CN 2506 Project

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IT'S DONE!!!! Check the photos at the bottom.

This project started from an Athearn prepainted locomotive. I started here in order to keep the decals on the side of the long hood. I started by removing the cab. This will be replaced by the Kaslo cab seen here


If you look closely at the top of the window frames on the two left posts, you will see where I had to repair them when I dropped the cab. The far right one was not repairable so I used 1/16" C channel sanded and whittled to shape It is almost unnoticable. I was not happy with myself for dropping it.

Next I started on the radiator wing and end of the long hood. I cut out the radiator grills and added the Details West parts. This was a complicated piece to figurue out how to fit. If anyone needs help send me an email. Maybe a good sound decoder could fit in that hood and the speaker in the radiator. Hmmmmmmm. I also added the Kaslo shops sand hatch into the end of the long hood as well as the Details West lifting lugs included in the Dash 9 detail kit. I have yet to add the single rear light.Also visible is the Aline see through steps and the Plano material that I used for the see through walkway. I used three Dremel cut off wheel disks stacked to cut the plastic from underneath and used a file to clean up the holes. Some fool (namely me) drilled too big holes for the grabs on the end of the long hood years ago. I am trying to repair the damage but would not be suprised if it did not work out well.

Below you can see the scratch built hand brake apparatus on the rear truck as well as the Waste Containment tank. There are two sizes that CN uses on Dash 9s. The smaller size if for the first order 2500-2522. You can also see that I removed all steps, respaced them so that there would be four steps to the walkway instead of five. I used the A-line over some .030"x.030" supports glued to the pilot. I also added the traction motor cables from Details West according to pics I had. I also drilled out the centre bearing on the truck and replaced it with.....yes, a Details West part

You can see in the image below that I have not replaced all the steps yet. It is not fun and something I would prefer not do often. You can also see the support for the air filters just behind the truck, the brakelines that I bent from .012" wire and the Details West Air Tank kit as well as some details added onto the fuel tank.

The whole thing came to a pause in April of 2004. I was waiting for the GE stanchions that were ordered to come in to decide the front and rear anticlimber attachment as I had not used these stanchions before. I also did not have the detail shot for the front truck to show the traction motor cables that I had already put on the rear of the unit but I have now figured that out. I am trying to keep the factory paint along the long hood as I have found that while the Mircoscale set isn't bad, it lacks a lot of the small warning decals. I decided not to replace the pilots. There is a difference but I don't really notice it. I also need to wait to get the new wheels under it so I can change it to body mounted couplers instead of the frame ones.

The Final Word

Well it is now done.Yipppeee! I received the Utah Pacific stanchions, bent my own handrails and dug out the paint.  I also installed the last set of steps removing one step so that they matched the CN locos. I cleaned up all my little booboos that came evident after priming before I gotthe red and black paint into the airbrush. I followed a tip I learned on one of the RPM email groups I am on and bent a piece of wire into a U shape and glued it to the underside of the sunshades. The then drilled holes at the rain gutter corresponding with the legs of the U so that the sunshades, while fitting snugly and unglued, are fully removable for storage. There is not a DCC chip in there yet but I am hoping for a Soundtraxx DSD to come up on Ebay.