Hi All,
Has anyone made a model of this?
Doing a google search on model P30CH’s hoping to turn up something for you,but it seems apparently at one time or another there were some models available in the past by Walthers and Atlas. If they were available in the past, you might find some on EBay {though I hate that site} or at train shows {my choice}.
It also seems that all of the real ones were scrapped by Amtrak, so that may be the reason there isn;t a great call for the model of them. Just hazarding a guess here.
These people show one coming: I don’t know their history
Overland Models: OMI-5828 or 5828.1
And in the 1979 Walthers Catalog there were a couple listed by a company called American GK Locomotive Works. For powered units, the Walthers numbers ranged from 175-30 to 175-35; the unpowereds were 175-130 to 175-135. They supposedly were offered in undec, Amtrak, UP, SF, BN, and D&H.
So far, nobody’s brought out the P30CH in plastic in any scale.
Overland imported them in brass in HO around 1994.
American GK was going to offer an HO plastic P30CH model based on an Athearn mechanism some time around 1980, but I’ve never seen any evidence that they ever released it. Walthers picked up their line and put out their E60CP and E60CF electrics, as well as their AmCoach and AmCafe, but not the P30CH or the more fanciful speculative Amfleet cars that American GK had listed in the Walthers catalog.
Funny thing. For those of us that model the early years of Amtrak, our only choice is “E-units”. No one has a plastic GE P30CH or EMD SDP40f, both introduced in the early 70s. Inpsite of their problems, Amtak ran both types of units for years: The SDP’s til the early 80s and the P30s until the early 90s.
I remember the “Pooches” being used on the Amtrak Auto Train back in the 70s and early 80s. In a nutshell they were U30Cs with streamlined carbodies. Inspite of some of their reliability problems, they could easily yank a long train. I’m looking for the info to confirm it, but part of the problem with the P30’s was the use of HEP and its demands on the locomotives’ electrical systems.
Would be super to see models of both types of Amtrak units produced.
Here’s a Pooch in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOdOI0DbK7Y
The P30CH had seperate diesel gen-sets for the HEP; unlike the F40PH; which took HEP from the prime mover. The SDP40F were intended to be retro-fitted with similar gen-sets to replace thier steam boilers and large water tank. Interestingly, both units provided twice the tractive effort of a single E-unit.
Yes, the Pooches had separate set ups for HEP, which didn’t punish the prime mover as in the F40, but electrical headaches were a pain for mechanics and crews. Still, I wish that Amtrak would have let GE upgrade them to Dash-7 or Dash 8 levels. But of course that was not to be.
The main problem with the HEP on the P30CH was the fact there were two HEP generators…an electrician at the Sanford FL Auto Train terminal had told myself and several others that the biggest problem was trying to get the two HEP generators in sync.
Due to the fact they generated 3 phase power…trying to get the two in sync was "A Living Hell " as some would put it.
That is why in the P40 and P42 models they only had 1 HEP generator.