Did CLW use brass RS-3 AAR Type B Trucks for their CLW U-25B Kit?

I didn't know if there was a difference in the first place. Did you obtain the drawings of an rs3 and compare to a u25b?

I have a tough time seeing any difference between the BLW 3 axle truck used on the passenger sharks as I compare them to the ALCo 3 axle trucks used on the PA units.

As far as I know, CLW never did an RS-3 kit.    Kemtron did an RS3 and an RSD4/5.   Those kits were sold to Railtex and then then P&D hobbies ended up buying what was left.

According the PRR equipment drawings found at Rob Schoenberg's site: prr.railfan.net, both engines had the same AAR B trucks with a 9'-4" wheelbase.

prrjim posted:

As far as I know, CLW never did an RS-3 kit.    Kemtron did an RS3 and an RSD4/5.   Those kits were sold to Railtex and then then P&D hobbies ended up buying what was left.

Yes, CLW did an RS-3 Kit with AAR Type B Trucks and they also used those Trucks on the Alco FA-1/FA-2 Kits.

It seems during the 1970s there was a lot of copying of cast Brass parts between different 2-Rail O Scale companies. Copyright laws that applied to reproducing Brass parts were not enforced between O-Scale manufacturers as they struggled to keep up with the demand for Brass models in a variety of scales.

There also seems to have been many parts made by several company and then relabeled/sold with another Companies label.  This way, smaller companies manufacturing efforts with smaller product runs were not bogged down re-making costly parts for Brass models like the RS-3 that had been sold by competitors for many years.

I believe I read somewhere that AAR trucks for use with Westinghouse traction motors had a different wheelbase than the same sideframe utilizing GE traction motors.  But that could be for the type "A" trucks.  Can't remember where I read that exactly, or which truck it pertained to.

The guy who bought the CLW tooling has AAR type B trucks for sale on the bay right now if you are interested.

Jim

I will attempt to post a completed CLW U-25B set of pics through Attachments for future reference......

Regards, Steve

The CLW U-25B AAR Type B Trucks appear to have a slightly different INSIDE construction than the Kemtron AAR Type B Trucks used on ALCO RS-3s.

A brief comparison of ALCO and GE measured Lengths and wheelbases for these AAR Trucks shows only minor differences. 

It seems unlikely that CLW made a modified set of AAR Type B Trucks that differs between RS-3 and U-25B Kits CLW made.

Regards, Steve

I have also seen "Alco" trucks on GP30s.

Dick

The Ann Arbor RR traded in Alcos for EMD GP35s I think, and the trucks were reused.   Some units still running on a Mich shortline.

Would someone post a photo of a CLW RS3 kit?    I have seen one.   I have seen lots of the AAR trucks and a few of the CLW Alco FAs.