I have a union pacific lionel GP 9 that I need a part for. the body shell is missing the hand rails and the bump out next to the fan on top of the body on the left side. anyone know where i can aquire those parts.
Is it the older GP9 that Athearn made for Lionel, or the GP9 Lionel made? One of the differences between the two is that the Lionel has a single belt going into each truck, and the Athearns, I believe, are completely gear driven.
Belt drives! I remember them. I avoid them at all costs these days. They are nothing but trouble when the belt starts to wear.
it has drive shafts from a center mounted motor to both trucks, and a heavy wieght mounted on top of the motor as if the heavy frame wasn’t enough. lol
If there are no belts, it’s the Athearn one. The GP9 (now called the GP7 like it should be) is still available from Athearn. They have good customer service, so you might be able to get some parts from them.[:D]
http://www.athearn.com/Search/Default.aspx?SearchTerm=GP7+KIT&CatID=THLD
Darth;
It could still be a Lionel. Back in the 1970’s, when Lionel was just getting back into HO, and this was just prior the GS-4 Freedom Train, they offered a locomotive of “unparalleled quality, craftsmanship, and power”. The original GP7/9 from lionel had 8 wheel drive, a huge weight on top of the chassis, and a five pole motor that was advertised as the same motor GE put into electric razors. I bought one. Kept it until I got rid of all my diesels in the mid 1980’s. It was an extremely smooth and powerful diesel. It wasn’t until lionel brought out the GS-4 that they went to a Kader built mechanism from Hong Kong. These were made in the USA at Mt. Clemons.
It has 4 wheel drive, and a large wieght with a GE motor, well marked as a GE motor. but it’s made in canada I think, I’ll have to check that to be sure. If i could figure out how to post pictures here on the forum i’d do it, just haven’t had time to play with it. I check the athearn info for putting Kadee couplers on it, but it looks like the mount on them is a drop mount that the coupler goes on top of this unit it would have to be mounted on the bottom or it would be to high to line up. but you guys have been real helpful, keep the good info coming, hopefully one day soon i’ll be back in the loop of knowledge again, it’s been 20 years since i’ve messed with some of my trains, so i’m enjoying the new found fun again.
whoops sorry, misstyped, it’s a 8 wheel drive.
Thought it could be the original from the 70’s the way you described it. The dynamic brake blister can be had from the numerous other models on the market today. The one from an old Athearn could fit. As to the handrails, best bet would be to get some old Atheran stanchions, and make your own. Not hard to do. A set of Athearn GP-9’s could be a drop in fit, but I wouldn’t count on it. Also an old set from the Front Range GP-9 may even be the same as I think FR got the molds for this model when lionel got out of HO then.
The handrails from an FR Geep might fit, but the FR molds were new ones they cut themselves. The tip-offs are that the FR shell is scale-width with a separate walkway molding, while the Lionel HO GP7 is over-width (on the order of something like 6 scale inches) like the Athearn GP7 and has its walkways integral to the hood casting. The doors are also rendered differently.
The Athearn GP7 hand rails should fit.