I am looking for N&W GP9 locomotives either in plastic or in brass. I am modeling 1957 and they first appeared about 1955 (if I recall correctly, there were 4 of them). Any help would be appreciated.[tup]
That should be fairly easy to paint black and decal.
Yup…13 dip black is the color-that amounts to engine black or plain old black whichever comes first.[(-D]
Your best bet would be to buy one dcorated for another RR and strip the paint and repaint it. Bachmann has their standard line GP9 that lack some details like grab irons. These come with DCC installed(no sound). You didn’t specify if you run DC or DCC.The Bachmann will work on either I belive. Micro Mark has good prices on them. They would make a great project for painting and detailing. Joe
Another option would be a PRR GP9. They ran on NW due to PRR majority ownership then.
The N&W had a lot more than 4 GP-9s. The 22 Redbird GP-9s used for passenger work have only been made available in brass by Overland. They were N&W passenger red and had dynamic brakes and steam generators. The rest of the GP-9s could be represented by plastic models by Bachmann, Athearn, P2K, Walthers and many others as well as different brass imports. All the freight GP-9s were painted black, had high short hoods and were equipped with dynamic brakes and dual controls. Until the mergers with NKP and Wabash there were no low hoods or non-DB equipped EMD road engines. N&W GP-9s were numbered 500-521, 620-914 (with a few open numbers). They were in several “Phases” having 4 ea 36" fans and also 2 ea 48" fans as well as different locations for fuel fillers and louvers in the hood doors. They were delivered from 1955-1959. The original numbers for the 1955 freight units was 10-13 (later 710-713). The original passenger units of 1957 were 762-767 (later 500-505) and they were delivered as black units. They also had GP-18s #915-962 that were almost identical detail wise. Hope that helps you some. Roger Huber
The original ‘4’ GP9’s were delivered in 1955 and numbered 10-13. They were later renumbered to 710-713 as more engines were delivered These were ‘freight’ units and were painted black with large ‘N&W’ circular logo’s bolted to the ends(OSHA would have loved that).
The passenger GP9’s were numbered in the 500 series and had the ‘tuscan’ paint job, D/B, S/G, and a special split fuel/water tank with the air tanks above the fuel/water tank(like later engines). The first 6 were delivered in 1957, and were numbered 762-767 - They were later renumbered 500-505. Here is a link to one of the passenger units ‘in service’ in the tuscan paint scheme:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=943261
Note that large sheet metal logo that extends over the taper of the short hood!
Jim
Richt now on EBay there is a N&W blue GP18:
This could be made into a decent GP9 by removing the dreadful looking radiator grills on each side and taking out the shutters behind and using Plano parts:
http://www.planomodelproducts.com/14860.html for grills
http://www.planomodelproducts.com/14861/14861.html shutters
Maybe someone else could give some advice on a blue paint source.
Quite often on Ebay there are N&W GP18’s listed that go for around $30-35 dollar range. None of the brown box offerings are DCC ready if that matters. They will also need gears changed and general cleaning of drive train to remove the peanut butter that was once called grease. Relube with some LaBelle products and they should be fairly good runners. The GP18 fans are not correct for a GP9, that would be a concern.
Dick
Some of the last GP-9s on the N&W had pan top 48" fans which most people associate with the GP-18s. Some GP-18s had them as well as flare top 48" fans. Some of the Red Birds were early units with the 4 36" pan tops and later Red Birds had the 48" pan tops. There are many photos on the pre-hamburger herald N&W showing mixes of the various styles on the same engines. Roger Huber
There were P2K GP9’s painted in the N&W as delivered scheme, black with steam locomotive lettering on the sides and the gothic N&W herald at each end. The red passenger paint scheme was introduced in late 1958, a little after your era. There were 36 GP9’s delivered by 1957, with 65 more built that year. N&W was still mostly a steam railroad at that point.
John
Always good to read about cars and accessories that were produced but somewhat overlooked. Great article!