Well, I can’t help much on the detailing of the shells, but I have both the Atlas and Intermountain versions of the FP7, and I would say the drives are both of nearly equal quality. The Atlas, as mentioned, has body mount couplers, with a friction mount steel pin, if I remember correctly, where the I/M’s are a frame mount. However, the I/M’s are available with factory installed decoders and sound, and assuming you want that, then that would definately be a plus. I also believe the Atlas shells aren’t quite as detailed as the I/M’s. The only other issue would be actually finding and Atlas unit or 2, since they’ve been out of production for a number of years. Sure, you could always try eBay or shows, swapmeets, or whatever, but you may end up spending just as much as you would the I/M units.
You may end up having to buy whichever unit you can find for the drive. MR had an article in the October issue, and the article states the no FP9 models are commercially available. I don’t think the Highliners shell is available in the proper FP length, but I would think that since there are only a few detail differences you may need to use the I/M shell and apply the proper Highliners details for a proper conversion or use a Highliners kit or 2 and splice them together for a proper length FP shell. Sounds to me like this is more work than you care to do, and I can’t say I blame you, but if it were me, I’d be inclined to start with the I/M shell and add the neccessary details.
BRAD: Central Hobbies in Vancouver, BC sells an FP9 shell, made by Kaslo Products of Canada. The Model # is HL-18, you can check it out on the Central Hobbies website. This is a resin molded body, and is supposed to be the extended prototype body for the EMD FP9. So now the issue is, find the drive that will fit. The length should obviously be no problem. The coupler would be best to have on the drive chassis not the shell. I believe, not sure though, that the IM drive does have the coupler mounted on the chassis. I have emailed Central with my details and questions, as well as pictures of the FP9 in question. PATHFINDER: Thank you so much for posting the pics of the FP9 6516 on the thread. I still cannot get pics posted because of issues between the new Microsoft Vista operating system ( RC1 beta version at this point), and, the new software upgrade on this forum. Now at least the guys on this forum can get a good look at 6516 and FP9’s in general.
I will post a picture of my Atlas CP FP7 early next week so you can get an idea of what can be done with the Atlas shell. But I left it as a FP7, not a 9.
On the Atlas body, I replaced the friction pin with a screw for each coupler. And choice of coupler is limited due to close mounting with the truck. I will show that in the photo too.
(1) FP’swere 4’ longer than 'F’s. (2) All had steam boilers, and (3) only A units were made. Western roads such as WP ran them with existing F-7B’s.
Late 7’s & 9’s also had the large Dynamic fan. Paint one up for the RR of your choice.
Highlinerdoes NOT make an FP shell. Athearn is also not likely to put out an ‘FP’ shell when they can offer a ‘F’ shells painted in FP colors. It’s not like they haven’t done this before. Highliner never delivered their looong awaited ‘A’ shell.
The InterMountain unit is preferred to the Atlas Roco. It has See-thru grills, Dual headlamps, and correct height for KD’s. The drive also is better, and pulls more using less current. Sound is an available option. Extra grills can be purchased from Detail Associates.
DON, I edited the correction on page 1 of thread…should have read FP9, not F9. Central hobbies DOES make an FP9 shell CN, and I am looking into IM drive to retrofit to the FP9 shell.
Pathfinder: FP9 loco number 6505 and 6516 were in the earlier series, and therefore need shell HL-16, not HL-18 which were made for FP9’s made after 1957. Hal is a great help, you are lucky to have such a professional guy and such a great LHS not too far away ( about 2 hour ride from Merritt ?? ) Also, the GP-38, model 9001 will be the drive. I may have to do some milling, but it should be a great match.
Hal is great, glad he put you on the right track (ha ha).
He is about 3 hours away when there is no rush hour, but there is the $10 toll each way to pay plus some nasty winter driving. I actually do not get into Vancouver much anymore, sometimes just not worth the trip. I deal with him mostly by e-mail.
Still need to get my FP7 picture taken and posted. It will be old school vs new.
I notice that the trailing cab unit in the CN photo (in the quoted post above) has a huge winterisation hatch. I recall seeing one of these (6531) in Toronto in 1977, but I’ve only been able to find a ground level photo I took at the time. I may have (but haven’t found) a B&W negative taken from the bridge across Spadina yard showing the roof of this unit, but my recollection is that the big hatch covered one of the two 48" radiator cooling fans.
The recent MR F-unit article did not mention 48" radiator cooling fans, but that would be an important modelling feature for later CN FP9s if all of them were like that.
Does anybody know if 6531 was an oddity or were all the later FP9s fitted with 48" radiator cooling fans?
I sent an e-mail to Kalmbach asking about this, but have had no reply.
Anyone out there familiar with late CN FP9 units, can you confirm how many there were like this?
M636C: FP7’s after November 1951 began receiving Dynamic brakes, and therefore 48" brake fans. All the FP9’s received dynamic brakes and 48" fans after that build date also.#6531 was built between March and May 1957 along with CN #'s 6523-6532.
I don’t think CN used dynamic brakes on their FP9’s. If they did, they were removed at some point as these photos show.
Only Canada had 10 “Phase II” FP9’s. (CNR 6533-6542, GMD blt May-July 1958) These late production CNR units used two large 48" radiator cooling fans intstead of four 4 smaller 36" radiator cooling fans.
6634 was a “B” Unit but also shared the same fan arrangement.
Don Gibson,
Cut Athearn a little slack…they haven’t (to my knowledge) pulled any shenanigans with their Genesis line of locos, such as painting a F9 like an FP9.
And Highliner did finally deliver their long awaited A shell. You can order one today from Walthers:
Sure, they needed Athearn’s deep pockets to finally get it on the market, but it’s out there. And note that while Horizon won’t allow Walthers to carry Athearn products, Walthers is still selling Highliner shells…which means that Highliners is not owned by Horizon.
PAUL3: And of course when you go to the web site… “out of stock”!!! That didn’t take long did it? I’ll have to do some research on the CN FP9’s, the later versions “should” have been made with Dynamic brakes, and therefore all should have 48" cooling fans.
Dick: As soon as you have spent as much as a good brass FP-9 would have cost and spent 120 hours building you own Athern and everyone else will bring out FP-9 in every conceivable color scheme. Let me know when you get yours finished so I can figure on getting a couple in Milw Rd.[:P]
PAUL: You can be my first customer Paul, assuming that I do a good job kitbashing this baby. The guy I spoke with at Atlas said they have one on the drawing board, and “plan” to bring it to market in 2007. Are you holding your breath Paul? Do you need more O2 bottles? And for everyone else that contributed to this good discussion , here is some more info that I found interesting: EMD FP9 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search EMD FP9 RLGN 1400 (originally CN 6539) in 2003 Power type Diesel Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) Model FP9 Build date February 1954 – December 1959 Total production 90 A units AAR wheel arr. B-B Gauge 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) Power output 1,750 hp The EMD FP9 was a 1,750 hp, B-B dual-service passenger and freight-hauling diesel locomotive produced between February 1954 and December 1959 by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division. Final assembly was at GM-EMD’s La Grange, Illinois plant, except for Canadian orders, which were assembled by Canadian subsidiary GMDD at London, Ontario. The FP9 was essentially EMD’s F9 locomotive extended by four feet to give greater steam generator and water capacity for hauling passenger trains. A total of 90 cab-equipped lead A units were built; unlike the freight series, no cabless booster B units were sold. Regular F9B units were sometimes used with FP9 A units, since they, lacking cabs, had more room for water and steam generators. The FP9 and its predecessor, the FP7, were offshoots of GM-EMD’s highly successful F-unit series of cab unit freight diesels. [edit] Identification Just as in the previous FP7, the FP9’s carbody is essentially the F9’s with 4 feet extra added a little behind the cab, just aft of the forward truck. Unlike the FP7, the forward porthole window is relocated so that it is better balanced in the space, but there is still more room between the porthole and the first carbody filter grille behind it; it is just less obvious. As on the F9, there is now a carbod
Thanks for those shots, particularly the shot of CN 6535. That must be taken from the spot I was standing when I realised that the unit I saw had 48" radiator fans. It seems that 6531 should not have 48" fans if I read the postings correctly, but in my ground level photo it has the big angled winterisation hatch, like the one on 6634 but extended at an angle down the roofline towards the sides. This is, as I said, visible on the third unit in the photo with 6516 leading posted above.
I guess 6531 might have swapped radiator hatches wth a later unit at some time. At least I have some confirmation about 48" fans on FP9s. I was beginning to doubt my memories (it was 1977) when I could only find the ground level shots.
Here is a photo shows the roof of 6516 as it appears now with Conway Scenic. (No dymanic brake and four 36" radiator cooling fans.) I assume the 6506 would be the same.
