP out of an overtaxed EMD 567 powerplant. The next EMD locomotive models, the GP/SD 38/40/45 series, introduced the new EMD 645 engine, which proved to be much more confortable with higher HP outputs. o The final pic is a detail shot of the front truck and front of the fuel tank on 730. Note the details - the AAR-B truck with its roller bearings, the speed recorder cable, the derail brake chain, the locomotive bell, the fuel tank fill pipe, the tank sight glass, and the front of the air tank. Shots like this are very useful for detailing locomotive models, which is why I took it. Ken
Good photos, Ken. I have a desire to model a Frisco GP35's with the "torpedo tubes", but I wanted the AAR Type B trucks on it as well as the B/Y paint scheme. I realize that it would not be prototypical, but I may eventually do it anyway. I submit to Rule #1.
