Good subject choice, eightyeightfan1, and nice looking locos, folks. Here are a few of the Alcos and MLWs that I still have left.
EG&E FAs, from Model Power. Some minor detailing added, along with a custom brush-painted job by yours truly, using Polly S military colours. Striping and lettering (individually applied letters on all four units) is from Champ, and the nose heralds are custom dry transfers from C-D-S. All four units are powered and have had extra weight added: real workhorses.
More Model Power FAs, these extensively reworked as FPA-4s, with new body panels, a revised air intake layout, and a new location for the cooling system exhaust fan. Paint is SMP Accupaint, and the striping is from an Accucal decal set for CNR freight units. The roadname, again, is done with individually applied letters from a Champ alphabet set, and various parts from Detail Associates and Details West have been added. The fuel tanks are scratchbuilt, and the rooftop icicle breakers were built-up from brass bar stock. These locos were built using photos of in-service VIA (ex-CNR) units as reference. (Some of these units are still in service on the Grand Canyon Railway and the Napa Valley Wine Trains)
The CNR prototypes are among my all-time favourite diesels, geared for and used in 90 mph every-day service.
These RS-11s are from Atlas (606 & 608) and LifeLike (Proto-No-Thousand)(602 & 604). The LifeLike locos were the first acquired. Pilot ends were reworked to allow body-mounted couplers and the plastic (cast-on) handrails were replaced with built-up wire ones, as were the cast-on grabirons. Headlights and m.u. hoses are from Detail Associates. These units were such poor runners, with their single power trucks, and low-quality motor, that they were soon converted to dummies, the only ones still in operation on the layout. The yellow ends, striping, and lettering are all SMP Accupaint (CP Rail Action Yellow, I think), while the black is Floquil.
This Alco S-4 is pretty much "stock", except for the addition of snowplows and numberboards from Details West, and revised lights from Detail Associates. The bell was the victim of a "Restricted Clearance" violation at nearby GERN Industries.
I also have an Atlas RS-3, revised and painted to match a specific CNR prototype, but no photos are available. Gone, but not forgotten (I have photos, both prints and transparencies, but, alas, no scanner, as yet, to allow posting) are Alco C-628s (Model Power), a C430 (Tyco), an M-630 (Tyco, with a scratchbuilt "Safety Cab"), and a remotored Rivarossi NYC J-3 Hudson, relettered as a TH&B J-1.
Wayne