True Confessions...

[wm3798]

We all have those dark little model railroading secrets, things in our collection that we might not want to talk about.  Likewise, there are products out there that really have no place on your layout, yet for some reason, you feel like you have to have it just the same.
What would be the one thing that you would want to have, even though it goes against every fiber of your being, to add to your collection.

For me, despite my violent reaction to all things feline, it would be GM50.  If Atlas rolled that out tomorrow, I would buy it in a heart beat.  Why you ask?

Back in the fall of 1982, while a student at Shepherd College and living in Charles Town, WV, I had the pleasure of seeing that gold painted standard bearer of the Chessie System working a lowly local freight just two doors up from my house.  It was late at night, she was filthy dirty, and doing the most common work a dispatcher can provide... bumping a gondola of scrap.  I remember seeing the headlight, then noticing the odd figures on the number boards (GM50 was the unit number), then I recognized the unique logo on the nose.  Unfortunately, like my sightings of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, no camera was within reach.  I had actually owned one of the ancient Mehano GP-40's in that scheme in the late 70's, but ruthlessly painted over the gold when I was desperate to add some Conrail power to my earlier roster, so I felt an immediate connection to the engine when I stumbled across it.  Deep down that connection persists... :-\

So that's it.  Now you know.  So what's in the darkest corner of your layout room?
Lee

[ljudice]

Chessie says MEEEE-OW...

[nscalesteve]

...it would be GM50.  If Atlas rolled that out tomorrow, I would buy it in a heart beat.

Lee, didn't Atlas produce this one for the N Scale Collectors ?
...with some luck you may find one on eBay (although not cheap ey... !) 

[sundowner]

Yes they did. I have one.
Very cool

[TrainCat2]

They did make one ... WRONG!! They actually used a GP40-2 when making the GM50. They should have used a GP40 as the GM50 was a GP40-2 in a GP40 shell. The model is a GP40 that was stripped, detailed, painted & decaled for the GM50 using drawings from the B&O histerical society.

[wm3798]

It's still just a Chessie unit... I wouldn't pay a collector price.  If one was produced commercially... perhaps I should have clarified. ;D

Lee

[TrainCat2]

It's still just a Chessie unit... I wouldn't pay a collector price.  If one was produced commercially... perhaps I should have clarified. ;D

Lee

Overland made a GM50 in brass commercially.

[POVC]

Hmmm, you sure GM50 isn't a GP40-2?  I swear I see a sight glass in that proto-photo (or was that only a GP38/GP38-2 distinquishing feature)?   ???

Lee, the collector price wasn't all that bad when they were released; they sold for $89.50, which was about the same as the retail price of a regular Atlas GP.  It's probably a different story now though...they do occasionally pop up on eBay though.

If you're serious about having one though, you can buy an undec GP40 from Kleins, some gold spray paint, and the decals from Micro-Scale (60-4257).

Tim

[asciibaron]

i would have to have a few SD40-2's in CP action red, Conrail blue, and Chessie rainbow. 

i lover me some SD40-2's.  porch sitting and train watchin'

-steve

[nscalesteve]

They did make one ... WRONG!! They should have used a GP40 as the GM50 was a GP40-2 in a GP40 shell.

...and look, they did even put a sight glass on that GP40 shell !

it is a GP40-2 ! (look at the extension on the cab roof and the DB)


a lot more pictures:  http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPicture.aspx?id=58483&Page=1

edit: picture added

[RockGp40]

I'd love to have a DD40X in N scale. I know Bachmann made a model some years back and that they can be found on Ebay sporadically, I would just rather have an Atlas model if they made one.

I am not a fan of Uncle Pete, especially since they pulled out of the Rock Island merger years ago, but I love this particular design even if the prototype idea never really took off. I got to see a picure recently of the one the UP still owns and occasionally makes a revenue run with.

On my layout that I hope will come to be soon, it would never be practical piece to run. Turning radius' could/would not accomodate.


Long live the GP-40s.

[bsoplinger]

If you're serious about having one though, you can buy an undec GP40 from Kleins, some gold spray paint, and the decals from Micro-Scale (60-4257).

I was curious enough to go look at the proto photos and then the MS decal. It looks to me like the square logo with the big 50 in it is on both the front and back of the loco, yet the decal set picture only shows 1 logo, yet has 2 Chessie Systems and GM50 decals.

So I'd have to buy 2 sets just to get enough decals to make 1 loco? 

[asciibaron]

B&O GM50 is now CSX 6063 - it is was and has always been a GP40-2.

here is the order information from EMD

http://www.trainweb.org/emdloco/7365.htm

-steve

[Mark5]

when I was a teen, Chessie was new, and me and my buddies referred to it as Cheesie System ...

now I kinda miss it ... though I really like the "new" CSX scheme.

[Allentown Hump]

The GM50 was an early phase GP40-2 as evident by the chicken wire grills and lack of an anti-climber. All of the other typical 40-2 features are there as well. The sight glass, the longer dynamic brake blister, the angled rear cab roof and the two horizontal ribs located on the blower duct to name a few...