New York Central Bee Liner

New York Central Bee Liner
RDC-3 #497 calls at Bedford Station

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Penn Central GP30 #2228 Joins the Fleet

Greetings Blog Followers,

My apparent obsession with the EMD GP30 and the mating worms of the Penn Central continues. The latest locomotive to be released from the NYCTL paint shop is GP30 #2228. The model, a Bachmann Spectrum product, was recently purchased second hand wearing U.P. colors and lettering. While the U.P. is a fine looking paint scheme and brings thoughts of railroading success as they are still standing today it did not fit my needs to model a dip black paint scheme that would symbolize bankruptcy and ultimate failure. I admit a brace of colorful U.P. diesels can be quite pleasing to the eye as they haul long strings of freight cars from the Windy City to the West Coast. But come on now.

On the prototype the New York Central purchased 10 of the 2250 horsepower GP30s that were introduced in 1961. The Pennsylvania used the GP30 as it's first second generation diesel and purchased 52 units. On the Penn Central the GP30s were numbered 2188 - 2249. The 10 NYC units did not have dynamic brakes but the bulging brake blister shoulders looked the same with or without the dynamic brake feature. The Penn Central assigned the NYC units to Collinwood and it's flat terrain. The PRR units were scattered in small groups to eastern yards like Enola and Conway. The PC GP30s were used in both symbol and secondary freight service.

On the layout the 2228 joins Penn Central GP30 #2232 (sporting the Red "P" PC herald), three custom painted New York Central GP30s, two PRR GP30s that belong to my son and a B&O GP30 that belongs to my other son. All are from the Bachmann Spectrum line and they run extremely well singly or in multiple unit lash ups. They are very heavy and require little voltage to move long heavy trains making them ideal for the NYCTL.

The 2228 is stopped on the West Side

The 2228 is the second unit behind the 2232 on this train headed to North Side Yard. On the trip out of N.S. Yard to Terminal Yard the 2228 will be in the lead. 

The colorful 2232 in the lead.  


Two Custom Painted NYC GP30s with a GP35 round the curve heading out of North Side Yard towards the Empire City viaduct


A close up of the 2228

The PC GP30s wait for an outbound train to clear from North Side Yard. 
An outbound engine can be seen on the left .
  

8 comments:

  1. NICE work in the paint shop!!!! That looks really sharp!

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  2. Bachmann has an NYC lettered GP30 in its current range. It has a 1-pice frame, DCC socket, and good paint. http://bigbluetrains.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7850#p143035

    I have an older Spectrum GP30 in PRR with a split frame -- waiting to get up the gumption to convert it to DCC.

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    1. Hi John, That new Bachmann NYC GP30 is a good looking model. Looks they applied thinner handrails as well. My GP30s are all split frame. Shoot me a message if you start the DCC conversion project on your PRR unit. Interested to see what it entails. Thanks for the head's up on the new GP30!

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  3. Not sure how to shoot you a message via Blogger, John -- but the issue with split frame Bachmanns is twofold. One is isolating the motor brushes and leads, which contact the sides of the frame directly. The other is getting each side's current to the decoder. I've futzed with this on other Bachmann split frames, it should be an intermediate-level project, but so far I've screwed it up.

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    1. Hi John, You could probably just post the info here as we are talking Bachmann GP30s. I understand the motor isolation. Is there enough room with this frame and shell to add a decoder or is some type of milling required?

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  4. I believe there's enough for, say, an NCE D13SR based on the other split-frame Bachmanns I've looked at. If not, you can always go to an N scale decoder, since the amps are basically the same as HO. I believe that MR used an N decoder when they converted a Bachmann split frame H16-44 to DCC for their Virginian project layout, no milling needed -- though I think the D13SR would have fit anyhow.

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  5. Thanks John, Good info to know.

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