Home Page › Forums › Modeling the Missouri Pacific, Texas & Pacific, etc › HO Scale › EX Rock Island GP38-2 – patch scheme
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October 28, 2017 at 6:47 am #5998Patrick RyanMember
Hi All
I have just picked up a model of a Rock Island GP-38 4303, which was one of the group that came to Mopac in the early 80’s and initially operated with a blue patch over the words the THE ROCK.– The model comes with plows at both ends but all of the photos I have seen of the patched units none have the plows – were these removed by Mopac of earlier or did only a few have plows on both ends such as 4303?
– Looking at some of the photos it appears that some locos may have had the bogies and or fuel tanks been repainted before the rest of the locos perhaps due to repairs – is this correct?Does any one have any photos of the 4303 when it first arrived before it was fully repainted by Mopac?
Thanks
AndrewOctober 28, 2017 at 6:19 pm #8513clemmie_doris12ParticipantI don’t have any good photos or other data, just my memory and actual experience. With that said, I would presume that these units came from the Rock without the plows. MP was a big believer in this accessory and would have added a plow to one or both ends somewhere down the road. GP38-2 units were preferred power on locals which quite often were assigned only one unit. Since these units would run, quite often, with the long hood leading, they were equipped with plows on both ends. The question becomes at what point the plow(s) were added and if they were applied to both ends. I would speculate that most units received plows before a full repaint, but without some dated photographic evidence, it would be extremely difficult to say which units got what and when.
October 29, 2017 at 4:38 am #8514benjamintickell53Participant4303 had a plow before MoP got it. See attached photo. The first order, 4300-4314 apparently all had plows on front and rear. The second order, 4315-4355, did not come to the Rock Island equipped with plows.
Bill Pollard
[attachment=0:2cgiszud]4303.jpg[/attachment:2cgiszud]
November 4, 2017 at 10:22 am #8522madonnasuffolk30ParticipantI have a photo of MP 4309 – ex RI 4309 from May 1980 and it still has plows on both ends. It has the RI scheme, but with “The Rock” painted out on the long hood.
Also attached is a photo of MP 2241, which was CRIP 4303 photographed June 1980 in full MP paint and it has plows on both ends.
From what I’ve read, the MP purchased these locomotives (CRIP 4300-4351) in April/May 1980 and most if not all were repainted in the MP 2238-2289 series by the end of 1980. This is the reason for the U23B renumbering that occurred at the same time to the 4500 series.
Nate
November 4, 2017 at 2:58 pm #8523princessclyne69ParticipantA detail I just noticed —
One of the design principles that seemed to first appear in the mid-60s modernizing of locomotives involved preventing engine crew from passing between units while the train was in motion, by taking out the folding walkways on the ends of hood units, and replacing the chains at the handrail with a solid bar to eliminate the walkway path. This seemed to have been the case on all hood units and switchers by 1970, and probably earlier.
The chain was supposed to be connected across the walkway space normally, to prevent falls, but I believe it was possible to connect the chains from two adjacent units together to prevent falls off the side of the walkway while a crew member was transiting between units. (Like anything else, who knows whether this was ever actually done in practice.) At the same time, the diaphragms were mostly removed from the ends of F units, but that was much more haphazard and I have photos in 1970-74 with an occasional diaphragm still in place.
By contrast, any MP switcher, both existing EMD and new, got full handrails during this time instead of the little hood-mounted handrail that most switchers on any other railroad had.
Here is an ex-RI unit, which like practically all other American railroads had the chains as-delivered, and the chain was not only left in place but painted white. One wonders if those chains were replaced once the units got a formal shopping.
RG7
December 6, 2017 at 6:07 am #8552benjamintickell53ParticipantBy getting rid of that relatively safe walkway to go between units, the company encouraged another far less safe method. It was common practice on the Arkansas Division and probably elsewhere, to go between GP units by going down the end steps and swinging from one unit to the other, hanging out over open space in the process. I was “taught” this method on my first student trip. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do it often but it was a fairly common way to get between units while the train was moving.
Bill Pollard
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