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Thinking about finishing my aluminum E44.  I just shot it with black, and am going to tackle handrails and Faiveley pantographs maybe tonight.

Rumors are that very knowledgeable E44 fans are lurking close by - so I am looking for fragments of advice.  They tell me these were all Brunswick green - they look positively black in all the color photos I have seen.  So, DGLE as a top coat after a quick sanding job?  Are 1960s Dulux decals still available?DSC03048

I am not much for modern rolling stock with spinning bearing caps, but willing to make an exception here - do I have to cast my own, or are there suitable commercial caps for the driver axles?

Yes, it runs - quite well, actually, with six CLW transmissions and two 8224 Pittmans.  Thanks for any help . . .

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Last edited by bob2
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The official PRR color is DGLE.  We often forget that DGLE is mostly black with a little green mixed.  Just like Pennsy steam where the the locomotive boiler, cab, tender, etc. was DGLE with a black chassis, wheels, and undercarriage.  If you were to place a 1960's GG1 next to an E44 the color would be the same.

Granted, these are restored in Strasburg, but the locomotives are photographed under the same lighting conditions and the historians there know quite a bit about the PRR. Add some road dirt and it looks black to the eye.  1960's PRR was not an era synonymous with the wash rack.  I think model paints tend to bring out the green too much when it comes to DGLE.

Of course you could also paint it for Amtrak One got painted in silver and black.  Quite attractive even if it never saw service.

Is your casting a Duddy, Alexander, or other?  What are you using for Faively pantographs?  My unedited photos below and links to web photos under that.

_IGP9022_IGP9024

E44 new in 1962

Compare Lead E44 to Second GG1

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Last edited by GG1 4877

Bob, I've found the best representation of DGLE is an undercoat of black paint, topped with Scalecoat Brunswick Green.

I recently restored a Wolfer GG1 and bought decals from John Franz at Mt. Vernon Shops. His artwork is HO but he scaled it to O for me. His decals are excellent. Cannot help with the Faively. Though the former Trackside Specialties did offer them.

@GG1 4877 posted: ...snip...

Is your casting a Duddy, Alexander, or other?  What are you using for Faively pantographs?  My unedited photos below and links to web photos under that.

Compare Lead E44 to Second GG1

I am not really sure whose casting the body is, here is a shot of the bottom:

E44 PRR 2-rail-04

As far as the pans, it is an old Walthers diamond style. I have yet to find a good reasonably-priced Faivley; I know that Atlas uses one on their AEM7, but I do not know if it is electrically (or even reliably mechanically) functional.



As to the GG1s in the photo, note that their pans are down. An interesting photo.

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  • E44 PRR 2-rail-04
@PRRMP54 posted:


As far as the pans, it is an old Walthers diamond style. I have yet to find a good reasonably-priced Faivley; I know that Atlas uses one on their AEM7, but I do not know if it is electrically (or even reliably mechanically) functional.

The Atlas pans are too short in my opinion.  I have all the Atlas AEM7 / ALP44 variations.  MTH did a nice Faively pantograph on their E44, but parts aren't available.  The Lionel HHP8 also has short pans.  I'm looking for a pair for a almost scale E60 project I'm working on.

During my GE career, I received a phone call with a request to "host" someone who wanted some info.  (We Marketing guys received all of the inquiries no one else knew what to do with......)  The visitor introduced himself as Ed Duddy, and he wanted to access some E44's in our scrap line.  (As I recall, all of the E44's in the line were black, and I am sure I would have recognized Brunswick Green.  I also remember that one of them, I believe 4453, had been completely rebuilt with a new control system, traction motors, etc. in anticipation by GE that we would retrofit the entire fleet and thereby extending their lives and that of the PRR electrification.  I thought about trying to save this unit since it was essentially brand new, but there was no support for that activity at that time, so I had no support.)

Ed was on a single mission.  He wanted to inspect the chain that was used to connect two units together so a crew could walk from unit to unit with no safety risk.  We readily located a few units and he climbed on each, and counted the chain links per foot of chain.  He told me that he wanted the correctly sized chains on his E44 models.

(This was my early introduction into the nuances of O scale...)

This must have worked out pretty well.  At about the same time, I hosted a work group from the Buffalo area who climbed all over a Niagara Junction electric (we had several) and removed a lot of items, and told me that they made a request to have GE donate one to their organization.

Per Chris's comment, I thought Vince Waterman offered a Faiveley in one of his listings, glad to know that's not my memory shorting out yet, as I recall they were fine scale too like his GG1 pantographs.

Bob, Jim has a Penn-Erie car body with Faiveley's, he's posted a mug shot of it on one of the forums too, maybe he'll help you out.

Where did you dig your example up from?  wow.....  

@bob2 posted:

Now the trucks.  I could really go for a set of Wolfer/Duddy trucks.  Nobody seems to know who got the masters.  Barring that, I shall add journal caps and fake springs to my homemade trucks, and press on.

Those trucks would have gone to they who purchased Ed Duddy's estate. Probably covered in one or both of the O Scale mags, that on the assumption that Ed passed before Greg Heier.

Ed didn't get the credit he should have for all the stuff he brought to O Scale.

Simon

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