U23-B diesel... do they exist?

[Anonymous]

Hi all...

I'm fairly new to this hobby after taking time off to live in a college dorm and an apartment. I finally bought a house so now it's time to set thing up!!!

I've been looking for a U23-B engine to use on my new D&H layout. I have an RS-3 and I am looking to redo it in the 23-b in the Bicentennial colors. The old engines look really nice but I have yet to find a u23-b in O gauge.
Any help would be appreciated!
Keith

[Big_Boy_4005]

Lionel used to make some U boats, they were 36 B's and C's. But the last ones were released over 20 years ago, and they didn't make too many different ones either. The focus has turned to more modern models. My advice is start checking eBay.

Good Luck.

P.S. They did actually do a powered and dummy set of D & H numbers 8050 & 8051, they were U36C's.

[brianel027]

Keith, if you are running 031 curves or bigger, Weaver has made a U25B. It's a scale sized loco, but they also made it in D&H. Weaver has made quite a bit of D&H motive power: RS-11, RSD-12, GP-38-2 and an RS-3. They've probably made others too... that list is from the 2000 year catalog.
Lionel 2 years ago cataloged a U36B in Conrail and there's one in the brand new 2004 catalog for Western Pacific. But these engines list at nearly $130 and only come with one motorized truck, plastic everything - except for the sheet metal frame. In my opinion, far far too much money considering what you get from others. Funny too, because last year's Union Pacific GP-20 at the same exact list price with the same exact features and a much more complicated paint mask, had DUAL motors. Seems everytime recently Lionel makes something I really want, they sabotage it with poor quality, sub-par features or/and excessive high list price.
I like the Lionel U36B and they are typically on e-bay. The MPC models do have die-cast copulers and trucks, plus the pull-more motor. But there are no roller pick-ups on the dummy truck, so you'd probably want to install them.

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys. I'll check out the 36b's. I am waiting for a few large photo's of the 23b that someone took to check out details. I'm sure they are similar. I found a place that will make the decal set for the O gauge engines but it's expensive because of a resize charge (to go up from HO scale). Things are getting expensive all of a sudden! Thank god for ebay!!!
Keith

[Big_Boy_4005]

Keith, if I remember correctly, there is very little external difference in those early GE U-Boats. The main difference was under the hood, as those numbers reffered to Horse Power ratings. The letters were truck types, B for 2 axle, and C for 3 axle.

[Anonymous]

Yea, that sounds right. I think the reason I became so picky was because after looking at several Lionel, Weaver, Williams, and Atlas I noticed slight differences and thought maybe there was a difference with the 'real' engines. It doesn't look it.
Now it all comes down to price. Thank god for a tax refund this year!!! :)
Thanks again,
Keith

[brianel027]

Keith, keep in mind that some of our of the "traditionally" sized Lionel engines will actually be too small for some full-scale 0-scale decals. One of the tricks I have found is to mix scales of decals I want. For example, I like the Penn Central. So I found the Microscale HO loco set with PC hearlds to be perfect. Conrail changed their logo size from the early large wheels-on-rails logo to a much smaller one. I again find the HO sets for locos perfect for the less-than-full-scale sized Lionel cars. I often use large box car or engine HO decals for just the logos or hearlds. I often use either S-scale or O-scale dimensional data depending on the car. I use the O-scale decals for ACI marker plates, but I slice the individual plates and move the 2 pieces closer together to make them a little smaller.
In other words, sometimes I have to flub it a little. I find I also have to take a few liberties sometimes to make things fit and have the right look. But mixing decal scales also helps save money... you get a lot more hearlds on a set of HO decals than you do on a O-scale set.