Mark

The old Blue box handrails shared a common design on the upright lengths. If you can find some sets from other SD and GP units, you might be able to cobble a GP7/9 set together. you could then fabricate the handrails from brass or steel.The end handrails may be difficult to find. Some Mantua/TYCO GP20 units had metal handrail sets that may work.

I have fabricated hand rail uprights by flattening one end of a piece of copper wire and wrapping it around the handrail. This was tedious with only fair results.

Regards, John **********************

Son, we'd like to keep you around this season but we're going to try and win a pennant. <> Casey Stengel

What railroad are you modeling

If by your screen name, I see FEC in there, you are modeling FEC, the FEC GP7s and early GP9s had the raised end handrails. I believer, at least according to article in Speedway by Richard Beall, only FEC had this configuration. I am thinking how to do my two GP7s without major work. 

Bill Michael

Try Smokey Valley

If you Google "Smokey Valley Handrails" you can find a listing for several handrail kits they make.  There are two versions of the GP7/9 handrails - one would be the earlier 'clamp' style stanchions and the other would be the later bent stanchions.  The handrail kits are a little on the steep side, considering how you acquired these units - you could save a little money by buying the stanchion sets only, and bending your own rails from brass wire.

Photo of FEC GP7 609 end

the link is to a photo on Fallen Flags of GP7 609 showing the end hand rails raised in middle. 

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/fec/fec0609gea.jpg

This is a challenge at least to me to model. Guess fabricating the stanchions and bending wire is only answer.

Bill Michael

"I was wondering if anyone

"I was wondering if anyone would know if the handrails from any other Athearn GP loco would fit BB GP 7/9s?"

    The older Athearn handrail stanchions represent the later GP9 welded rails instead of the GP7/early GP9 bolted rails but  they look pretty good from a distance once installed and painted. For the end rails you could use some of the taller Trainmaster stanchions for the part that raises up. You can buy brass cast stanchions that have the bolt detail on them but they'd cost a lot for that many locos. I'd just use the cheaper Athearn parts and install them and forget about them. Use 0.012 or 0.015 Details Associates brass wire and bend your own hand rails and CA glue them to the stanchions then paint the rails and add white or yellow safety paint on the ends and it will look fine. That's the way we did it for many years . Here's a 1957 era Athearn GP7 with the GP9 style hand rails, still going strong and no little HO trainmen have fallen off them.....DaveB   

Athern BB handrails

Where can I get replacement handrails for Athearn BB locomotives?

Thanks,

Scott

Bend your own

Athearn stanchions (vertical pieces of the handrails) are still available as a separate part. I bought a set of the Smokey Valley handrails for use on an Atlas/Kato GP7, but found drilling out the casting to accept the wire handrail to be impossible, resulting in lots of broken drill bits. I ended up using Athearn stanchions with music wire. Smokey Valley did provide an HO scale drawing that served as a bending diagram. It was not tht difficult, certainly less time consuming than drilling out the brass SV stanchions.

 Mike Coen

What I have been doing is

What I have been doing is going on ebay and looking for cheap engine shells with hand rails. I picked up a beat up athearn GP35 shell with all hand rails for $6.00 shipped. That is a lot cheaper than just buying the hand rails.  When that arrived, I took the rails off and put them on my good engine.