BLI E8 in hand!

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Well I finally decided to get a BLI E8 for my future Conrail OCS. I received NYC #4045, which matches the single headlight, stepped pilot and Farr grills as OCS #4020 and 4021. 4022 would actually be an easier model, as it did not have the additional roof fans, but this was all I could locate.

I will be modeling #4020:
http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/emd/e8/cr4020a.jpg

The additional fan box is square and easy to kit bash.

You can see how 4021's roof fans follow the contour and would be a bit harder to make:
http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/emd/e8/cr4021ele.jpg

Also note 4022 right behind, with a pretty clean roof.

4020 and 4021 both have a strange manhole like dish over the old steam generator area. I'm curious what those look like up close.

So far, the modifications list includes:
Add new roof fan box and 36" fans
Remove steam generator details and replace with HEP equipment/mufflers
Fill portholes and remove several rivet strips as per prototype
Add equipment access doors to rear HEP area
Add class lights, ditch lights, MU cables, lift rings and bug deflector to the front
Lesley 3 chime in front of the windshield (too bad I'm too modern to use the air whistle they used to use!)
Backup light above the rear door:
http://hebners.net/CR/crOCS/cr4020c.jpg
Replace front air tank with battery box, remove tank skirting
Etched details like wind deflector, grabs, lift rings.

[rdg5308]

When the train was based in Reading, I was able to get many  shots of the OCS.  Here's a close up of the rear of 4020.

[rdg5308]

And the nose.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

She's so Purdy!

Thanks... Any more detail shots? Looking for right side rear and overhead rear if you have them.

[rdg5308]

Here's a few more for you.  Hope they help.

[jmlaboda - RIP]

Those are some really great shots, rdg5308!!!  Thanks for sharing them!!!

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Yep... looks like I need to remove the vertical rivet sheets. I guess CR rebuilt it with a welded carbody. Those rear access doors are nifty. And that pancake sitting on top of the old steam generator compartment still had me puzzled. Muffler? GPS dome?

I should have done 4022. That would have been just a basic repaint and detail job.

I guess I'll  need to buy another!

[rdg5308]

Those are some really great shots, rdg5308!!!  Thanks for sharing them!!!

Thanks. Living in Reading during the time the train was based there, I was able to build up a good photo roster of all three E's and entire car fleet. At least everything in green anyway. It's interesting to see some subtle and not so subtle changes during that period.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Can you post everything you have? PLEASE! 

I want to model the entire OCS.

On a related note, I bought a few more BLI shells to strip and an undec Kato E8 shell for #4020!

Although I'm not a huge sound fan, this will be the exception because this train really will be my Cadillac.

[rdg5308]

I scanned and posted the entire car fleet on Trainorders.com recently, so I have them all ready to upload.  I’ll start dropping them over here on the Prototype Railroads board in the next day or so.

[jagged ben]

Although I'm not a huge sound fan, this will be the exception because this train really will be my Cadillac.

Kind of in the same boat as you, I couldn't resist some BLI PAs for my San Francisco Chief.

My advice on the sound though...

Turn the horn volume up to the max.   Lower the prime mover volume to about a quarter (64).   Then lower the master volume level to about 30 out of 255.  Tinker with other sounds as desired, but mostly you'll be lowering them.

This will give you a much more realistic sound mix.  You'll be able to hear all sounds clearly from a couple feet away but not a whole lot farther, hear the horn from anywhere in the room, but not have repetitive idling sounds driven into your brain like a jackhammer when you wish to be paying attention to other things.

[Leggy]

That's the thing with sound, alot of people have it turned right the hell up when in reality, if it's not that loud it sounds MUCH better. +1 to turning it down.

[jagged ben]

That's the thing with sound, alot of people have it turned right the hell up when in reality, if it's not that loud it sounds MUCH better. +1 to turning it down.

Well I could be wrong, but I think the main problem is that the decoder manufacturers ship it from the factory with everything at a mid-level default, which is in effect everything turned up.  Not only that, but I don't believe they are putting much (any?) effort into engineering the sound files to sound better on the tiny speakers that are used.   Get a real creative type sound designer/engineer to spend some time on these products and I believe they could sound way better from the factory.

To be frank, it's the sort of thing I have the talent to do, but not the time.       Anyway to me it's another part of modeling that I don't need to be RTR.

Some good things about the BLI locos; comes with good documentation and JMRI has a pretty good decoder definition.  (Some of the names of sounds are steam and not right for diesel, but not too hard to figure out.)  Also, unlike Tsunami in my experience,  they program on Digitrax without having to tweak the programing track with a resistor or some such. 

By the way, I just love the bits in the BLI manual where they say, for example,  'do not use the freight sound effect if you do not have a freight train, as this will result in unprototypical operation.'    I want to know, does unprototypical operation void the warranty?   Good for them if it does!   

[rdg5308]

I hit the old Wayback machine on archive.org and found the Juniata Terminal restoration photos from 2001.  This is the best one I found of the vent between the mufflers on the E8's. Since these date back to the 1975 rebuild, there should be better photos of this somewhere.

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