Forgive me for my ignorance, but I just today learned that B Units were made for EMD GP7s. I thought it’d be nice to run one of these on my N Scale layout, since it’d provide a point of interest and would allow me to run longer trains. However, my brief searching has failed to turn up any N Scale GP7 B Units for sale. Do any of you N Scalers out there run these? If so, did you buy them new, kitbash them, or make them yourself?
Bonus points if someone knows whether the CNW ran GP7 B Units and can provide a photo.
ATSF was the only railroad to order GP7 B units(5). Some basement manufacturer may have a ‘B’ unit conversion kit available in N scale. The C&NW did not purchase GP7 ‘B’ units.
Why would you need a ‘B’ unit to be able to pull a longer train? Any powered unit should work.
There were also cabless GP9s, and Pennsylvania and UP bought those. Some of the Pennsy units lasted into Conrail blue paint. I have some recollection of seeing a UP cabless geep in a deadline in Salt Lake City many years ago.
It would indeed be a conversation piece on a layout and potentially an interesting kitbash.
Curiously the Santa Fe later added cabs to at least some of their cabless GP7s.