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Alco HH660

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  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: Davis, CA
  • 56 posts
Alco HH660
Posted by alco49 on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 11:16 PM

Not sure if this is a good question but here goes OK I was wondering if anybody's seen a decent- quality HO scale model of an Alco HH660 Ive been looking around but no luck yet.Sigh [sigh] Thanks in advance, Alco49.

Do it again, you still haven't got it right! I treat you as a model railroader not because you are a model railroader, but because I am a model railroader
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  • From: Austin, TX
  • 1,752 posts
Posted by Don Z on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 11:22 PM

They've probably all been sold, but here's a link:

http://www.jjlmodels.com/Products/AlcoHH660/AlcoHH660Wrapper.shtml

Don Z.

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  • From: Northeast OH
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Posted by tstage on Thursday, May 1, 2008 12:22 AM

They still had some a couple of months ago when I checked.

Tom

https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling

Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.

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  • From: Massachusetts
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Posted by Paul3 on Thursday, May 1, 2008 10:54 AM

I know Overland has done these in brass in the 1990's (quality: excllent), and that Walthers did one about a million years ago in cast brass (quality: poor).  Also, E&P Associates released these in brass (quality: excellent) in the 1980's, and Alco Models released one in brass in the 1970's IIRC (quality: fair).

There are two resin models that I know of.  The aforementioned link has one, the other is the New Haven Terminal at Branford (CT) Hobbies.  (203) 488-9865  It's based on a Athearn drive.

Paul A. Cutler III
************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
************

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Posted by tstage on Thursday, May 8, 2008 8:47 AM

alco,

UPDATE: I contacted JJL Models a few days ago.  Joe told me that he still had some in stock so I'm buying one.  Since I model steam and early diesel, I'm really looking forward to adding one of these to my roster. Smile [:)]

This particular version has the Proto 2000 S1 frame/mechanisim so it will be a very good runner.  You'll still need to paint and decal it though.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Even though Proto 2000 says on the outside of the box that their S1s are "DCC ready", they really aren't.  If you want to install a decoder one, you will need to isolate the motor from the frame before adding the decoder Otherwise, you decoder will go *poof*.

Tom

https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling

Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.

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Posted by tatans on Sunday, May 11, 2008 5:34 PM
Probably not the most beautiful locomotive ever built, but it's just the cutest thing you ever saw, now just saying, if a person ever got hold of one of these, what would you do with it??? in reality, how many real and models were made?  eleven of each???
  • Member since
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  • From: Milwaukee WI (Fox Point)
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Posted by dknelson on Sunday, May 11, 2008 6:14 PM
 Paul3 wrote:

...Walthers did one about a million years ago in cast brass (quality: poor).  ...

Paul A. Cutler III
************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
************

That was one of the oldest HO diesel locomotive models made, going back I think to the 1930s to the very time when the prototype was new, and Walthers kept the crudely detailed body castings in their catalog for decades, well into the mid 1970s and beyond.  It was catalog 933-379(U) consisting of a roof, two sides, and two ends.  From time to time I have seen them for sale at the swap meet at DuPage IL, but at some point they must have switched to soft white metal, because the ones I saw were not brass.

Peter Ness, the fellow who maintains this interesting New Haven model website

 http://www.freewebs.com/newhavenrailroad1959/yardswitchers.htm

has a photo of the model he built up from the Walthers parts and actually he did a darn good job!  I hope he won't mind that I copied his photo:

 

Back in those days Walthers was known for relentlessly selling kits, parts, castings and decals forever, and some of them were almost antiques.   But they also had a lot of detail parts for passenger cars and freight cars that sure could be useful to have now.   But something new from them was almost unheard of by the 1970s.   Frankly it seemed they needed to abandon metal for pastic to modernize their line, not that I have anything against metal.

A far cry from today where nearly every month they have new releases to advertise. 

Dave Nelson  

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  • From: Massachusetts
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Posted by Paul3 on Sunday, May 11, 2008 8:14 PM

According to Diesel Chronology at http://www.urbaneagle.com/data/RRdieselchrono.html there were (produced from 1931 to 1940):

1 HH Demonstrator No. 0900
78 HH600's
21 HH900's
43 HH660's
34 HH1000's

That's 177 HH's.

As for original owners, I hesitate to use Wikipedia, but here's the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_HH_series

Class I buyers of all types of HH's seem to be:
NH
ATSF
BRC
B&A
B&M
CNJ
C&EI
DL&W
EJ&E
IC
PT
RDG
ACL
MILW
ERIE
GBW
L&N
MEC
M&StL
NP
SP
WAB
MP

So while their numbers are low, HH's were widespread.

Paul A. Cutler III
************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
************

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Posted by ndbprr on Monday, May 12, 2008 2:14 PM
One used to switch one of the tank car plants on East chicago indiana up until about ten years ago. I sent pictures to Trains but they never published them.  It was owned by a company in Minooka Illinois that specialized in Alco engines for lease.  The company is still there but it looks like they have modernized their offerings. 

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