In what years did the FT A-B diesel unit run? Also were there leasing companies in these years? Any idea who they would be? I have a bachmann digital FT A diesel that I want to repaint in a lease paint job if there were any in that time period. It is a great running engine but I have no use for a santa fe paint job. I am also going to add wire grabs and handrails to the engine and whatever other detail items I can research for it.
Mike
I don’t know about leasing companies, but how about trying the factory GM scheme they put on the demonstrators then? They ran for a long time on railroads like this and you could easily find pictures of what it looked like, even if not specifically on an FT.
The FT came about 1939 or 40 I believe, diesel developement was put on hold a bit due to the war, but the FT was the one that proved the worth of using diesels. I believe at least on some roads they might have run into the 1970s.
The FT was built between 1939 & 1945. The last common carrier FT(a NP AB set) ran under it’s own power to the scrap yard as trade bait for new BN SD45’s around 1970. Some of the ex-NP FT’s wound up in Mexico, and at least one ex-Southern FT was used by a SE shortline in the late 60’s/early 70’s.
One of the few locomotive ‘leasing’ firms in the 70’s was Precision(PNC).
Jim
FT ABBA Demonstrator 103 rolled off the line in Nov. of 1939.