I was showing a friend of mine some of my locos. He looked at one of the Amtrak P42s and asked, “Don’t you have an interior of the cab?” At first I was clueless, then I realized that he was right. I was wondering if anybody has built there own cab interiors for their locos. I have thought about on the P42s. Thanks in advance.
Will
I’m sure that there are people on this forum who have built cab interiors. They are talented individuals and deserve a lot of credit. On the other hand, I know some folks who have removed cab interiors so that they can mount a speaker in the cab area.
You say that you were clueless before your friend pointed out the missing interior, so I would presume that you had that diesel running around and never noticed that it didn’t have one. So what you’ve got to ask yourself is if that engine is running at a scale 60 mph and you’re standing two real feet away, would you notice the missing interior? Well, would you?
I believe that you really have two options. The first is to ask your friend if he’ll build you an interior. The second is to find a new friend.
You have a good point. I forgot to mention that I had just brought the engines out for the first time in months (since I don’t have a layout). I hadn’t had much time to run since I have tied up with school.
Will
Keystone sells a few HO cab interior kits.
http://www.discounttrainsonline.com/search.php
Sorry, that links not working right. Go to that Discount Trains site and do a search for “cab interiors” and you’ll find them.
I find having a crew in the cab makes a big difference. I have a few diesels where the crew figures don’t really have a completed interior to sit in, they’re just fit in the best I can work out so they are sitting in the right places in the cab. Generally just seeing the crew in there is enough on most engines, your mind will add in the rest and assume the interior is more complete than it is.
About the only diesels where I’d say a cab interior is a must would be an end-cab switcher. For other engines at least in HO or smaller, it’s a nice addition but not that necessary IMHO.
You are correct that having just the crew in place helps the illusion. At least with an AMD that might always run in the lead. But when you put them in a freight unit that gets moved around within a consist, then some joker, such as myself, will come along and ask you to explain why the crew is riding backwards in the middle unit of a three unit consist. So then you can take the time to always make the crew equipped unit run in the lead, or do the easier thing and just ask me not to come back.
Or why all the locos in your round house have crews sitting on their butts doing nothing![(-D]
Eons ago I use to place “mock” cab interiors made from ABS plastic or square balsa wood in my cabs.
For those interested in a better solution you might want to try the Atlas interiors control stand part #9890244($.35 ea) and cab seats part #9890242 ($1.00/set).
These are for the GP38/40 but,can be used for any loco.
I do use some engines as “trailing units”. For example I have two CNW Alco C-628’s, one has a crew in it and is the one I use if I’m using just one, if I need to use both for say a long ore train, I put the second one (without a crew) on behind it. The only downside of that is that it is (or is going to be when finished) a point-to-point layout, so the engines would need to be turned on a turntable or else operate with the crew-equipped engine in the rear and the unmanned engine in front.
Actually, might be a better idea to just to put a crew in both and say the second unit’s crew is deadheading or something…[D)]
BTW, I can’t think of his name, but there’s a guy who’s done a couple of locomotive articles in RMC who sets up an engineer on a thick wire connected to a pivot in the interior of the cab roof, so he can reach in with a screwdriver or something like that and pull down the engineer when he wants one in the cab, or push the figure up into the roof of the cab
In years past, when crews were larger, it wasn’t all that unusual to see men riding on a trailing unit. If there was a fireman on the crew the front brakeman would sometimes ride on the second unit, often facing the rear to keep an eye on the train. Sometimes the conductor would be on the head end, so he might be on the second unit.
In the days of 5 man crews the head brakeman would ride the trailing unit and would watch the train…
Now on short locals and a short hop to the next stop all 5 men would ride the engine…