Sorry for the blurry image. I saw this on eBay.
I like this little center cab fantasy kitbash. It looks like an Alco cab with two cut-down long hoods from a GP7/9.
I wish there were better pictures. I have a soft spot for center-cab locomotives, and center-cupola cabooses.
This is a center-cab locomotive kitbash I have been working on (for 20 years).
-Kevin
LOL. Surely you jest. 20 years?
Rich
No, completely serious.
It was originally designed for a pair of NWSL underfloor drives, a speaker, and a DCC sound decoder. This was never completed, and I lost interest in converting to DCC. This was supposed to be the “only” locomotive for my master bedroom layout.
When I decided to go to traditional drive, the Athearn underframe would not fit beneath the modified hoods.
I recently (finally) obtained an Overland Models brass drive for an SW-7, and it has very short gear towers, and will fit. However, I need to remove a lot of the fuel tank to make it fit.
Yes, 20+ years, and still not done.
-Kevin
Amazing!
Keep us posted.
Rich
Looks like two Athearn Hustlers.
I have some unfinished projects that were started 50 years ago.
Looks a lot like my #10, which is HOn3.
Mike, I love that locomotive of yours.
It has lots of features that appeal to me.
-Kevin
Hmm, maybe so, but the design looks ugly to me. Sorry, just gotta be honest.
Rich
Looks like a Diesel operated by the Austrian Federal Railways.
That is OK. I love center-cab diesels even though they were unusual on North American railroads. I have kitbashed a couple, and will do more.
-Kevin
Yeah, it’s all a matter of personal preference. I’m sure some love it, some hate it. I merely dislike it.
Rich
Pardon the funky iPad formatting…
Mike
Hey, Kevin, I really like the looks of your “ugly” little locomotive. I’m yet another modeller who likes the unusual, especially home shops looking locos, but they have to be believable. With the matching fans and mufflers, I can see the internals resembling the GE and other centercabs.
And I can see why the model would be hard to power! Stay with it. The 4-4-0 I posted in your “treasures” thread only took me about 32 years to finish satisfactorily. Almost[:$] Dan
Centercab Diesels were quite popular in East and West Germany in the 1960s up until a few years ago. In both parts of the then divided Germany, they replaced the steam engines on secondary lines.
West Germany:
East Germany:
Both types of locomotives had the centercab raised above the level of the hood for improved visibility.
There is even a narrow gauge version of the East German engine:
The brutish standard gauge Diesel riding on narrow gauge trucks sure looks odd!
The switcher on ebay is actually
Chuck
Chuck, here is your picture without needing to be clicked:
Very nice job on the Athearn Hustler conversion work. Your locomotives looks great.
That is close. The fans on the example I posted look more like they are from a GP7 or GP9.
I have built two center cabs on Athearn SW chassis, both incomplete.
One used two Plymouth switcher hoods, and one used two shortened SW hoods and a Cannon & Company cab.
-Kevin
Thanks, Kevin! I have to figure out how to post a pic that shows up without using photobucket…
Kevin, I really like that center cab and the handrails …[yeah]
On another note… Detroit Connecting was my first freelance switching railroad powered by 6 Alco Models RS-1s painted black with yellow frames and pilots with yellow lettering and numbers… My decals came from Champ’s private road name decals. This was in '67…
The behemoths of center cab diesels were the Baldwin DT-6-6-20s, Santa Fe had 6, EJ&E had 25, Cotton Belt had 1. PRR had its own version, the RT-624 (24 units)
Thiose things are massive. I saw one in brass at a train show for $250.00, but I did not move fast enough to get it.
Good thing, I really do not need a locomotive that big.
I did not realize so many had been built. I would have thought 5-10 tops.
-Kevin