I just read through my Walthers flyer, and see that they are doing another run of their Mainline Alco DL-109 locos, this time in 5 (count 'em) different NH paint schemes. It would be great if I could afford to plunk down $750 for one of each, but maybe I can scrounge up the dinero for one or two more. For some reason, I love the look of that loco. And since the NH operated the vast majority of them, it's good to see them in many different NH paint schemes.
Anyone else excited by this announcement, or am I the only DL-109 fan out there (although I'm guessing not, otherwise they wouldn't be doing another run so soon)?
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Originally it was just called a Proto 1000 model. They were not DCC ready but installing a decoder was a fairly simple process. They run very smoothly and have lots of weight for good traction and pulling power.
But the price is now nearly double what they originally sold for.
CTValleyRR$750 for one of each
Russell
csxns CTValleyRR $750 for one of each Is that what the Walthers Mainline locomotives go for now ?
CTValleyRR $750 for one of each
Is that what the Walthers Mainline locomotives go for now ?
I think it's $150 and he wants 5 of them
If they haven't changed anything (other than the typically Walthers ridiculous MSRP*) from the Proto 1000 version of these, they are nice runners, and will pull the walls down - behind the elongated sloping nose was ALL solid metal and they weighed a ton.
Definitely a neat loco, but not a lot were made and only a few railroads had them. If you're a New Haven fan, then this is a great announcement. A fan of most any other railroad - not so much.
--Randy
* I can't be the only one who's noticed that since Walthers started releasing the P2K stuff under their own name, the MSRP is just ridiculous, but actual street price is more in line with what they used to sell for. I guess so it looks better "Hey look, 20% off!!!" Shame so many consumers are fooled by that and can't or won't do basic math. Given the choice, $110 or $120 where the $120 is 25% off, most pick the $120 item.
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
DavidH66 csxns CTValleyRR $750 for one of each Is that what the Walthers Mainline locomotives go for now ? I think it's $150 and he wants 5 of them
Yeah, $149.99, but what's a penny between friends. I have a green and gold one already from last year's run (for S116 from trainworld), plus an older Proto 1000 version in more of an olive green. Putting a decoder in both of these was a plug and play affair.
I'm actually thinking of getting a McGinnis and a "Cranberry", although I'm not sure the NH ever ran a DL-109 on that run. I'm pretty sure thosewere PA's in that livery.
CTValleyRR Anyone else excited by this announcement, or am I the only DL-109 fan out there ?
Anyone else excited by this announcement, or am I the only DL-109 fan out there ?
Santa Fe only bought one pair, an AB consist, but Walthers has only released the A unit.
Rich
Alton Junction
CTValleyRR,The McGinnis DL-109 #0759 is the questionable paint job if only because only the one was done and it was scrapped in 1959 with the rest of the fleet (other than 0716). The question is if it ever ran a revenue run in McGinnis or not. Most of the photos I've seen show a "C" in front of the road number...meaning "Condemned".
The Cranberry, #0722, was repeatedly painted in the red & white scheme over at least 4 years. There are pictures out there showing the red-painted #0722 leading a passenger train across the Cape Cod Lift Bridge or in Hyannis, and that's the route of "The Cranberry". Note that in the pictures available, sometimes she has black trucks, other times silver. Some pics show the original WABCO E-2 horns, while others show Hancocks. I've seen pics with her entire underframe is silver, and other when just the trucks were.
No other engine was ever painted in "The Cranberry". Even the other units on the train itself remained green:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lightning72/3966270587/
Paul A. Cutler III
Paul3 CTValleyRR,The McGinnis DL-109 #0759 is the questionable paint job if only because only the one was done and it was scrapped in 1959 with the rest of the fleet (other than 0716). The question is if it ever ran a revenue run in McGinnis or not. Most of the photos I've seen show a "C" in front of the road number...meaning "Condemned". The Cranberry, #0722, was repeatedly painted in the red & white scheme over at least 4 years. There are pictures out there showing the red-painted #0722 leading a passenger train across the Cape Cod Lift Bridge or in Hyannis, and that's the route of "The Cranberry". Note that in the pictures available, sometimes she has black trucks, other times silver. Some pics show the original WABCO E-2 horns, while others show Hancocks. I've seen pics with her entire underframe is silver, and other when just the trucks were. No other engine was ever painted in "The Cranberry". Even the other units on the train itself remained green: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lightning72/3966270587/ Paul A. Cutler III
It's nice to see that, since there was only one loco in each of those paint jobs, at least Walthers got the numbers right.
And, if you're trying to be absolutely faithful to the prototype, you couldn't run both of those locos at the same time, because #722 was repainted into the standard livery before the McGinnis units came out (I can't look now, because I'm at work, but I seem to remember that #722 wore the cranberry paint for less than 4 years). The silver trucks were apparently a later upgrade to the paint scheme.
There are several photos (albeit B&W) in my reference (New Haven Power) of #759 in the McGinnis scheme. I was looking at it last night to see how the paint on the Walthers model lined up to the original, and it isn't bad. I didn't look at the number boards, though. Although, really, after Patrick McGinnis muscled his way in, you could fairly say that the entire railroad was condemned, although it took another decade to die!
Unfortunatly these units are NOT DCC ready. Walthers would sell a lot more if they were. I would get two for my Santa Fe train if they were DCC ready.
If you check the Walthers product description at https://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/910-9109 they have an 8-pin DCC harness.
One point to make about these is that the details on the New Haven units are correct only for the first ten, and that prior to their rebuilding after World War II. The later units had grillwork covering the side windows, as well as different roof vent detail. So they are correct for the first ten numbers in green and gold, as well as the two in the earlier run in warm orange, green, and silver pinstripes. I don't believe the details would be correct for the Brooks Brothers gray and pinstripe scheme, the Cranberry, or McGinnis, although they look very good.
richhotrain CTValleyRR Anyone else excited by this announcement, or am I the only DL-109 fan out there ? Nice looking loco, but Alco didn't produce many of them. Santa Fe only bought one pair, an AB consist, but Walthers has only released the A unit. Rich
Nice looking loco, but Alco didn't produce many of them.
Counting all the variants (DL-103, 105, 107, and 109 -- technically, the B units were even numbered models), there were 74 produced; just the DL-109, 62. The New Haven owned and operated 60 of them, owing to a technicality in the production restrictions on passenger locomotives during WWII. So yeah, this is pretty much a New Haven only affair.
I'm guessing it wouldn't be too hard to modify a different streamlined B unit to come up with a DL-110 (B unit for the -109), though.
According to Walthers, it is DCC Ready.
http://www.walthers.com/instructions/0910/09100000009100.pdf
They even include a warning to add a resistor to avoid frying the LED.
How about that !
Wikepedia has a nice chart summarizing all of the railroads that purchased A and B units.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_DL-109
The original P1K versions were as DCC Ready as anything gets as well. Motor brushes isolated, wires in place from the track pickups. Easy install.
Spook shows review of theis engine shows NO light boards, just a solid chunk of metal around the motir and he states that it is NOT DCC ready. If you have one that is, please post a picture of the light boards to confirm that you have the correct insturctions for the DL109.
This is the original P1K release. My father in law had one and I installed a decoder for him to run on our layout. Very easy
http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/Life_Like/Proto_1000_DL109/proto%201000%20dl%20109.htm
SpookShow is picturing the N scale version. The rest of us seem to be talking about the HO model.
You are correct, I am talking about the N scale version. Untill Walthers gets their heads out of their rear ends and starts to update their locomtoves to DCC ready in N scale locomotives in N scale they will be loosing a LOT of revenue. Atlas, Kato, Fox Valley Models and Intemountain all do, why won't Walthers?. They have deep pockets and all they have to do is modify the drives since they already have the shells or are just to cheap to care about the 20 percent of the market that is N scale?
Never mind what Walthers says! I put decoders in them by pulling out the small pc board and inserting the decoder's plug. It don't get much more dcc ready than that.
The resistor for the headlight was also about a two minute job.
And yes, we are talking about the HO version, as announced in the Walthers flyer. They're not shown in the N Scale section.
Although I don't want this to degenerate into a "the hobby is too expensive", I do notice that the leftovers from last year's run have an MSRP of $129 and are on sale for $89.
And because I'm sure inquiring minds want to know, #0759, the one with McGinnis paint, was in revenue service at least thru 1957. I found a photo of her MU'd with an ALCO PA (#0785) in Boston's South Station with a string of heavyweights behind them.
JOHN BRUCE III If you check the Walthers product description at https://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/910-9109 they have an 8-pin DCC harness. One point to make about these is that the details on the New Haven units are correct only for the first ten, and that prior to their rebuilding after World War II. The later units had grillwork covering the side windows, as well as different roof vent detail. So they are correct for the first ten numbers in green and gold, as well as the two in the earlier run in warm orange, green, and silver pinstripes. I don't believe the details would be correct for the Brooks Brothers gray and pinstripe scheme, the Cranberry, or McGinnis, although they look very good.
As near as I can tell, most of the units were delivered from the factory in more or less the same configuration as the Walthers models. Ventilator, horn and window mods were installed after delivery. I have "as delivered"photos of #0738 and #0752 (pre-cranberry paint) in Schenectedy, which seem to match the Walthers configuration.
If you're a stickler for exact detail (and I'm not), it would be a fairly simple detailing effort to correct those issues.
The Walthers DL-109 is incorrect for any road. It's a mutt, combining features of several DL-series locos into one model. It has the one large/one small horn and large pilot opening of the ATSF version (which also had coupler doors), but has the NH-style windows, no skirting, and NH-like nose treatment, etc.
I can't tell about the 2nd order of NH DL-109's (0710-0749), but there's a builder's shot of the third order (0750-0759) showing the boxed radiator louvers on the roof. Yes, it has the windows, but the roof is totally different.
To change the windows to screen openings is a major undertaking as they don't actually line up with each other. The roof line modifications will result in a lot of grinding, filing and sanding before scratch building the radiator louver boxes.