Has your prototype ever been involved in a wreck or accident

From what I was reading about that light it doesnt appear to be HID. Just Xenon gas vs the standard halogen. Xenon gas can be put into standard halogen bulbs to increase brightness during manufacturing and give them increased brightness and higher color temperatures. Higher color temp changes the "whiteness" of the light which if tuned right will make it appear like daylight. I have bulbs like this in my truck right now, but they are NOT HID.

ApproachMedium wrote:From what I was reading about that light it doesnt appear to be HID. Just Xenon gas vs the standard halogen. Xenon gas can be put into standard halogen bulbs to increase brightness during manufacturing and give them increased brightness and higher color temperatures. Higher color temp changes the "whiteness" of the light which if tuned right will make it appear like daylight. I have bulbs like this in my truck right now, but they are NOT HID.

The light in question mentions coming with Xenon ballast, something required for HID lights. I also read from several sources that HID lamps in automotive use are simply referred to as "Xenon headlamps" (hence why this particular bulb may not specify that it is HID). As well, I've heard the lights on the VIA units be referred to by VIA employees, and various others in the VIA circles, as "HID" lights.

If someone else knows differently and can verify something else, I'll stand corrected.

And I know this is getting way off topic, my apologies. If I had any more wrecked units to report on, I would, but thankfully the rest of my roster is still on the road! (**knock on wood**)

Thanks for the information on the extra lights.
I did know the SP used some extra lights, but not being too familiar with western roads I don't know their operating practices. Different type of light based on territory ect..

workextra wrote:Thanks for the information on the extra lights.
I did know the SP used some extra lights, but not being too familiar with western roads I don't know their operating practices. Different type of light based on territory ect..

I don't know anything about SP light practices either, just that they had lots of them With VIA, I believe the extra headlight is on the same circuit as the ditch lights, as it is on whenever they are, and only turned off when entering stations or passing trains/work crews, the same times the ditch lights are turned off.

I get since two week my own VIA 6400 in HO scale,it'S not comletly done,but it's look great for the beginning..

We get a lot of trouble with Microscale decals,because that was alway stripped out when putting them on water,after severals decals,we finnaly did it!

Only one side to fix,because the decal get a bit ripped,but transparent glue or a little gloss shot and it will be fine..
here,for who want to have a look..
We cae see my NS locomotives and after,the 6400 and the ocean..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_0JNnZzUn0

Montrealrail wrote:I get since two week my own VIA 6400 in HO scale,it'S not comletly done,but it's look great for the beginning..

We get a lot of trouble with Microscale decals,because that was alway stripped out when putting them on water,after severals decals,we finnaly did it!

Only one side to fix,because the decal get a bit ripped,but transparent glue or a little gloss shot and it will be fine..
here,for who want to have a look..
We cae see my NS locomotives and after,the 6400 and the ocean..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_0JNnZzUn0

Looking good so far Montrealrail! I'll put up photos of my 6400 on Flickr soon, and post a link. I had some problems with the decals ripping too (not in the water), as they get easily torn on the raised edges, steps, etc. on the F40PH. It's much easier putting them on a P42! (I did one of those at the same time as my 6400). I had to patch the decals with paint in a few spots. I found a light gray that matched, and TLT VIA Yellow for gaps in the stripes.

Now, I suppose I could go about tearing off the trucks, crushing the pilot, and bashing the sides in like the prototype....

That leads me to suggest another idea for a thread, which I'm going to go post right now!

Montrealrail wrote:I get since two week my own VIA 6400 in HO scale,it'S not comletly done,but it's look great for the beginning..

We get a lot of trouble with Microscale decals,because that was alway stripped out when putting them on water,after severals decals,we finnaly did it!

Only one side to fix,because the decal get a bit ripped,but transparent glue or a little gloss shot and it will be fine..
here,for who want to have a look..

Montrealrail, and anyone else interested: You can see my "completed" model of 6400 on my Flickr page at this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/timberley512/. I still need to add a winterization hatch, air conditioner, ditch lights, and MU hoses, but I don't have those parts at the moment. Once I get them, I will be able to finish it.

Where did you get your LRC cars..?
I'm searching for resin kit,but nothing anywhere,even nothing on Ebay..

Your 6400 are looking pretty good job,I just noticed that I forgot the yellow line on the bottom front of the nose..

Actually,I'm starting to do a reproduction of the Orford Express (I will start a tread on the later)

Montrealrail wrote:Where did you get your LRC cars..?
I'm searching for resin kit,but nothing anywhere,even nothing on Ebay..

Your 6400 are looking pretty good job,I just noticed that I forgot the yellow line on the bottom front of the nose..

Actually,I'm starting to do a reproduction of the Orford Express (I will start a tread on the later)

The LRC kits are pretty hard to find these days... I found the three I got at a hobby shop in Oshawa, after being directed there by someone from another forum. (I'm in the process of painting the third one right now, funnily enough). I saw a few on eBay a while ago, but they sold for an aweful lot. You can look around, but I'll also send you a PM with a couple places to try.

That Orford Express is a pretty neat train...I'd like to see how your reproduction turns out!

Appearantly I now have a second model VIA F40 that was involved in an accident.

Today, VIA train #92 crashed. It's been reported that the number of the locomotive was #6444 which is one of two F40s sold by Walters and offered in the Canada flag scheme which I happened to own. Though I didn't put as much work into it as 6400, it's still noteworthy since I've used my models of both 6400 and 6444 to lead a model Canadian.

Well, thankfully my two other F40's (6429 and 6444) are still running fine, although 6444 has now been rebuilt (rendering my version obsolete), and the model I have of 6429 is in the short-lived Home Hardware promo scheme. My VIA P42s (912 and 915) are still running, but have now had an extra HID headlight added to the front, so they're inaccurate now anyways

Uhh, Tim? 6444 derailed (with three engine crew fatalities) in Burlington, Ontario yesterday...

(Sorry - didn't notice the post immediately above mine!)

I have a Silverliner II in Modern SEPTA paint but it's 264. From what I heard 264 didnt make it into the 90s, so I have a wacky prototype.

You guys are making me feel bad.

Since I model the period early/mid 1960's, almost all of my prototypes have been scrapped.

Les

Just had to register to add my two cents.

A couple of years ago, fresh with my "success" in building an approximation of the Three Rivers as it ran under Amtrak, I had the mad inspiration to create an approximation of the Amtrak Auto-Train...

...Oh yeah, I'm an O Gauger. Hence the "madness".

I had been collecting the MTH Auto-Train autoracks (they modeled the ex-CN bilevels) for the better part of a decade when I made a snap decision to gather everything else needed--Superliners and appropriately decorated Genesis diesels. I succeeded in acquiring an example of every five-stripe Superliner put out by MTH (13 cars) and tracked down one of each number of Phase IV-striped autoracks (albeit with a few Phase III versions mixed in) for a total of 15.

All that was left were the Genesis units. I had four--a power/dummy combo by MTH and another by Williams. Only problem was these were Phase III. The only "wave scheme" units made in O Gauge (until WBB's version that just appeared in their catalog) were a special limited run done for Walthers by MTH after the former's mad scheme to build their own O Scale version went nowhere. These units are difficult to find and command a king's ransom when they appear on the secondary market. So I did the next best thing-- sent mine to a custom painter.

New numbers were picked for the MTH units. One of them had a missing front number board (#824) which I replaced with another unit's number board (MTH only had boards for #825 in their spare parts inventory). While packing the units for shipment to the painter, I found the missing #824 board in the box, and elected to turn the other unit (#64) into number 825. How the Williams units were renumbered I don't recall, but they went from #805 to #827, and #810 to #819...

A year later, after posting the photos of the newly-arrived units on the O Gauge Railroading forums, someone pointed out that #819 was one of the units destroyed in the Sunset Limited wreck of 1993

Ouch.

---PCJ

jwhite07 wrote:

Well, thankfully my two other F40's (6429 and 6444) are still running fine, although 6444 has now been rebuilt (rendering my version obsolete), and the model I have of 6429 is in the short-lived Home Hardware promo scheme. My VIA P42s (912 and 915) are still running, but have now had an extra HID headlight added to the front, so they're inaccurate now anyways

Uhh, Tim? 6444 derailed (with three engine crew fatalities) in Burlington, Ontario yesterday...

(Sorry - didn't notice the post immediately above mine!)

It continues...so I now have models of 6400, 6444, and 6450, which have all been wrecked and retired (6444 is definitely beyond the state of repair). Although the model of 6444 is pre-rebuild, so it was never wrecked in that condition (Of course the unfortunate demise of that locomotive should not overshadow the real tragedy of that day, which was the devastating loss of the three crew members in the cab).

Since my previous post, I had painted another P42DC up as VIA 903. Subsequently, VIA 903 hit a gravel truck at a level crossing and had its front end smashed in. It has since been repaired and returned to service, but still...