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UP E-8's kitbashed from Great Trains F units


xl_special
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Enginear Joe asked me to post some pictures of my UP E-8 pair. I cut up 4 Great Trains F-7 shells to make the  UP E-Unit pair. The frames are 1/4" marine plywood and the trucks are NWSL. Since I only model in number one gauge, I ended up having to make almost all parts from something other than what it was intended. Both are powered and running MTH sound systems. I have built 7 streamlined UP car to go behind them. If you're interested in doing an E-unit, I have one Great Trains A-unit shell and a MTH B-unit shell. You need to find another Great Trains or MTH F-7 A-unit shell. Both appear on Ebay on a regular basis. I have no use for either of these shells, so if you're serious, you can have them for whatever it costs to ship em.

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Jerry, please Email me at ltrumbull@gmail.com to let me know which of the two shells you want. You'll need to find either another great trains f7a or a mth A unit. The shells that I have will not work together. The great trains A-unit is wider than the MTH unit. I suggest using the great trains unit (pictured below). I have molds for the fans etc for this unit. I'll ship you which ever one you want after Christmas. Larry

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  • 1 month later...

Hi XL special: 

I am pretty interested in trying out such a conversion  myself. What sideframes did you use for the trucks? Because once you solve that, you really can consider doing it. Untill now I did not consider this because of this problem. I am motivated to go for an E8 because they became very universal on the Pennsy. I heard also that the motors in the NWSL trucks aren't really very good. Do yours run OK? I hardly have any grades, as I run live steam without radio control and wide radius, but I do run long trains at  track speed. Then again with four power trucks on an A-A lash up it should be OK. Your truck sideframes look pretty tasty!  Great job and it gives one the urge to get with it. keep up the good work., Simon

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I got the truck frames from Ralph Brown when he was doing the E-7's. They would be easily to make a mold and cast some for you if you're not in a rush. The NWSL trucks are way over priced, but they seem to run forever. I've pulled my 7 car "Portland Rose" for hundreds of hours. I've never had a problem and they only show the typical wheel wear that you would expect. NWSL is also very good about parts (unlike MTH!!). You can get every part from them for a very reasonable price. I have several pieces of the stainless grills (not enought to do a unit, but you could send one to someone who does photoetching and get what you need, see my recent post of the SP FP-7A for pictures of the grills). I think you could do it, and you come out with a set of E's that are the right scale and run forever.

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Jerry, it depends on your grades and radius in the curves. (small radius equals more drag). My guess is the f-unit would pull 8 cars without a problem if your grades are 1% or less and your radius is 10 foot or greater. You can weigh those NWSL units down pretty good, just ask NWSL what is the max amperage they can draw. Its been too long for me to remember if its one amp or a tenth of an amp. I think its one tenth of an amp.Anyway, let us know what happens. Larry

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  • 3 weeks later...
 

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