Does anybody know if there ever was a model of the FPA4 engine produced in HO scale? I know Via Rail had some , which were EX CN Rail units, B&O also had a couple if I am not mistaken.
According to my book “Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years”, the only FPA-4 (36 built) and FPB-4 (14 built) units were all sold to CN. B&O only had FA and FB (no “P” designation) units. These are virtually identical except for an additional radiator opening on each side for the “P’s”.
Walthers made the FA’s and FB’s a few years back, and they can still be found. You would only need to add that extra radiator opening to make an accurate model (or very close).
Brad
I’ve been wondering the same thing. I’m interested in adding a prototypical engine consist to my Napa Valley Wine Train. The Wine Train uses FP4As that used to be in the VIA rail inventory. From my understanding, I believe these ALCOs now run on a mix of natural gas and diesel.
I purchased the Athearn Ready to Roll F7 engine and dummy in Wine Train livery when I was just getting back into model railroading. Now that I’m a little wiser, I’d like to use the correct engine. I’ve seen ALCO FPs in the Walthers and Broadway Limited catalogs.
The FPA4 is basically the same car body as the FA2 or FPA2. This is about 2’ longer than a FA1(one can see the radiator moved forward to make room for the S/G in the rear of the car body). The Walthers ‘Trainline’ model is a FA1. The P2K line has had both FA2 and FA1 model. I suspect one could modify the FA2 by adding the lower grills under the radiator grill. I think there may be some Canadian model firm with the detail parts or a complete casting for the FPA4’s as well. Intermally, the prototype has a 12 cylinder ‘251’ engine rather than the older ‘244’ V12 of the FA1 or FA2.
Jim
From the CN Sig’s web site http://cnlines.ca/modelling/proto/loco.php:
| Life-Like P2000 | HO | FA2 | From this model you can recreate the 1st order of FA2s as they had no dynamic brakes and the grills are the same but the grabs above the front window need to be removed and the is an extra grab needed on the front. There is an article in CN Lines 10/2 on FA/B2s. With more changes you can model the other orders and you can use it to model anFPA2 and an FPA4.There is article on FPA/B2 and FPA/B4s in CN Lines 9/4. |
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So see if you can get a copy of CN Lines 9/4 for a how to.