[LateStarter]

DCC, w/o sound
For a private-owned railroad.

Clearance sale stuff...
These will be stripped, repainted, and lettered for the Lake City Line, a contract road that serves the steel mill.
Currently there's a Bachmann 45 tonner serving the line, which I modified and added ESU Loksound (a tight fit!).
Antennas, wipers and MU hoses will be added (along with sound).

 

[Krieglok]

The 45 toner looks cool. It must be a sight with those side rods in motion!

Tom

 

[LateStarter]

I like ESU Loksound for it's perfect rendering of the Cummins diesel (especially on startup and idle).
That's mainly why I chose it for the Bachmann 44 & 45 tonners I modified.

However, I'm wondering if there's a better choice of brand for Geeps.
Any suggestions?

 

[LateStarter]

Specs & mods:

* Strip.
* Bachmann GP7 3-chime horn will be replaced by a Detail Associates version.
* Bachmann solo-chime horns on GP30 cab-roof sides will be replaced with the same 3-chime horn on center-forward cab roof.
* Firecracker antennas.
* Windshield wipers.
* MU hoses.
* Coupler lift bars.
* Kadee couplers.
* Paint black.
* White zebra-striped deck side-sills.
* White zebra safety stripes on pilots.
* White step railings.
* White decal lettering & numbering, including number boards.
* Bottom-weathered, plus rain-streaked coal & limestone dust and windborne ash.
* Weathered truckframes.
* Sound.

 

[LateStarter]

Although Bachmann has greatly improved in locomotive detail-quality in the past few years, IMO it still lags quite a bit behind Athearn RTR.
Athearn's RTR diesels (albeit not usually available at Bachmann prices) are in fact not far behind Proto or BLI.
My Southern Pacific GP30's were not offered by Athearn, so I got the ones made by Bachmann. Fortunately they're good runners, and will pull over 40 cars in consist.

 

[LateStarter]

The 45 toner looks cool. It must be a sight with those side rods in motion!
Tom

Yeah, the siderod action is a hoot.
In fact, it's occasionally a distraction.

 

[MichaelE]

Hard to beat ESU for accurate sound samples and fidelity.

 

[LateStarter]

One of the biggest challenges to relettering & numbering a locomotive is the number boards...
In this case, there's no commercially available 'set' to get them from. Finding the right font is also a challenge.
Fortunately, I only need 3-digit numbers.
The 45 ton job only needed a cab number.