GN's Badger and Gopher

[Sokramiketes]

"Des Plaines Hobbies is selling off their overstock of roof/end/floor sprues for $10 each."

I can't find  that on their web site - is this in-store only?

Give them a call and I'm sure they'll ship... but yes they brought out the box when the N Scale National came to town.  It's not really an inventory item, just selling off extras that were originally bound for China for assembly before they upgraded to new tooling. 

Ask for Harley.

[keeper]

Wow, thanks for all your input. Lots of things to consider...

The Con-Cor RPO is based on a GN Empire Builder prototype, so if the 45 year old detailing doesn't bother you, it is correct.

The GN also had cars very similar to the Kato cars from the late 90s, which were once sold in GN EB paint.  That would be a nice looking model but could be hard to find now.
...

Right now I'm thinking of using the Con Cor car and adding a few details. But maybe I'll change my mind when core kits are available again.
I think the Kato coach in my initial post - and I have that one - is one of those sets. Do you mean that one?

As a side note I built a coach using Brass Car Sides and the AL core kit which will be one day DMIR's MINNESOTA II. There is also a GN full dome in the pipeline. I'm quite lazy painting all my projets I currrently work on.

Re snow plows:
Is the plow from Detail Associates which could be used or are there others which I haven't found yet?

Thomas

[Puddington]

The brass dome sides are excellent - I did one many moons ago.............

[keeper]

I remember that one. We talked about it via PMs over on the Atlas forum. You gave me some helpful tips.

[keeper]

Another note about the E7s:
From the photos I found up to now it seems that they all got bigger number boards instead of the small ones.

Thomas

[nkalanaga]

Thomas:  As far as I know Kato only made the one GN train, although they may have rerun after I bought mine.

The sets included:
Set A:  RPO, Coach, Diner, Obs
Set B: Baggage, Coach, Dome, Pullman

If you have set A you're in luck and have an RPO.  Neither the dome or Pullman are right for the GN, and look distinctly different from anything they had, so B is less useful.  The observation doesn't look too far off for some of theirs, and the diner, while certainly not a GN prototype, could be passed off as a second hand car.

[keeper]

I bought these cars second hand as a 'mixed bag', some cars of both sets but not all. So I have the Diner, Obs and RPO from Set A.
I have the coach but it is the one Kato sold as a single car, no. 156-0702 road # 1218. I think it is the same coach as in set A with a different #.

Thomas

[wcfn100]

I hoped to take some pictures of the GN car at the MTM today but they have it in the shop for restoration. I did get some measurements for the plow pilot though.

Jason

[nkalanaga]

As far as I know Kato only made one 44-seat smoothside coach, originally for their UP sets, which then appeared in various other roads.  So, yes, it probably is the same one.  I bought extras and painted them BSB.  They're close enough for me to the unavailable (except in brass sides) 48-seat GN coaches.

[jmlaboda]

"They're close enough for me to the unavailable (except in brass sides) 48-seat GN coaches."

Let's not forget that the GN bought some of those UP coaches, numbering them in the 1000-series.

[keeper]

Here is my Gopher so far with available rolling stock:



Some thoughts..-
E7: From the photos I found I would say that the LifeLike horns are ok. What do you think?

RPO: I found no evidence that this type of RPO was used on the Gopher/Badger. But this doesn't mean that it never happened, right?
So this one will stay until I decide to build one from Brass Car Sides. 

BSB Coach: I've got the feeling that everyone isn't happy about the too dark blue. For me it is ok because it is just one car among the others.

Hopefully in the next few days another coach will arrive which needs a bit altering. Stay tuned.

Thomas

[nkalanaga]

Jerry:  Yes, and my BSB cars have correct numbers. 1003 and 1006.  The stock Kato cars, in green and orange, have to serve as stand-ins, and I don't know if the prototype was used on the Empire Builder, as it already had plenty of assigned 48-seat coaches.  As far as I know, the 44 seat cars were never painted G/O.

Keeper:  If that's the only BSB car you have, and the color doesn't bother you, I agree.  Repainting it isn't worth the hassle, as mine has a very nicely done paint job, other than the color.  I grew up seeing BSB, once I was old enough to go to the station and watch trains, as the GN cars came through Pasco on the SP&S.  In my case, it just doesn't say "GN", but that's just a personal opinion.  Some of the unprototypical stuff I accept others wouldn't stand for either, such as using 44-seat coaches on my old Empire Builder.

[keeper]

Today the coach arrived which I mentioned earlier. It is a Walthers 64 seat coach Wutter posted.
It is not 100% correct but for me it is ok. It will be painted blue around the windows and will get a blue board with a goat and Great Northern on it.



Thomas

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I really love dogs breakfast passenger trains like this. Very cool.

[nkalanaga]

Thomas:  That last picture looks like the coach portion of the early Amtrak Empire Builder, which often had a Santa Fe coach stuck in it, to go with the equally common UP sleepers on the rear.  The train was mostly a BN train, GN and NP with a few CB&Q and BN, and the rare SP&S car, but ATSF coaches and UP sleepers were fairly common through Pasco.