RS11s under ER sharks

[Nato]

       The locomotives Ed referrs to are V-Line shells on atlas Kato RS 11 drive. Aksrben Hobbies sold them decorated and ready to run in A-A sets (there were no V-Line B's). Two PRR paint schemes were offered single stripe DLG and Pin Stripe DLG. I have one set which came in a nice foam lined presentation box. It took some work usuing Kadee now Micro Trains couplers with T Shank ends that drop in the coupler pockets to convert. The DLG color appeared spot on to my Pennsy closet modeler fan eyes. The locos ran great for their day,but like all old Atlas Kato were fast speed demons. They live in storage as I did purchase some ER Sharks,which I have not had problems with although they don't get run much on my mostly Western United States themed layout. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Nope, Not Aksrben. Even older I think. They were resin or plastic, and were definitely not decorated. There was also a B unit too.

[mmagliaro]

I think you are thinking of the ancient JnJ Trains or "Raintree" shells.   I wonder how long it's been since those were available?
Time to go nosing around the internet...

Aha... that was easy...
http://users.dwx.com/~jnjtrains/Aready/Shark.jpg

I remember this old page.  It looks quite dead and unsupported now.  But the listing and photos of the shells are still there.

[CodyO]

Nice project!  I think that because the older RS-11's had a slightly too-short wheelbase, they would fit
those shark shells better because they are closer to the correct shark wheelbase, no?  Than
the Chinese RS-11 would be).

I have one of those RS-11's too.  And until I got rid of the traction tire wheel and put a plain wheel in there,
it was too stall-prone to actually use on my layout.  That extra wheel contact made a big difference.
It cost me some pulling power, but it was worth it.

I think the mechs are the same length so don`t think I`d be that different just wheelbase is a little different

Yeah the Muing has them running good and since theyll never be broken done past an A-B set will be fine
I`m liking the pulling power on them

It`s hard to remember since its been 5/6 years since I last ran them on DC but I think they ran fine at that point and didn`t have any problems
And to think I only had a few engines and 40 pieces of rolling stock and now I`m closer to 600 rolling stock and 50 engines

[brokemoto]

      The locomotives Ed referrs to are V-Line shells on atlas Kato RS 11 drive. Aksrben Hobbies sold them decorated and ready to run in A-A sets (there were no V-Line B's). Two PRR paint schemes were offered single stripe DLG and Pin Stripe DLG.

Hacksaw Ben sold them painted?  I never knew that.  Hacksaw Ben was still doing shows when I first started going in the mid-1990s.  I always stopped at their tables, but never saw V-line shark shells, painted or not.   I am aware that Aksarben did custom painting, but I never did see any sharks at their tables.   Had I known that Hacksaw Ben sold them, I might have made an effort to acquire some, especially after the LL plastic frame FA-2 appeared (or was Aksarben still in business when those appeared?).

I did see the V-line shells painted, from time to time, but most places, especially Kustom Al, the Modeller's Pal, wanted way too much money for them.  When I finally did find a reasonably priced A-A pair, painted B&O "as delivered" and on LL FA chassis, one of them did not run.  The guy was from Jersey and got a real attitude when I wanted them either repaired or a refund.  He gave me back my money.  The next week, E-R announced its sharks.

[Alwyn Cutmore]

CodyO I am glad the conversion has worked out for you. The conversion looks good.

Being a total Slobbering Pennsy Shark Nose Freak I think I have at least one of every Shark Nose that was produced in Model Form. I have two sets of AKSARBEN (Nebraska backwards) painted V Line bodies. When I bought mine both we sporting RS3/RS11 mechs. I have one of each paint scheme Part 1012 #002 Pinstripe and Part 1014 #011 still boxed. They are my pride and joy. Yep they are V Line Shells which were designed to go on the Atlas Roco FAs. Never did have any luck getting a good one of them. I also have JnJ VLine Copies and a couple of other copies by some one enterprising that I got off eBay. Not long after V Line produced the shells a B unit was produced by Raintree and it also was reproed by JnJ and others but not as well. The bodies have now been taken over by Deluxe and are available through them. They are called Vintage by Deluxe and they have them listed as RF16s. They are not RF16s. They are BF15s as the main spotting features are the half size door on the nose and the louvred grills on the mansard roof.

These are part of a collection of over 50 sharks I have. I bought a set of the Bachmann/ER Models RF16 sharks and they are virtually new. At least one has the world famous click click goes the gears. Eventually they will be re-powered. I was going to use the RS3/11 way because the LL FA2 (Split Frame) option is generally too expensive and I just cannot bring myself to destroy a good set of PRR ones. I did get lucky and bought a flea Bay A-B-B-A set for under $100.00 and eventually they will re-power the sharks but will need to be stripped before I start the grinding down of the split frames.

Just as a side note V Line also produced a Erie Built body as well but as far as I can make out no B Unit was done for it until recently. I have a couple of A-B-A sets of them to be totally finished and a A-A set finished on Con-Cor PA Mechs. I want to put them on LL split frame PA mechs and not Con-Cor. I have a LL A-B-B-A set  but when I just looked at getting an other road for self destruction and mech donation they are asking an arm and a leg ($189.00) for one unit.

   

[brokemoto]

......someone else who bought painted sharks from Hacksaw Ben, -eh?   Where was I when they were selling them?  Asleep?  I never saw any of them when they had tables at shows.  Maybe they had sold all that they had brought by the time I got to their tables, but no one ever told me that Hacksaw Ben sold painted sharks.  Oh well, I like the E-Rs better, anyhow.   Except for the B unit noted in a previous post, mine all run well.

I never knew that you could put the V-line shells onto the Roco FAs.  The V-line shells do have slots in them to accomodate the chassis of the Mehano FAs, which were sold under several brand names over the years.   The Mehanos had only one truck powered, but a five pole motor (!).  The Rocos had both trucks powered and a flywheel.  The last literature included with the shells from V-line did state that V-line no longer recommended the use of the Mehano, but, instead, the Atlas/Kato B-B ALCo offerings.  I have seen a few of these painted Tuscan and put onto A/K C-C trucked ALCo s, but the real passenger shark was somewhat longer than the freight.  I do wonder if anyone ever tried hardwiring a pair of Mehano FAs together, with or without shark shells, and if that helped reliability or pulling power at all.

I had never considered the idea of putting the V-line onto split frame FA chassis, but it does make sense.   Many modellers did put these onto LL plastic frame FA-2 chassis.  If it fit onto those, it makes sense that it would fit onto the split frame chassis, although it is obvious, even without a test fit, that some milling will be necessary.  The V-line will go onto the E-R chassis.

The LL split frame PAs are not cheap.  Did you consider a plastic frame for your Eries?  Those things are pretty good; I still operate many of my LL plastic frame A-1-A trucked power.  I do have one A-A set of Eries on PA chassis, painted in NYC passenger colors (I do not know if PRR had passenger Eries-I do know that C-C sold them in Tuscan.  NYC did have both freight and passenger, but you must add the steam generator stacks to the V-line/C-C shell)  Many people complained of derailments of these things due to the small size of the pilot hole that does not allow the front truck to pivot fully, thus knocking it off the track.  I never had this problem, but I operate them on seventeen and nineteen inch curves and number six turnouts, minimum.   The WKW Eries came only in freight colors for both PRR and NYC.  I seem to recall that LL did the initial release and WKW did do one re-issue (with the NYCs in cigar band, as opposed to the lightning stripes of the LL issue), but the public snapped them up.  If you want to see a really intense hour long sniping war, list even one A unit on FeePay.   I sold an A-B pair of the NYCs and could not believe what I got for them.  I still have an A-B-A set of PRR, I am considering getting a little entertainment with one of the As.  I like the LL Eries, but they really look better on a really long train, something for which I do not have room on my home pike.

The LL plastic frame PAs are still out there, mostly at shows.

Oh, and I did learn something.  I had never paid attention to this, but I was not aware that the V-lines were really the babyfaces in sharks' clothing.   If I recall correctly, PRR had a few of these, B&O had four, and one of the Chicago roads had two As that it sold to the B&O.

[Iain]

Hey, @CodyO Can I have the old mechanisms?  I happen to like the ER mechs and would like to have spare parts.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think you are thinking of the ancient JnJ Trains or "Raintree" shells.   I wonder how long it's been since those were available?
Time to go nosing around the internet...

Aha... that was easy...
http://users.dwx.com/~jnjtrains/Aready/Shark.jpg

I remember this old page.  It looks quite dead and unsupported now.  But the listing and photos of the shells are still there.

Those are the ones!

[Nato]

     My Hacksaw Shark's were sold RTR painted bodies RS11 mechs and all in a nice presentation box that is foam lined. Only changes were to the couplers and to find horns to add as detail. I had two V Line Erie Built UP painted shells. One I put on a Con Cor PA drive changed the crapido couplers and used PA horns on the roof. Also weathered the rear grills to bring out the depth. Was going to do the second unit when the Life Like model's released and I gave my finished locomotive and the other body to a friend. Nate Goodman (Nato).

[nickelplate759]

I put a pair of V-Line Shark bodies on Atlas-Kato RS3 chassis as well, and they make terrific little engines although the detail isn't as nice as newer models.  I first tried the Roco FA chassis, but although it runs well for it's age it's too light to pull much.  Atlas sold a traction-improvement kit for the Roco FA at one time - one geared axle with traction tires and some weights, but the weights don't fit in the Shark body, and by the time I got the traction kit I'd already done the RS3 conversion.

Regards,
George

[rschaffter]

Deluxe Innovations sold the V-Line shells about a dozen years ago as part of their "Vintage by Deluxe" series, #5000....

[Alwyn Cutmore]

Brokemoto,

These are my two Ak Sar Ben sets:





This is how I received them.

Regards

Al