Trade one of the folks here for the Front Range GP 9 for a FP 45 that would never see track time again. Main thing was it has a Mashima motor, I have one of these motors in a kit bash Dash 8 and it runs great.
Only thing that seems to be missing is one side of the gap irons. Detail of the body is OK, with my poor eye sight what that the heck. Gears in the truck look cheap compared to the Athearns and Protos, but there is nothing wrong with them. Drive shafts look to be the same as my old Athearns I been wanting to remoter.
Gave it a test run the other night with no drag and is quite on DCC (it is a DC engine for now) and hauls. Two things I saw I did not care for.
Body shell glows like a cheap building and there are gaps where the light shows between the body parts. I know how to fix these problems, but is it worth the time due to other weak links I have not found yet?
Chassis looks to be none powered, in other words ready for DCC. I will check that when I break it down. Either way the motor will be used on DCC power.
I didn’t know Front Range even made a locomotive. They have been out of business for 20 years or so. I think Front Range was one of many names used by LBF (Loads By Fred), which is another long-gone brand name. The Front Range boxcars were very crude by today’s standards and had to have new trucks and couplers in order to be usable.
The Front Range GP7’s, 9’s, GP30’s were pretty darn good for their time. Late 80’s early 90’s I think. At that time your choice was Athearn and Brass. I have issues with the cab window’s on the GP7’s and 9’s but maybe it is just me. Handrails a little heavy but no worse than ATLAS Classic RS3’s and their GP7 (now with upgraded handrails). I have a Front range GP7 but with my fleet of P2K and the newer ATLAS I wonder if I will ever put the time into the old Front Range model.
You can build a very good model from this, question is for the same money you could get ATLAS or P2K.
It should be worth fixing up. If the trucks give trouble, Athearn trucks should swap right in. Mashima motors are good. Look here for an article about detailing one for the SP: