Santa Fe Kodachrome Legacy GP35

The spacing is exactly that.  The SP would be painted in after the merger was approved. 

Nice loco.  Always fond of the SF in those years when I traveled west often.  

The yellows - shouldn't they be the same nominal shade? Was the prototype's (SP)SF Kodachrome yellow a greatly different shade from the ATSF yellow? I did not follow that scheme very closely, though I am familiar with it.

Both my MTH and Weaver blue and yellow ATSF locos (an FP45 and SD40-2) are "yellowed" more like the top unit 3312, I'd say.

Not criticizing - just wondering if the yellow was actually lightened for SPSF. 

Why was it called kodachrome?

Love the new AC and antenna stand on the roof. They did a good job with that paint scheme as it's not easy to do

YES the yellow color is very good.... the spacing on the nose letters is correct too!

"This paint scheme, combining yellow, red and black, has come to be called the Kodachrome paint scheme due to the colors' resemblance to those on the boxes that Kodak used to package its Kodachrome slide film (which was heavily used by railfans of the time)."

Laidoffsick posted:

Love the new AC and antenna stand on the roof. They did a good job with that paint scheme as it's not easy to do

YES the yellow color is very good.... the spacing on the nose letters is correct too!

OMG, the consist of a lifetime; Geeps, F-units, and steam locomotives. Has everything. 

Colors and lettering look spot on to me. Not to get off topic, but can anyone explain what's going on in the remarkable picture from Laidoffsick?

This engine looks fantastic!

Will Ebbert posted:

Colors and lettering look spot on to me. Not to get off topic, but can anyone explain what's going on in the remarkable picture from Laidoffsick?

That is when ATSF 2925, 5021 and the F units were moved from the roundhouse in Albuquerque to the museum in Sacramento, CA. Those F units are the red Warbonnets that you see today, repainted from the Yellow Bonnets as they sat in the roundhouses in Belen and then Albuquerque. 

ATSF 2925 and 5021 sat outside for years and years rotting away in Sacramento. They are now inside the fenced part of the museum and both have been repainted for display..... 

Thanks for sharing, can't wait to get mind!

Looks good. That nose needs anti-glare as final touch.

For some reason Lionel never does the anti glare on the nose. I always had to do my own too ... very easy to do since the nose comes off

Laidoffsick posted:

For some reason Lionel never does the anti glare on the nose. I always had to do my own too ... very easy to do since the nose comes off

 

 

Lionel put the anti-glare on the SD45. 

One of mechanical traits of Lionel's manufacturing process that just rubs me the wrong way is the excessive play of the wheel sets. There is sometime so much play that the gears disengage and if they don't disengage the mesh is to the very edge of the teeth. Gears that do not meet properly is physically very tough of them and wear prematurely. 

In the picture below the wheel axle gears are right to the edge of the teeth, especially the front set. I just cringe when I see something like this. Call me compulsive. Even so I should say that the unit runs properly and tracks through 048 and 060 switches with no problems. Thus, what is described below is more preventative maintenance than necessary. 

I used to just clip on 671 e-clips onto the axle. However, what I have been doing lately is using #10 nylon washers. 

I cut a notch out of the washer.

And then just slip them onto the axle on the opposite side of the gears. Now the gears mesh much more squarely as the excessive play in the wheel sets is greatly reduced. 

Putting the wheel sets into a vise and compressing the wheels more onto the axle may also work. I have read some doing that. However, at this point that seems more invasive and may do more harm than good. 

Looking at the other threads on the new production run of Legacy GP35's it is evident that Lionel went all out on these units. One of the aspects of this production run of GP35's is that Lionel chose to apply road specific details. Thus, the Conrail merger GP35's do not have detail items such as cab mounted air conditioner units because the prototypes did not have them. The BNSF merger units have the air conditioner and antennae details but no strobe lights (including the Santa Fe BNSF GP35) since the strobe lights are not there anymore. The Kodacrome GP35's seem to have existed at a time when the max amount of features existed on the prototypes which translated to the current production run. Makes it seem like a bit more bang for the buck for these units. 

A week into their new life the units continue to operate smoothly by themselves and together in a consist. Inspired by this picture:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...thern_Pacific_merger 

Here are SF Kodachrome GP35's #2835 and #2858 with Bonnet #3329 pulling the Super Chief. 

WBC - where can one buy these washers? My local ACE only had 1/8” thick nylon washers to accomodate a #10 screw. Maybe my (admittedly poor) web skills at play, but I couldn’t find them on Home Depot or Lowes.

I have bought them at Home Depot, Lowes, and Fred Meyer. They are 5 quantity in plastic bags and located in the small parts drawers.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/10...ack-814758/204276374

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillm...-Flat-Washer/3013084

Thank you for the prompt reply!

Santa Fe 3300 class GP35 were not delivered with A/C units, they were installed when the units were rebuilt/renumbered into the 2800/2900 class.

Espee units were not ordered with A/C units until late 70's or when they were rebuilt in the 80's.

Very nice. I have a fondness for Geeps. I grew up near both SP and ATSF trackage and really liked the Kodachrome "Shouldn't have Painted So Fast" paint. Lionel and Atlas got the positioning of the lettering on the long hood correct. The MTH units had them in the wrong position on one side of the long hood.

nice looking locomotive!

😎

They are very good looking locomotives. The decoration is well done.

I purchased both #2835 and #2858. For the most part, the GP35's have been reliable operators. The only hiccup is that the strobe wires of #2858 were rubbing against the flywheel. The wires are so thin that they did not make any rubbing noise. After awhile the strobe did not function anymore. It was an easy fix that I did myself. There have been no problems with #2835 and none with #2858 since the fix.

Another minor issue is that there is a slight speed mismatch between the units. The speed mismatch is about 1 locomotive length every 600 feet when set to the same speed. It is not a big deal when operating the locomotives as a multiple unit. However, when in distributed power, the cars in between the locomotives will eventually derail.

All in all, very happy with them.