I’m a 1-railroad man (AT&SF), but demonstrators have intrigued me. For instance, the SF never owned the full sized trainmasters but the other day I saw a picture of a Trainmaster FM demonstrator on SF tracks atop Cajon Pass. Of course, it may have been demonstrating for SP.
Anyway, has anyone else modeled demonstrators using models that may not have ultimately been purchased by the railroad you are modeling but were merely there to demonstrate?
The best example would be the FTs which toured the US and brought steam’s demise.
I’ve been hoping that Bachmann would release their FTs painted and lettered as the EMD demo examples (No. 103). Has anyone already made these locos ready to run? They would surely be a big seller as a train pack. The reason for my suggestion that Bachmann should consider making these models is based on price - at normal Bachmann FT prices the 4-unit set would be a very economical buy, and (assuming that the FT drive is the same type as they put in the Bachmann Plus Fs?) it would be a fine runner too.
I do have both the GP60 and DD40 in EMD Demo paint from Athearn, I bought these for multiple reasons - 1, I liked the paintwork, 2, as my line is a museum there is ample justification for their presence.
One historical question: Can anyone say what happened to the FT demonstrator set after it finished the promotional tour? Was it sold to a RR (if so, which?) or was it scrapped?
one demonstrator that i remember was the krauss moffie that was used by SP…it was a german built locomotive that was a diesel / hydralic drive and SP had three of them…they didn’t stay long because after they ran, they needed a lot of maintenance and SP management wanted their loco’s to be in operation 24 hours a day with little or no shop time at all…it had a very interesting body design but was lousy on performance…too many drive shafts and too much down time in the shops…
Stewart did an HO model of the FT demos a few years back. Some assembly was required but not a lot.
The set of FT demos, 103ABCD, went to the Southern Railway(the American one) as its 6100ABCD. They were delivered on May 26, 1941 to the SR. I believe one A and one B still survive at the museum in St. Louis.
The 3 KM demonstrators were on D&RGW and later went to SP, which had a bunch of KM’s (13 or 14 IIRC). One still survives, although it was turned into a cab video car of some sort. It’s been derelict in SoCal for a decade or so now, in a SP service yard, with some steam and other historical SP power.
One I’d like to do is the PA set that CN test drove in 1951, it was painted in a livery very close to CN Passenger Green & Gold, but lettered for Alco/MLW/GE.
IIRC the FT demonstrator set went to ATSF. And I think Stewart did at least half the set (They had EMD lettered A & B units)[My bad, guess it was Southern they went to]
While I model specifically the NYNH&H electric zone, I too have always been fascinated by demonstrators. I have about 20+ models of demos. I just recently purchased an OMI SD45 demo, No.4353.
Granted, most of the demos I have never operated on the NH; yet they’re something unique and fun to operate on the layout.
About the only demos that ran on the NH that I know of were Alco’s “Black Maria” No.1500C, RS-2s, GE’s U25Bs and EMD GP35s. The NH eventually purchased 26 (2500-2525) U25Bs.
I’ve picked up a number of demonstrator units in model form, simply because you can easily find an excuse for running them anywhere, and some of the schemes are quite attractive. The changing schemes, on EMD SD9, GP30 and GP60 for example, show the different styles of the periods.
I’d like to see a Bachmann FT in demonstrator colours, but so far Bachmann don’t make an FT B unit, and since the demonstrator was drawbar coupled between A and B units, that would be necessary. In the mean time, I have a Santa Fe FT A unit, since AT&SF units all had couplers, and could run as single units. (They were originally known as FS units).
In Regarding the Stewart FT Demo units. I heard that they were painted up in the Demo Scheme but un-numbered. So a modeler wanting the full ABBA set could simply buy two and put the numbers on. I can not corroborate this but It would make sense because the other F unit sets I have seen from them are un-numbered as well.
Bachmann supposedly have an FT B-unit on the way this year - according to both their website and the Walthers one anyway. As far as drawbars are concerned, my plan would be to make one from brass wire/rod - the only snag would be that to spilt the units for maintainance would involve unscrewing at least one coupler pocket!
I have one SD-45 Demonstrator which I will sandwich in between two “recently received” by the Burlington, in green, white and black paint, which will all be pulling the big run through unit train bringing western, low sulphur coal to Chicago. In my world, the railroad didn’t get around to sending it back yet…
The SP track over Cajon has been built in 1967. Actually it follows the same path than ATSF’s Cajon Pass, but shortly before Summit, it diverges north, then westbound, because its official name is “Palmdale cut off”. SP built this line to route its trains from San Francisco area to SE America (Texas via Sunset Route) and to avoid Los Angeles (prior to this cut off, all SP trains from SFO to Texas had to proceed via Mojave, Palmdale, Lancaster, Van Nuys and dowtown congested LAX). This line starts at Palmdale and ends atWest Colton where it meets the Sunset Route.
That’s why UP trains from LAX area to Barstow, Daggett, Las Vegas, Salt Lake and Ogden continued to procced via BNSF tracks on Cajon, until a rail link had been built (in 1998 or 1999 I believe) between both lines close to Summit.
I model (loosely) the Milwaukee Road in the late 70’s/early 80’s. I liked the Atlas SD60 so much I picked one up in the EMD livery. In my world, the Milwaukee survived the last bankruptcy, got into the powder river basin, was running a train an hour over the Pacific Extension (a guy can dream) and needed new power, so they were testing the new SD60s. That atlas pulls like nothing I’ve seen (in N Scale), but howls like a banshee. I lubed everything I could see, and it still does. It still gets regular use though, on the longer heavier trains.