Beauty is more than skin deep

481 was probably thinking the same thing

"Boy that's one ugly butthead!  Glad it's coupled to my rear so I don't have to look at it all day!"

Scott Chatfield

IAIS GP8 481

IAIS 481 has been with the railroad since its October 1984 inception, but was rebuilt to slug 651 in 2011:

In my era, though, it was a rusty, grimy Paducah GP8, and while it was ugly, it had a lot of character, making it a fun candidate for modeling, as shown in the pics below:

Cab door from another IAIS Geep, along with primed stanchion and latches:

Hand-painted numbers:

Mismatched fans (Andy Brown photo):

Crooked sunshade:

Heck, it was even submersible (up to 3 meters):

My model started life as an Intermountain IC GP10 much like this one:

I'm currently in the process of backdating it to a GP8, removing some louvers and adding others, replacing the 4 36" radiator fans with two mismatched Cannon 48-inchers, swapping the nose out for one without the frog-eye headlight, and adjusting other details to better match the prototype.  I hope you'll follow along!

Yep she’s a beauty

Can’t wait to see this project come to life!

An acquired taste

Some of the older diesel rebuilds got a little funky for sure.  But you can learn to love them.

I've seen photos of at least one loco that looked pretty much identical on at least one of the shortlines in this general area - Seaview RR GP10's:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=980954

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=603649

Also rebuilds, but I think done by someplace different.  Interesting that they came out looking so similar.

Gotta Love a Paducah Geep!

You just gotta love a Paducah Geep no matter the paint, weathering, road name (or lack of)  At the same I can't believe that Intermountain has no plans to do more IC orange and white units.  Some units seem to stimulate an emotional attachment even with simply a photo.

A salute to all who worked at Paducah in both the diesel and steam era!  You guys done good!!!

Joe, any idea on what was the original road number?

Robert

IAIS 481's background

Hi Robert - the 481 started life as IC 8981, becoming 7981 after rebuild.

Generator?

Curious if that is the generator sitting next to the engine in the submerged photo?

Pre-disassembled

Dear ??? (Bkivey)

Yes, that unit sat beside the hood of 481 is indeed a loco generator,
sitting on what looks-to-be a "forklift-able baseplate".
(Whether it's 481's generator is a seperate question).

Nice (trick of the image) pic, the "3 metres deep" almost caught me....

Happy Modelling,
Aim to find the missing cab, and observe the tractor wheels
Prof Klyzlr

Not submerged

She's a Geep, not a U-boat....

Blind Dog

GP8

Looks like a fun project Joe, Can't wait for the finished product, Must be close to being done.Kevin

"F" for Front

It's funny to see letter "F" designating the front of low nose locomotives.  Marking with the "F" harkens back to the introduction of diesels.  With early high hood designs it made sense, but hardly seems useful when front is obvious, as on early streamliners. 

F

The "F" designator is required by Federal law.

love the Geeps, and U boats, of railroads of days gone past

I really miss seeing the 4-5 consists of loco's pulling a mile of rolling stock.

i know progress is the future, and  efficiency and cost saving power is a must. 

but nowadays all locomotives look the same. not much diversity... not like back in the 60-70"s when there were alco century's

GP 9'-40's plus ... and the SD series.. they all had really cool rugged machine features.. that in away said to me , these are vehicles for doing the Heavy work.

Lots of "character" in that unit

Joe, There certainly is a lot of character in that IAIS unit! The patched out reporting marks and plenty of rust and grime will make it a fun project. It may be ugly, but I like it. I can't wait to see the finished unit.

Thomas Klimoski

Modeling the Georgia Northeastern Railroad

GP8 481

I couldn't agree more Mark.  "Ugly", when referring to prototype equipment that's in bad shape, actually means "beautiful" in my book.  Of the locomotives I documented in this earlier thread , those that were in the worst condition were by far the most fun to model.  That green high-hood GP9, IAIS 303, has always been one of my favorite models for that reason, but the more I dig into the 481, I think it might end up being a close second.

Haha!  You may have a point there Scott.

Oh yeah.  "Ugly" is a term of affection here for sure.

Ken, I'm pretty sure those GP10s are both Paducah products.  With the headlight inset in the nose (vs. the frog-eye shown on the Intermountain model on Page 1), they're a later phase than the IM model shown. Later still in the GP10 program, Paducah switched to Dynacell air filters, a detail that carried over to their GP11s as seen on  IAIS 485:

Hahaha!  Not quite yet.  I really just dug into it the last couple days, and I still have some surgery to do:  Building new radiator hatches to convert from four 36" to two 48" fans, removing the signal box in front of the cab on the engineer's side, placing an Archer order for new latches and bolts/rivets for the radiator hatches, and replacing all the MU hoses and cables that snapped off while trying to pry/snip/cuss the footboards off. 

I have to say, these IM models don't lend themselves to kitbashing.  The styrene seems more weak and brittle than any locomotive I've worked on in the past.  Modeling the IAIS, I've done a LOT of kitbashing over the years, and I've never seen components that have broken as easily while disassembling for redetailing.  I was honestly afraid I was going to crack the shell while just gripping it to sand off the factory radiator hatches.  Also, the handrails appear to be glued on, and details that we've become accustomed to being done in some kind of flexible plastic, like MU hoses and handrails, are so fragile that it's as if they were molded in that same brittle styrene as well.  Be careful out there!

I understand what you're saying Chris, that aside from the federal mandate, it seems like "front" should be obvious in many cases.  However, there are some real surprises out there, like the later N&W power that was ordered with low short hoods as a cost-saving measure, but still set up for LHF operation.

Can't Wait

I am sure you will overcome and persevere ( Outlaw Josey Wales) Looking forward to the updates. Kevin

Radiator hatch bolts?

Does anyone know the correct size of the bolt heads around the perimeter of GP7/9 radiator hatches?  I'm trying to find the appropriate Archer product to buy, but they don't offer anything specifically for this purpose, and their catalog has about 150 different offerings.  I see some that are close to the correct 7" spacing, but I'm having a harder time determining which size fastener head is correct.  All appear tiny in the catalog, but I don't want to guess and get something that looks unusually large - or can't be seen at all - on the model.

@Joe

Joe,

I sent you an email with some information. Hope it helps.

Craig

Be still my heart

A Paducah GP-8.  Man oh man.  They don't make 'em like that any more.  This will be a joy to watch.

That's a great looking loco,

That's a great looking loco, Joe. One that'll be huge fun to model. Looking forward to seeing this happen.

I've always loved the battered and bruised examples on my chosen railroad. So much character.

Mike

GP8

Hi Joe

eager to see your progress on this. I am converting IC 8047 to IAIS 413 prior to its repaint. I’ve removed the lettering, the molded fans, radiator screens, and the pockets on the pilot so far. 

Follow-up

Let me translate for Craig:  When he says "some information", what he means is, "volumes and volumes of EMD parts catalogs".  I mean, I think I've seen smaller encyclopedia sets before.   Not that I'm complaining!  Thanks again Craig.

Craig also called out a specific line on a specific page (out of 800) of Vol. 3 that mentions the roof hatch bolts being "1/2-13 x 1 1/4 hex head".  Since I wasn't sure what size head that would have, I measured a full-size bolt in my stash, determined that the head is 25% wider than the diameter of the body, and thus determined that that 1/2" bolt must have a head that's about .66 inches, or about 0.008" in HO.  That's exactly the size of the smallest heads in Archer set AR88001 , so I just ordered that.  The spacing is off just a bit on those smaller ones, so I'll see when the set arrives if I should go with the more accurate spacing of the larger fastener heads, or the more accurate head size of the smaller variety.

So that's what the quarantine has driven me to.

Robin, Tom, Philip, and Mike, I couldn't agree more with the sentiments you expressed about older power.  So much fun stuff running back in the 70s and early 80s...and on honorary 1970s roads like the 2005 IAIS.

Kyle, that's really cool to hear of you modeling the early version of IAIS 413.  Do you model the IAIS in its earlier days, or is this a one-off project?  I'd love to follow along if you're posting updates somewhere.

Speaking of earlier days, this project to create the 481 is having another fun outcome:  Since the IC orange, frog-eye equipped nose from the Intermountain GP10 I'm using as a base model for this unit is being made surplus, I decided that it'd make a great starting point to model the nose from GP8 7976 languishing in the weeds near the Bluffs enginehouse, as shown in this Erik Rasmussen pic from September 25, 2004:

Much of the rest of the 7976 was used in the 2002 rebuild of IAIS 400, but before the final remains were scrapped, the IAIS set aside this portion of the cab face and nose with plans to eventually chop their last high-hood unit, GP9 303.  Those plans never materialized due to the 2004-2005 arrival of the 700-series GP38-2s that spelled the end for the 303, the MLWs, and most of the remaining 400s.  However, I'm looking forward to modeling this last surviving piece of the 7976 for the story it tells regarding the IAIS's thriftiness and determination in the care of their aging locomotive fleet.  I'll cover that little scene in a separate post, but I thought it deserved mention here given the connection with the 481.

Wrench size vs. bolt dia.

Just a FYI. These are typical, see attachment or (bolt size) x 1.5 = Wrench size. There are other types that are different such as a flange style bolt or sometimes a shoulder bolt. YMMV.

https://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/printable-tools/US-Nut-Size-Chart.pdf