Front Detail pictures or drawings LIRR FA power cars?

[RGlueck]

Does anyone have detail images or drawings of the FA power car headlight grills windshields? I am looking for material that is original , NOT drawings from the operators manual or off the web. I have those. I need accurate measurements and the like. If you have something from a fresh angle or location, please PM me.

Dick

[gwins]

F.jpg (199.86 KiB) Viewed 4920 times

Here are pictures taken in Oyster Bay

[RGlueck]

Thank you for the photos. I am trying to make a wooden mock-up as a mold in 1/8th scale to cast the window frames in aluminum. This is going to take some trials in cardboard first, then testing, cutting, fitting, cutting, testing, da-da-da-...I'm sure you get it.
The good news it, a generous fellow sent me a 1/8th scale mold for the grated headlight casing, so that's on its way. The cab deck (out front) is also going to be formed and cast in aluminum.
What is difficult to believe is the lack of availability of good quality drawings which include specific measurements. There are all kinds from the ALCO operator's manual, but not in scale and without body measurements. Why? Probably due to printing concerns, the fact the FA2 was longer than the FA1, and the fact few people would ever require car body measurements.
Solutions: Using calipers, I measured body lengths off two H-O scale models, then using mathematical proportions, and a known measurement (body width) arrived at a close guesstimate of panel sizes.
Contacted Bobb Losse, owner of two ex-LIRR FA2's and FA1's, who graciously gave me some of what I need (thank you, Bobb). Exchanged photos from my own collection of FA shots with Tim Darnell, "Ace Diesel-hound".

BUT...I have yet to find a really fine ALCO FA erection drawing with overall body measurements and details.

[gwins]

There were in the December 1986 issue of Mainline Modeler

[gwins]

Here's another from image from the Locomotive Cyclopedia 15th edition (1956)

[RGlueck]

Excellent drawings! I had seen the Cyclopedia print, but not the Mainline Modeler! Just the curves for the roof alone are going to be simpler now! Thank you so much!

[gwins]

Glad to help. Justifies hanging on to those old magazines.

[nyandw]

Glad to help. Justifies hanging on to those old magazines.

Very nice! May I add them to my LIRR FA page? http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrFA/lirrFA.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RGlueck]

Did anyone get pictures of the few LIRR FA's being scrapped back in the 70's or 80's due to fire or wreck damage? What about power car 3200? I've seen pictures of them waiting to be cut up, but what about in the process of being cut up? Were they done at Morris Park or Corona, or where?

[jhdeasy]

Very nice! May I add them to my LIRR FA page? http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrFA/lirrFA.html

I’ve been looking at some photos of these LIRR PowerPack units in service on LIRR.

I notice that some units (such as 614) have 7 electrical receptacles on the front end, while some have only 1 electrical receptacle on the front end. The front end of some units appear to have been modified over the years. Any known reason for that difference? I speculate that sooner or later someone decided that the front end of the unit would never be coupled to a push-pull passenger car and would not need to supply the 650 VDC trainline thru the front end of the unit.

I have not found any photos that show the electrical receptacles on the rear of the unit. It’s the rear of the unit that would normally be coupled to a push-pull passenger car, with the 650 VDC trainline power supplied thru the rear end of the unit, so I speculate that it would have 7 electrical receptacles on the rear of the unit. Any good photos of the electrical connections on the rear end of these PowerPak units?

[RGlueck]

There was a brief period in the beginning of the FA power car years, when both the C420 and the FA were on the same end of the train. This had to do with an electrical issue of some kind, and required the run-around of the train with both locomotives at the end of a run. It only lasted a short time, but it did happen. Perhaps that accounts for the difference?

[jhdeasy]

There was a brief period in the beginning of the FA power car years, when both the C420 and the FA were on the same end of the train. This had to do with an electrical issue of some kind, and required the run-around of the train with both locomotives at the end of a run. It only lasted a short time, but it did happen. Perhaps that accounts for the difference?

Since the C420 (and the GP-38) locomotives were not wired to pass HEP thru to the passenger cars, the PowerPak would have to be coupled directly to the front or rear passenger car, to provide HEP to the cars. Such an arrangement with a C420 and PowerPak coupled together would require turning the 2 units when running the power around to the opposite end of the train, or an even more complicated switching move to separate them, run them around separately and then recouple them together on the other end of the consist.

These operating arrangements would work:

Locomotive (shoving) + cars + PowerPak —->

PowerPak + cars + Locomotive (pulling) —->

Cars + PowerPak + Locomotive (pulling) —->

A good number of the photos of the Powerpaks are not dated, but it appears that the more recent photos show some Powerpaks with only 1 electrical receptacle, rather than 7 electrical receptacles, on their front end. It appears they were modified (removing 6 electrical receptacles from their front end) over their years of service on LIRR.

[Backshophoss]

It was rare to see the front power plugs used,and on some trains,a bar/generator was used mid train due to train length.
Typical habit on the Montauk trains at Montauk,the GP-38-2 or Alco would run around and run the wye to lead on the way back to LIC/Hunterspoint
so the 27 point nose MU plug was retained.