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Need Help Looking For Past MRR Add, Showing "What-If BN Little Joe Electric Locomotive

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Need Help Looking For Past MRR Add, Showing "What-If BN Little Joe Electric Locomotive
Posted by Engi1487 on Thursday, April 13, 2023 5:02 PM

Hello everyone,

I made a post on the Milwaukee Road Modellers Facebook group, asking what upgrades the MILW Little Joe Electric locomotives may have recieved had circumstances allowed then and the MILW to go on.

I even suggested seeing a Little Joe in a merger paint scheme like Burlington Northern would be neat. One commenter mentioned he thinks Overland Models, the well known brass manufacturer did one of their MILW HO Little Joes in a Burlingon Northern "what-if" paint scheme an ad in model railroader magazine long ago. He does recall it, but does not recall the issue.

Anyone else recall seeing something like this?

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Posted by wjstix on Friday, April 14, 2023 11:24 AM

I couldn't find anything online, couple ideas though...MTH made an O gauge "Demonstrator" version that was green and white, may be they're thinking of that? 

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/fileSendAction/fcType/0/fcOid/117429768815989621/filePointer/117429768815989639/fodoid/117429768815989635/imageType/LARGE/inlineImage/true/80-2033-1.jpg

Otherwise, GN had double-ended electrics up until 1956 IIRC. Could be the company was going to make a "what if" version of one of the GN electric motors in BN decoration?

Stix
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Posted by dknelson on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 10:30 AM

Engi1487

Hello everyone,

I made a post on the Milwaukee Road Modellers Facebook group, asking what upgrades the MILW Little Joe Electric locomotives may have recieved had circumstances allowed then and the MILW to go on.

I even suggested seeing a Little Joe in a merger paint scheme like Burlington Northern would be neat. One commenter mentioned he thinks Overland Models, the well known brass manufacturer did one of their MILW HO Little Joes in a Burlingon Northern "what-if" paint scheme an ad in model railroader magazine long ago. He does recall it, but does not recall the issue.

Anyone else recall seeing something like this?

 

I wonder if it was one of Walthers' decal ads.  They riled some feathers by offering Penn Central steam locomotive decals and one reader claimed they had violated Kalmbach's advertising policy by advertising fraudulent goods.

I too have some vague recollection of a BN electric but my hunch it was an ad for decals.  I think Walthers enjoyed the fuss they created

Dave Nelson

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Posted by wjstix on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 1:57 PM

As I recall, Walthers said they made the PC steam decals because at the time so many modellers wrote to them requesting the decals? It wouldn't have been hard to do for Walthers, the "mating worm" logo decals were the same as the ones they already made, just replace the sheet of generic diesel decals with the sheet of generic steam decals. 

Anyway, I looked through my old (1985-1991) decal catalogues, and I can't find any BN electric locomotive decals being made by Walthers, Champ, or Microscale. 

Another possibility is that what the person is remembering wasn't an ad but a picture from MR or RMC of a model submitted by a reader (like to MR's "Bull Session"?). If someone wanted to, it wouldn't have been hard to paint a Little Joe (or similar Great Northern W-1...or the GN Y1A that was rebuilt with FT bodies) BN green and black, then take BN E-unit decals and put them on a Little Joe, as it had a (somewhat) similar shape.

p.s. I recall when Stewart came out with their HO FT that it was pretty easy / inexpensive to buy undec shells. I know at least one modeller used FT shells to model the GN electric that was damaged in an accident, making a double-cab electric engine out of the FT bodies - just like GN did. Wouldn't have been hard or expensive for someone doing that to do the same but as a BN engine.

 gn_y1a_wenatchee.jpg (548×348) (gngoat.org)  

Stix
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Posted by BEAUSABRE on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 3:44 PM

You realize, of course, that is a B-D+D-B GN class W-1, not a 2-C+C-2 Joe, right? Also, the GN motor ran on 11,000 volts AC (like PRR, NH, VGN, RDG & N&W) while the MILW's Joes ran on 3,000 volt DC (like DL&W and NYC's CUT)

As for fantasy locomotives, I have my PRR FT's, GP3 (yes, THREE), GP20, SD24 and my CNJ RF-16's and FT's, GP20 and SD24. I grasduated from Penn State, so Ma and Pa 2-8-0 #43 is lettered for my home layout - the Central Pennsylvania (picture a mash up of the Bellefonte Central and East Broad Top). It's teamed with ex-PRR H6 and H9 Consolidations the Central Penn bought second hand - as the BC had done the later, it's hardly pushing things. Taking a tip from John Armstrong, the PRR's Bald Eagle Branch is modeled as a single track loop from a dual sided concealed staging yard, interchanging with the Central Penn at Milesburg. I did what John suggested and built the Bald Eagle Branch first, that allows you to work out your construction techniques on something simple and to have something to run when constructing the rest of the layout gets to you.

How do you make a GP3? Take a GP7, remove the low fans and replace them with fans from a F2 or F3 Phase 1 and drill and file the hood louvers out, then cover the holes with "chicken wire" (actually closer to chain link fencing)

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Posted by BN7150 on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 4:50 PM

In the electric locomotive "What-If", Atlas announced the AEM-7 in July 2014. However, I don't know anyone who bought one of them. 464

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Posted by MidlandMike on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 7:44 PM

BEAUSABRE
You realize, of course, that is a B-D+D-B GN class W-1, not a 2-C+C-2 Joe, right? ...

Little Joe 2-D+D-2

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Posted by OldEngineman on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 9:36 PM

BN wrote: "In the electric locomotive "What-If", Atlas announced the AEM-7 in July 2014. However, I don't know anyone who bought one of them"

I did:

(I ran ALL the Amtrak AEM-7's in my time, but I wanted something a little different for my small switching line, and "Amtrak" just wouldn't fit...)

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Posted by BN7150 on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 9:48 PM

OldEngineman! GREAT COLLECTION!

I failed completely.

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 2:21 PM

B-D-D-B is just a Little Joe Wheel arrangement with powered engine trucks.  For a model, just altering truck sideframes would likely be sufficient.

2-C-C-2 is like a PRR GG1 (which to my knowledge would be reprehensible in BN scheme).

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Posted by MidlandMike on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 7:20 PM

Overmod
B-D-D-B is just a Little Joe Wheel arrangement with powered engine trucks.  For a model, just altering truck sideframes would likely be sufficient.

Whereas all the powered GN wheels were the same size, the unpowered Little Joe pilot trucks had smaller wheels.

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