Tried to keep the title accurate. I was wondering if and what the Bachmann Sharknoses are missing for detail, that might be an easy, afternoon(s) project. Nothing major, but little things that I can say is mine. I don’t know quite what the sharks had though, so guidence would be appreciated
The other thing I;m lookign for is a sound decoder to approximate. I don’t know of any making an actual sharknose, save a small buisness I’ve never heard of. What sound’s right for an RF-16?
Good news is that, soundwise, LoK Sound offers Baldwin sounds (as least for the switchers). You’d have to look up the listings.
My friend, CMarchand has one in an HO Baldwin switcher (I think it’s an Atlas). I’ve heard it and, imho, was very impressive!
If you decide to take this route, the appropriate horn sound would be the classic Wabco E2 “honker”.
As far as detail goes, they were kind of plain-Janes. Other than grab irons/hand rails, the only other add-ons would be windshield wipers, coupler lift bars and trainline hoses. They weren’t MU’d with anything else. You could add some detail to the trucks; brake chains, air lines. If you’re doing the Pennsylvania RR, you could add the train phone antennae if the prototype had them, (I’m no expert on the Pennsy). Check the web for photos of the units you have and work from them.
I did. There’s one of the Demo Sharks, and it’s only as big as our avatar (and ironically from Trains.com) It’s got approxiamtions of wipers, handrails, etc. I’ll see about train cables. I assume this means brake cables, etc. brake chains sound easy. Pennsy did have train phones, but the Baldwin Demos did not. Without MU cables, how did the Bs work?
Antonio: I can’t find the decoder of which you speak.
The sharks, if I remember correctly, had a pneumatic control system that of course didn’t work with the electrical control systems of other makers’ locos, so they always had to run with other sharks. Maybe other Baldwin locos could be mu’d with them, but I can’t remember seeing any such photos.
I can’t remember ever seeing them running elephant style, so it would only have mu hoses on the back of the A units.
Here’s a shot of the D&H units which were bought second hand back in the 70s I believe. They do have strobes mounted to the roof that were not original equipment. That’s a Sinclair antenna in the center of the roof of the cab.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-8/1069636/DHSharks12161205.jpg
Here’s another shot I found (also D&H units): http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=103219&nocomments=true
And here’s a bunch more: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/diesel52.html (the page has a mix of Baldwin Sharks and Babyfaces).
The QSI revolution is going to have sounds for the RF-16s, now you just have to choose LokSound or QSI… I don’t know WHEN the RF-16 sounds will be available, but I know that one of the guys that works at Tony’s is going to record the RF-16 sounds for the QSI revolution.
Ah. Probably for the PCM Shark that is supposed to be released years ago.
I know my friend that works at Tony’s is going to put it in his Bachman RF-16.