Beeps

I believe they are just intended as whimsical items for which no prototype exists (but I could be wrong). Here's mine:

Closest thing to a Beep in real life is a Brookville Locomotive two-axle industrial switcher (I think it's designated BLO-6). It's considerably blockier-looking though.

The "Beep" has no actual prototype. The name (short for "baby geep") is one that Ready Made Toys gave the model when it resurrected the Kusan/Williams dies for a budget-priced switcher. I don't know if Kusan had its own name for it.

---PCJ

Cool...there is actually a prototype, right now in a museum, pic attached

I don't think I would call that a "prototype" for the O gauge beep. The only thing they have in common is the name.

CALNNC, you are way off track in your assumptions.

First of all, regarding the name. The Kusan model wasn’t called a Beep. Williams called it a Mighty Mite. RMT first called it a Beep.

Secondly, the model’s inspiration. Look at the typical Lionel postwar GP9. Now look at the Beep. It’s clearly a truncated Geep.

Finally, the information on Beeps. You haven’t been looking too closely. This item is in almost constant discussion on the forum, certainly since 2018.

@CALNNC posted:

The O gauge Beeps that are out there, at least the ones I have been finding, seem to have only 4 wheels, while the real Beep had 8 with two Type B trucks.

It's sure news to me that there was a "real" BEEP, care to provide factual references?

Beeps are really neat. Just finished a project with one of my grandsons to update a Beep to wireless battery power. It was fun and the Beep runs great.

I remember when Susie and Walter first introduced the Beep.  The chassis and shell were sold separately.  I still have the box from the chassis here.  Over the years Walter successfully convinced my that I needed MANY Beeps.  They're really cute and colorful.  I always was a sucker for small motorized units.

The real question - do you run long or short hood forward?

PD

Long

Interesting story of the prototype.

The model designation that appeared for it in timetable special instructions and in the summary tables of Santa Fe Locomotive Folio Section K was SWBLW, apparently from Switcher, Baldwin Locomotive Works. The actual locomotive diagram in the June 1987 edition of Section K identified the unit merely as "Switcher." Railfans, however, quickly dubbed the unit a "Beep," or occasionally a "Bleep."

The whole story here.

http://atsf.railfan.net/beep/

But that looks very little like the RMT BEEP.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

But that looks very little like the RMT BEEP.

Correct.  But you can understand the confusion if you are one of the railfans who understand that engine to be a Beep and then look at the RMT engine and raise a question.

Much the way, like you, I thought that prototype looked nothing like a beep model at all.

As Paul Harvey used to say, now we know the rest of the story.😉

Very long and extension discussions here over the past 2 years, covering anything and everything to do with the BEEPs, including the four manufacturers, and the pre and post 2010 BEEPs issues.  You may want to use the search feature.

Mannyrock

pd... RMT BEEPs were set up and designed so that when applying power, the locomotive always started in the same direction and the BEEP bodyshell was attached with long hood forward. Any railroad that was short hood forward was assembled in that manner at the factory. The letter F on the bodyshell signified the FRONT depending upon long or short hood.

The Santa Fe diesel prototype created from a Baldwin switcher and an EMD GP diesel actually was designed AFTER the original o-gauge BEEP (Mighty Mite) was created if you look at actual production dates.

Some RMT BEEP diesels also used prototypical EMD style nomenclature such as BP-7 in bodyshell lettering.

Walter/RMT

That’s very interesting, Walter, thanks for that. We have a number of them and they are just fun. I wish the AEC version was glow-in-the-dark to match Lionel’s AEC rolling stock. That would be something!

PD