I might purchase an Athearn Blue Box GP60 but am wondering if their plastic handrail sets sold for the GP60M or B would fit on the Blue Box model. Does anyone know if they are compatible?
The GP60M handrail set would be missing the side handrails in front of the cab. The GP60B does not have the battery boxes in the same location as the GP60 does, so it would not work well either. If the GP60 is from the latest production run, it may have plastic handrails.
Unless Athearn has changed drastically, a BB locomotive will still have metal handrails.
You might try to get parts from the Walthers/Life-Like Proto 2000 GP60 (standard cab); I have 3 of them and the handrails are very nice. Maybe you will have to drill new holes for the posts.
Martin
Québec City
The last Blue Box GP40-2 and last three Blue Box SD40-2s I have bought came with plastic handrails. There are probably still locomotives with metal handrails still out there. About the same time I bought those locomotives, I bought a couple of SW1500s with metal handrails.
I called Athearn 2 weeks go about metal handrails for their GP7…I was informed that ALL metal handrails has been discontinued.
It is true that recent Blue Box releases have had plastic handrails, but this GP60 does not. I was told at my LHS that you can tell the new releases by the sticker on the side of the box. If it has a sticker with darker, more modern front, it may have plastic handrails (though not always!). If it has the old typewritten font directly on the box, it’s an older release.
I am pretty sure that the front and rear GP60M/B handrails will work on the 60. So I guess it won’t hurt to try the side rails. If they don’t work, I can use the metal ones (yuck) or look for some other option.