Was curious if anyone knows if the GE U-23B and U-28B shared the same chassis and carbody? I am modeling the Western Pacific U-boats and they only had U-23B’s and U-30B’s in their fleet. I have an Athearn U-28B which if the same will just be converted to a 23B.
Thanks,
Brad
They are extremely close. On the back side of the U23B there are 4 screens for air intake for the compressor on either side. The U23B with some railroads had different side frames on the truck. With the Milwaukee Road the U28B has AAR type B trucks and on the U23B had blomberg trucks. With the western Pacific they had the standard AAR trucks. They are both the exact same in length and in hieght. As you would know there HP is different but that doesn’t matter
This is the WP U23B so you will have to compare with the U28B. This locomotive has AAR type B trucks just if you were woundering. Notice the 4 air intake grids on the back of the locomotive, and the the back intake portion juts out from the rest of the carbody approximately 2 to 3 inches. These are probably the biggest differences on the outside. Everything else is the same.
If you wanted you could go and buy a U23B and paint it WP from Atlas. The paint job looks simple enough.
Have Fun!![:D]
James
James,
Thanks for the great reply. Yes paint hopefully will be straight forward. Unfortuneatly the old WP switched colors about three times in the later years. Silver/pumpkin oarnge, Perleman green w/oarnge lettering and then the last paint job Perleman green w/ nose area and under cab window WP oarnge. What a choice? I believe the U23’s used the EMD Blomberg trucks so says most articles I have read on WP history.
Brad
I read hat the U25B and the U28B were the same externally excep for a battery cover on the right side in the cab area. Stewart made a U25B… in the SP version they numbered some as 25s and others as 28s with no modification of the battery cover. I suspect that the U25s that have just become available may be from these Stewart originals.
I would think that there would be a lot less work finding a U25B than messing around converting a U23 which seems to me to be quite different.
This is one for the rivet counters [:D] The U28B was a 16 cylinder locomotive
while the U23B was equipped with a 12 cyl. Externally, this means that the
U28 has 8 tall engine compartment doors in the hood on each side,
while the U23 has only 6. Other dimensions were the same. Radiator differences were as noted above. It is up to you whether
this difference is significant enough to make or alter your decision.
Hope this helps.
I believe the U25b has a bigger “nose” than the U28b, the u25 also has a step down the long hood on the firemans side, I’m not sure if th 28 does. Also the first U28’s did have the 25 nose but then switched to a shorter nose for the rest of produuction of U-boats
This longer nose could be bought out of the factory. Only curtain railroads did this such as the Milwaukee road. They were not the most popular of the U-boats so most came with the longer nose. They were also ordered with the standard short nose like most U boats. The Milwaukee road ordered them this way also. the U25B otherwise is pretty much the same thing. biggest difference is horsepower.The U25B had the 16 cylinder engine also, but rated for 2500 horsepower.
Since the U28B had a 16 cylinder engine and the U23B only had a 12 your best bet would to buy the U23B from Atlas and then add your detail and paint. (If you don’t care to do so then you can go with U28B carbody. It probably won’t be that noticable.)
James