Can anyone definitively identify this loco? It looks similar to the SDP40F in the picture, but has slight differences (rounded nose). It runs terribly, but I like the look and would like to replace it with something newer, if I can find out what to search for. Than ks!
GE U30CG, shown here hauling The Tulsan. No, PC never owned one. I assume yours is by Minitrix. That's the only one Spookshow lists. http://www.spookshow.net/locolist.php?diesels=6&nonbrass=3&brass=4&sortby=4&Submit=Submit They were actually considered good runners back when. This is probably a 1982 Con-Cor repaint, as they weren't initially available direct from Minitrix in PC. You could find a good running GE C-C chassis and make the body fit. Easiest kitbash known to humankind. I'd repaint it first.
Cool! Never knew U30's came in car-body versions. Or that ATSF had them (car-body U30's) I wonder if a Kato U30C or C30-7 chassis would fit under the Minitrix U30CG shell?
There were exactly six, appearing about the same time as the FP-45. The Santa Fe custom ordered them. That was the more powerful predecessor to the SDP40F, @Mark Truelove. Unfortunately, those trucks didn't have what it takes for 100 mile an hour running, so the engines turned blue and yellow well before Amtrak.
There's a 9 page thread on the Trix U30CG here on TB. I read the first 2 pages and putting the Trix shell onto a Kato U30C or C30-7 mechanism is mentioned and works. The downside is the thread was started in 2007 so photos my not work. The photos on the pages I went over didn't. Here's the link https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/trix-u30cg.31353/
The Minitrix used truck-mounted couplers, with gaping holes in the pilots for the truck/coupler swing. The Kato U30 has body (shell) mounted couplers. which work and look much nicer. Therefore, a combination of Minitrix shell and Kato chassis would have no couplers and gaping openings in the pilots. You could surgically transplant the pilots and couplers from the donor Kato shell to the Minitrix shell. This would likely look and operate best. Alternatively, you could see if the Minitrix trucks (with attached couplers) are interchangeable with the Kato's, but that is unlikely, and the result would still have the relatively poor electrical pickup of the older Minitrix, compared to that of the Kato.