Empire Belt GP30s

Empire Belt GP30s
The EBRR GP30s round a curve on the Empire City Belt Line.

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Penn Central FP7 #4369 Project

 Greetings All,

In early 2021 acting a bit like Noah I started looking for an Atlas Penn Central EMD FP7 to pair up with my single Atlas PC FP7 #4348 that I painted in December 2016 and documented in this blog post.

The Penn Central inherited forty of the dual purpose EMD FP7s from the Pennsylvania RR in February 1968. The PRR purchased the units in 1952 along with fourteen passenger equipped F7Bs as protection for passenger traffic upswings and for freight service. According to the Morning Sun Penn Central Power book the units were used exclusively in freight service.

Here is the 4348 with passenger equipped F7B #4156 in P.C.C.M. 81 action.

Early in February I came across a good deal on ebay for this used Atlas yellow box undecorated FP7 that has the factory pilot replaced with a metal pilot. The pilot didn't matter to me I was just happy to have a clean unit to work with.

The Atlas FP7 is fresh out of the Patti O Paint Shop. Road number 4369 was chosen for this model to replicate PC 4369 in PC Ralph's Kings Port Division Fleet. This gives us the option of pairing the 4348 and 4369 in our virtual ops.

On March 1st Penn Central FP7 #4369 was put into service. The prototype 4369 was originally PRR #9869. Here it is in PRR paint with it's new PC number in mid 1968.

The PC FP7 fleet was maintenance based at Conway Yard and that detail has been included to match the prototype.

The 4369 couples up to FP7 #4348 giving me a pair of good running workhorses. Note the air grills on the 4348 have been painted black to match the 4369 and Ralph's FP7s.

The 4369 makes its first revenue run.


An FP7-F7B-FP7 lash up power Multi Level Train ML-12A


The Conrail cyclopedia reports that eighteen of the forty FP7s originally in the Penn Central fleet were conveyed to Conrail in April 1976. Here is the CR 4369 at Conway in 1977. Here is the 4369 in 1978. It appears the maintenance base for the CR FP7s was moved to Collinwood where they joined their brother F units. 

Thanks for reading and watching!!!
See ya soon!!!



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6 comments:

  1. Neal M.March 23, 2021 at 4:17 PM

    Another outstanding job rolls out of the Patti-O Paint Shop and the N.Y.C.T.L. crew! That consists is very imprsssive. I really enjoyed the roll by of PC train ML-12A with all of those vehicles! Another one out of the park!!

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  2. PCRalphMarch 23, 2021 at 9:31 PM

    "And they hauled freight out of the land two by two"! Great job completing the imagined "Noah" set of two FP7s! PC #4369 is looking beautiful in its dipped black scheme and suits its mate perfectly. Thanks for the shout outs, by the way! I'm looking forward to showing the pair travel from one layout to the other in future virtual ops! Nice videos of long trains being managed by the new set. The B unit in between is also something I could replicate in a P.C.C.M. It was cool to see photos of the prototype unit surviving into the Conrail era! Nice job all around and once again I am admiring of your skill and patience in applying those tiny maintenance based yard name decals!

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  3. Robert R.March 24, 2021 at 7:50 AM

    Another top quality paint job from the Patti-O paint shop! I have always liked PC F,FP,and E units in black. The 4369 looks really neat in the videos.

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