I model a fictional railroad, the SPSF Railway as if the merger was approved in 1986, and my era is set in the late 90s. Recently I finished four SPSF Railway locomotives: SD60 7438, SD75I 8099, C41-8W 7923, and C44-9W 8288. The SD60 represents the first order of new power for the SPSF, which was mainly to replace old SP 6-axle power like SD45s. For the SD60, this started out as a NS Athearn RTR. I replaced the motor with a Kato and added a Soundtraxx Tsunami AT-1000 decoder. I used an Atlas GP40-2 cab, of which I like the windows better. The SD75I is the latest motive power on my late-90s-era layout and shows off the updated scheme with smaller lettering on the side and a new logo on the nose. The SD75I includes split cooling, similar to late-model SD70Ms, which I believe is how the SD75Is would have looked if EMD kept making them. The SD75I is kitbashed from Athearn Genesis, Kato, and RPP parts. It started out as an Athearn Genesis NS SD70, which ran like crap. I gutted the motor and took off the awful cab that kept falling apart. I replaced the horrible trucks with Kato SD80MAC trucks and replaced the motor with a Kato as well. I used a spare Kato SD70MAC cab, kept the Athearn Genesis long hood (added the extra blower duct for an SD75), and replaced the radiator grilles with RPP SD90MAC grilles for the split cooling feature. I formed the front handrails myself with brass wire. The C41-8W is an Atlas C40-8W with a Kato C44-9W radiator grille. The C44-9W is basically a stock Kato C44-9W, although I did replace the A/C units on both motors with a RPP detail just for fun. Note that both have the Santa Fe style gull wing cab so these can be operated to the same York Canyon mine in Arizona. Now to the photos...
Very nice work. I always liked that paint scheme. As an aside, just imagine how today's BNSF would look if they had used that scheme, but with "BN" instead of "SP." It would look better than the wedge, that's for sure.
I love the big diesels! You have a great looking set of serious high horsepower engines, great work! Bobby
Good looking set of power,rock.Would love to see more.I agree that would have been a better scheme for BNSF than the wedge!
The SD60 looks great! I wished you would've gone with the original cigar band across the nose instead of the lettering, but still nice job. How did you come up with the numbering system, btw? Just last night I was looking at my beautiful ATSF kodachrome SD45-2, now I get to see your work as well!
Thanks, everyone! My numbering system was largely based on the real proposed SPSF numbering system that is outlined in Joseph Shine's book. The major change is that I consolidated the EMD and GE locomotive numbers, instead of continuing the practice of putting the GEs in the higher series (8000s and 9000s were to be the GEs in the SPSF system). This is simply because as time went on, more and more GEs were ordered, and it would have been awkward to continue that system. So I placed the older, lower horsepower GEs into numbers that once contained locomotives that would have been fairly quickly retired, and that left lots of new numbers for new, higher horsepower locomotives like the C44-9W, SD75I, AC6000, etc... The underlying theme is that the numbers go from low to high as the locomotives go from lower horsepower to higher horsepower and from 4-axles to 6-axles. I really enjoy numbering schemes, so this was fun to develop!
One of my favorite paint schemes and a merger I would of liked to seen go through. But, nobody asked me? Hurrumph!
What ifs are great, some very nice work there. I wonder what a C44-9W would look like in cascade green...
