Here is my start on a hi-hood U25b for a garden railroad. This has been a long time in the works. The hi-hood is built out of styrene, the walkways are covered with Plastruct diamond tread. The fuel tank is styrene.The piolets and ladders are styree as well. Still a ways off from completion but it's a start. The handrails are the next big challenge. I'll keep you posted on the slow progress. Enjoy, Steve Hurt
I forgot to add that if any one has U25 pictures to share ,post , sell etc. I'd love to get them. I am a U25 fan and am trying to build each phase in G and HO. As well as both color schemes. Thanks, Steve
Nice work! Have you done any in HO scale yet? I started running engines as a locomotive engineer in 1970 and the U25's were on their last miles. I hated having one on the point. Poor visibility, a throttle with 16 notches, and a throttle lever that was about a yard long. With the up and down profile of the railroad, throttle modulation was almost impossible. Never will forget the time I put one in reverse thinking I was going into dynamic braking. Sparks flew ever were! They rode so rough no one knew it but me (and of course I did not tell on my self) While moving, one did not dare walk out the back door and do an engine inspection. If the stack exhaust didn't get you then the grids at the rear of the locomotive would. Any lose clothing was automatically sucked onto the grids and from then on your shirt or coat would have this wonderful black grid pattern on it! Seems like the rail fan delight was always the engineers curse! The old GE's would pull just about anything you put behind them. But once they went down, that was it. Not much you could do to get one running again. Jerome, Fort Worth, Texas
Very nice work, Steve and a wonderfully descriptive story, Jerome! I think Karl's previously posted photo of #858 says it all... http://friscomike.txhost.us/vb/showpost.php?p=10889&postcount=13 It's nice to see work in the larger scales - thanks for sharing, Steve.
Thanks for the story. I have heard others say the same about those hi hood U's. I have always loved any of the U25's but those hi-hoods are what I really love the most. I'll post some HO U25's today.
