In the recent "N"ew for 2002 thread Frisco Bob was wishing for a good running ALCO C-420. In 1999 MR had a feature series on Mark Watson's N scale "Arkansas & Missouri" RR which showed how to fit the %_)($*# Model Power shell onto an Atlas U-25B mechanism. He also added brass handrails. To see a model photo go here: http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=3&members=1&uid=454170&gid=548246&imgid=5989592 A few of Craig's BLMA parts would finish it off very nicely. MicroScale makes the decals (set 60-886). For more info on the real A&M go here http://alcoworld.railfan.net/arkamiss.htm Here is a photo of the prototype A&M #62 with her sister #46 BTW Mark Watson has a website -- but it seems the model A&M was recently acquired by BNSF. http://showcase.netins.net/web/watsondesign/modeltr.html eNjoy Don B [ 01 January 2002: Message edited by: dbn160 ]
An even better mechanism might be the new ALCO C-424 coming from Hobbycraft (Life Like of Canada) ******** Here are the direct links to the 3 photos of the N C-424 pre-production test shots http://www.hobbycraft.com/images/llpic/DSC00056.JPG - http://www.hobbycraft.com/images/llpic/DSC00057.JPG - http://www.hobbycraft.com/images/llpic/DSC00058.JPG ******* Don B (This message edited by E-8 for technical debugging reasons only.) [ 02 January 2002: Message edited by: E-8 ]
I have seen them advertised at PWRS site at US$99.95 (my eyes are still stinging) each. They are available in 2 CN schemes and 2 CP schemes. I hope they will be more affordable elsewhere. As a canadian modeller from Australia, I have to double the advertised price before I can even get close to one. I suppose the elevated price is due to a smaller run qty. If Life Like got hold of it I am sure the US side would have made the run substantially larger and more affordable therefore reducing the unit price. I would like to see a comparison or a report on one before investing US$30 more than I paid for my Kato CP SD90s. Early reports are they are similiar mechs to that of the L^2 GP20. I have not seen to many complaints about the GP20.
Mick Canadian Model Train Products are advertising these units for $US 75.00 Look here http://www.modeltrains.com/proto-n-cnr-c424.htm and here http://www.modeltrains.com/proto-n-cpr-c424.htm eNjoy