Always has been my favorite feature on the Protos!
I remember many times in my teen years seeing Seaboard Coast Line Railroad crews switch local freights with Geeps and U-boats. So very often the cab doors were hanging open on those hot Florida summers! [:p]
I was sad to hear from my LHS that future P2K hood locomotive releases will no longer have this detail! [V]Two modelers I spoke to are glad as they feel that the door gaps take away from the dimensional accuracy.
Personally I like the openable doors very much! This was the kind of stuff we used to dream about in the 70s! [dinner]
How do you guys feel about the cab doors? Do you think it adds to the realisim?
Antonio I’m not a big fan for the forementioned reason. However the detail is neat so why couldn’t they make a smaller hinge and keep everyone happy? Maybe pass that along to lfelike when you talk to them, hopefully LL in the US are frienndlier to talk to than their CDN counterpart. At least for you sound guys the old hinged door shells will fit onto the sound chassis so you can have the best of both worlds[:D][tup]BTW do you happen to know if BLI has anymore CDN loco’s in the pipe we hear things much later up here. Thanks TB[8D]
I don’t think I’ll miss them. I AM glad though that on newer models with the operating doors they use that hook, rather than the huge outsized handles that were on the earliest P2K releases - not to mention that dot in the roof for the hinge pin. Check back to the very first P2K releases - they sure had a lot of ‘operating’ parts but they were way out of scale.
O.K, I understand, but with quality sound I wonder it would be audible, expecially since the doors are so tiny.
As I mentioned before, I so well remember seeing hood locomotives in yard and local service with cab doors flapping open in the Florida heat. For me, this is something that I definetly want to model.
On the plus side, there’s plenty of the older P2K units still popping on EBay (New in the box) for very reasonable prices. [;)]
I thought they were rather silly myself, especially the ones on the ends of F units. Just like the rotating fans on the FAs - they went to fast to see.
I never got to see the Alco FAs with the spinning fans. From what I understand there is a modification that can be made to slow down the fan.
Forgot to mention that one area where I used to see cab doors always open was at a diesel servicing facility. Mechanics or Hoslers climbing in and out of the units to move them around. At least on the SCL, cab doors stayed open pretty much of the time the units were in or near the shop area.
I open them on my geeps, but on the FA-1, it is pointless as it is spring loaded to close, and won’t do a thing for you.
Fun on the geeps, tho. Leave them open a lot.
Matthew
The operating doors was one of the many reasons why I liked the P2K Geeps…
As far as the doors rattling I kept all four of my P2K DCC/Sound equipped Geeps…I can truthfully say I never heard the doors rattle over the sound…
I plan on installing sound in all of my P2K units. On a positive note there are still P2K units, new in the box with the openable doors, on the market.
One can always buy a Cannon & Co. replacement cab kit which has separate doors that can be positioned (even hinged if you are real good at it) for other locos that don’t have that feature.
Bob, thanks for that info. I’ve seen the Cannon kits at my LHS and never thought about looking at the package throroughly. Good to know that this option is available.