Just thought I'd provide an up-date on my search for a Baldwin AS-616 diesel loco shell, after looking for nearly two years now.
History: I won a AS-616 chassis complete with motors, PS1 boards, trucks and side frames, but no body shell, in a Cabin Fever Auction of old items left over in the MTH workshop/warehouse clearance, when MTH liquidated their old stock.
Had a world of trouble getting the chassis to run due to the very early PS1 boards, which formed a subsequent thread on getting these old boards out of the "reset" mode.....don't get me started!!!!
Anyway, moving forward, I was finally able to swap-out my old "crappy" EP5 chip that got the AS-616 up and running for a GP 9 chip/board I got from Gunrunnerjohn. All I needed now was for a body shell to finish off the project.
Enter Charlie Powell (OGR Forum member) who came to my emotional rescue from my add in the WTB column on the forum. He gave me what appeared to be an almost brand new AS-616 shell (Pennsylvania Rail Road) for the cost of the postage to Australia......bargain!!!!!! THANK YOU CHARLIE!!!!
Now ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure, let me introduce the repainted shell in Union Pacific colours.
And finally, now decaled in EMD NW 2 switcher decals, as these were the only decals I could find that came close to the AS-616 body shape. You know what they say......."necessity is the mother of invention".
Took forever to finally get them in the post all the way from America, and had time yesterday to apply them.
I think it looks pretty good, and as grandma would say, "a blind man on a galloping horse would be glad to see it"
Added two LED's for the headlight and the back-up light, hooked the original smoke unit up to the shell, added the cabin interior lights, and now she's back in revenue service.....and loving it!!!!
PS.....the reason I repainted it in UP colours is because that is the way it was originally manufactured by MTH, according the the carton it came to me in.
Peter.....Buco Australia.
