I’m a fan of PA-1’s and I’ve been putting together consists PA’s in different roadnames. I have a PRR PA-1 that has SILVER trucks, straight from the factory that way. I’ve been looking for another PA-PB to go with it and noticed that some have BLACK trucks.
Does anyone know the history of this?
Black truck’s or Silver trucks?
Could have been a goof at the factory level - theirs or yours.
Some RR’s changed their paint schemes (Santa Fe’s passenger U-28C’s were delivered both way’s).
Looking at picture’s of you prototype and era, is only way to tell. Solution is a paint brush and a bottle of paint.
You’ll have to do some research to find out how they should be painted but the photos I’ve seen shows them as black. Athearn probably made a mistake with the silver trucks and changed them due to comments by modelers or additional research.
Rick
Additional note, I’m not sure if teh PRR had PBs, I’ve only seen PAs
It could be the dealer you bought it from swapped chassis on power and dummy versions - I picked up a GP50 dummy which had the fuel tank and truck sideframes in the wrong colour (black when they should have been silver). As others have said, it’s a simple fix. Find an aerosol spray paint that’s roughly the right shade, unclip them from the loco and respray.
The problem is PRR called them AFP-20’s and never owned any PA’s. Regardless of what they called them, Athearn took a lot of liberties with their paint and road names on many items, but all of the pictures that I have in my PRR books show the trucks on the units to be a very dark color and very dirty. It was probably Brunswick Green on the trucks, which looks like black in most light.
That was the common practice for PRR.
I just double checked my engines. My whole NYC PA A-B-A has black trucks.
The PRR PB I have has silver. Yes the PRR did have PB’s.
To confuse issues here are some pics that go totally against what I have. I guess they were produced in both.
I like the look of the black trucks, but if I get a whole consist of PRR’s with silver trucks I will probably just leave them that way.
Here’s the answer. The older Athearn engines were silver and that’s because the sideframes were made of metal. The newer ones were black plastic. Not sure when that changed. The newer ones seem to have coincided when athearn also changed their motor/flywheels.
ALL PRR note ALL PRR diesels had black trucks. The comment regarding metal vs plastic sideframes is correct and the silver one should be painted black.
Really cant tell my PA’s are santa fe’s and i think the color is soppose to be silver,on the trucks
carl.
Athearn used to leave the trucks and underframes black on all locomotives, regardless of what color they should have been. All of the Southern Pacific locomotives that I bought that Athearn made before the mid-1990s I have to repaint the underframe and sideframes.
OK, OK, I’ll get out the black paint. (Said with a smile) [;)] LOL
P2K got it right.
Chuck,That is true P2K got it right…Sadly the speed is off for a passenger unit…I believe the PA tops out at 60 and that is a far cry from the more normal 80 mph.
Crazy, when their SD45 runs at somewhere north of 120mph. I had to restrict speed with the top speed CV when I put a decoder in it, it was WAY too fast. The DL109’s really cook too.
–Randy
Larry, I have three PA’s each with a different top end speed, but they are fast but
not as fast as the older E7’s. I bot these back around 98.
All PRR diesels were black under the carbody which was DGLE (Dark Greem locomotive Enamel). The PRR bought five A-B-A sets and soon downgraded the Pa’s to secondary and freight. They also regeared them. The PB’s wound up being used with E7 and E8 engines as two units weren’t quite enough to maintain schedules. This was possibly the only instance of the Pennsy mixing first generation engines as the rule was not to mix them.
Hello NYC,
I have a “Video Yesteryear” series video tape called “The romance of the Railroads.” It was a Christmas gift from a good friend. A segment of this video features a 1950s Pennsy Railroad traiining film IN COLOR that discusses firefighting safety on locomotives. The featured stars? A trio of maroon Alco PAs in ABA formation! The lead PA unit is #5755. [4:-)][tup]
Nice shots of the cab interior with the engineer and fireman.
All 3 units appear to have black trucks (likely Brunswick Green that’s faded). I would strongly recommend this video to Pennsy fans. [8D]
Hope this helps!
PRR running gear was BLACK, including fuel tanks, only the bodies were what we call Brunswick Green (or more correctly:DGLE; Dark Greem locomotive Enamel).
I just bought the paper back book on Pennsy E and Alco PA units. I wanted the pictures so I can attempt to make my Athearn BB’s look more like the prototype. The pictures are black and white, but it gives all the road numbers of the A & B units. I was going to model a PB1 numbered 5755, but found out, there was not a B unit numbered like that.
All trucks are painted black, or Brunswick green, which has been described as “black with a few drops of green added to it”.
I am currently working on #5750A and B, replacing the plastic side vents with the etched metal. This will be my first attempt at serious modification. I am looking for the trainphone antenna supports also.
I have 4 or 5 P2K PB units, undec, that I have no use for as the New Haven ran only A-A PA lashups if anyone wants one.