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...the first GG1 built and the only one with a riveted carbody, the others being welded, hence the nickname "Old Rivets". Along with this paint scheme, #4800 wore Pennsylvania RR, Penn Central and the standard blue Conrail paint before being retired to a museum siding around 1980.
Number 2091 of 2700 made, the AHM/Rivarossi model falls short only in that they use a welded carbody on their rendition, but is an otherwise faithful and accurate reproduction of Old Rivets when she wore this paint scheme in the years around our nation's 200th birthday. I especially enjoy the silver running gear and the kitschy 70s stylized graphics. It comes complete with its original foam lined box, certificate of authenticity and commemorative belt buckle...
Both are now running and fully assembled.
The DD40X now sports Unimate couplers fore and aft, hates 9 3/4" radius curves and looks great on my one wide curve with the roof top blinkies in their full glory. An 80s offering, they're weak in the power department but, have the open walk throughs that they took away in their later offerings.
The Brill trolley suffered from the classic Bachmann malady of the 80s, a weak plastic gear train given to cracking, even when new in the box on the store shelf. I replaced the truck assemblies with later ones that were a drop in fit. It runs great now.
Both were finished with parts offered on their online store. Take advantage of it as certain parts, like the coupler boxes I got the last of, are no longer available.
...catalog #751 in 1978-1980. Many thanks to a generous fellow modeler, who gave this to me.
A very intriguing bit of Bachmann's early attempts at low end scale models, a lot of good detail, mixed with awful running mechanisms, making for the well earned nickname, "Botchmann". How else does one explain a freight line's colors on a passenger locomotive...and, with a drive train that sounds like a cross between a dental drill and an electric pencil sharpener, I'm stoked...
Not a half bad effort on the Favely pantographs...they're plastic castings with one stamped metal upright. It's only real shortcoming being that there is no spring to hold it up, it's a friction fit.
Is it just me? In churches across this land on Mother's Day, orchids are handed out and the grand virtues of mothers are spilled out from the pulpit, raising them up on a pedestal that culminates in a dinner at Cocodrie's. On Father's Day, we guys get a cheap ball point pen and are smacked around to work on some particular character flaw that has plagued us since the Garden...then we get to cook our own dinner over a flaming pyre in the backyard...sigh...
My enjoyment of model trains goes back to a TYCO trolley followed by an AHM/Pocher 4-4-0 "Genoa" that my father would have running around our Christmas tree every year. In the end, I was their demise, the trolley when I used it with our Hotwheels cars in the playground at school, the Genoa to my many ventures into weathering and detailing in my early daze in the hobby. These are the replacements I've picked up since...
The blessing I have on Sunday is that our Bible study group doesn't follow fashion trends, we got to stay home and be family***---followed by a 1/2 pound bacon cheeseburger smothered in grilled onions on a fresh baked roll and a chocolate shake at a favorite local eatery...urp
***Yes, my beloved got her dinner on her day at an appropriately haute cuisine type eatery---with French names for the entries and 2 digit prices with no decimal points in them on the menu...eeek...
...one of their earliest examples, it came in its original wooden nesting box and had no signs of the dreaded zinc pest.
A good example can fetch $5000 or more and the one pictured was now in my hands. A friend had a neighbor who was cleaning out his garage, whereupon he pulled out three old plastic Coke trays filled with old Marklin trains, track and accessories. There also was a complete American Flyer S scale set with a 4-4-2 locomotive and track.
"$50," he said, "...the old man just wants a little money and has no idea what it's worth." I believe my friend had my best temporal interests in mind but, alas, he doesn't have an eternal perspective. My...our...Great Judge and King has a gaze from His Throne that sees through all of our actions, no matter how good or innocent they appear.
I told him I'd look it all over that night but knew that I couldn't come near a fair offer for the lot. The next day I dropped it off, the old man's kids now having found out that there was a little bit of treasure in the garage to palm off on Ebay. Who knows where that Croc is now.
"Well done, good and faithful servant." means a whole lot more to me now, and, like some trophy catch and release fish, I still have a picture of the one that got away.
September 11, 2001 for me was the fourth day of a long overdue vacation after starting to get back on my feet again. Not long before I lost my pastorate and my home. What was left was being paid off monthly at 13.9% interest to the IRS. I woke up late that morning and stumbled into the living room, turning on the TV just about the time the second plane was hitting the towers.
I've never forgotten how it felt that day, especially being the son and brother of firemen and the nephew of a police officer. On the fifth anniversary, I took the artwork that they came up with and placed it on the side of a GG1 painted as though Amtrak was still running them on the Northeast Corridor. I've often wondered what it would look like fleshed out and look forward to the day when I could have it done to one of mine.
It features the faces of two bald eagles facing fore and aft as a picture of vigilance as well as the three patches, one for the fireman, one for the police and Port Authority and one for the the event itself. The running gear would be black.
I can't remember how I came about this photo, it proves there's a prototype for just about anything, even a freelanced electric locomotive I scratchbuilt 15 years ago and never got around to painting.
...pulling a freight through Selbyville, DE. And, if you find that hard to swallow, he's doing it with no catenary to pull power from...woo hoo!
...and a few bits of department store signage (it works like commercial sheet styrene), brass wire, lost wax castings, an old AHM/Rivarossi pantograph from one of their GG1s, a fertile imagination...and a bit of cutting, gluing and soldering. A free lance design, I wanted to build a locomotive from the ground up without too many hand tools. No paint job coming anytime soon as my beloved likes it just the way it is.
...one of their earlier "pancake" motored versions. It is a great runner and, while not professionally done, the paint scheme is an authentic portrayal of that color and numerically correct.
I know it sounds morbid but I never forget our lives truly are but a vapor. One day this was the pride of someone's workshop, possibly of a locomotive of some significance to them as a fond memory. Now it belongs to me, passed on through the years by way of an estate auction here, a yard sale there, long disconnected from it's first owner who has since gone the way of all men.
Never forget it's just a hobby...time is just too short to have your epitaph scattered to the wind. Very few who wind up with a piece of your work will give you or your family a second thought.
I hope I got the nomenclature right...it's not mine but I did "own" it for about 20 hours. Once I told the original owner how much it was worth, he understandably wanted it back. Worth about $700-1000 last I checked...hope to see another one as I've always wanted one.
"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold."
...still leaves a lot to be desired when used indoors. Lighting with my Fuji FinePix A210 is a testy subject that isn't necessarily one of quantity of light vs. quality of light. Natural outdoor lighting is a snap. Indoor lighting comes out pink or just plain dark, focus is fuzzy and erratic...I'm flooding the subject with death beams and it just doesn't quite come out.
If that's as bad as it gets for me, I do well to consider myself blessed well beyond what I deserve.
An HO scale Joeuf Co-Co SNCF CC 6505 circa 1985.
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