The merger era: Burlington Norther SW1s #78 and 80.

These two pint-sized powerhouses were customized and weathered for one of my loyal clients, JB.  Without his patience, these units would not have been possible.  They are both based on photos of SW1s during the merger of the Great Northern (GN) and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, (CB&Q,) to form the Burlington Northern (BN.)  This was a unique opportunity to recreate replicas far removed from my era and locale.

Both these units started life as Walther's Trainline SW1s, resplendent in their original schemes.  As was the case with all plastic models of this age, they lacked much of prototype-specific details.  They also sported handrails that were inaccurate in both arrangement and cross-section.  Having said that, they are truly well-proportioned models with great looking relief detail, and especially nicely executed truck sideframes.

BN (ex GN) #80 has had numerous additions to match (scarcely available) prototype photos.  They include a Cal-Scale whip antenna, a Details West rotary beacon, single chime horn and bell.  Smokey Valley supplied 1st-generation EMD stanchions to support hand-bent brass railings.  The re-rail frog is a fine casting by Juneco. Windshield wipers are from A-line, and the marker lamps are a Cal-scale item. The all-weather window is a Proto2000 spare part that JB supplied, and I simply love the flush-fitting window casting it comes with.

The "faded" herald was obtained using an HB pencil eraser, GENTLY and PATIENTLY.  The usual array of hoses attest to this unit's ability to be MUed to other diesels.  The footboards on this unit are from a scrap Proto200 GP9 shell.  The see-through tread is a nice touch.  The BN markings and numbers are Woodland Scenics dry transfer.  Weathering was obtained with chalks and dilute airbrush sprays.

BN (ex CBQ) #78 has some significant differences from the ex-GN unit.  Most notably is the lack of MU hoses and full-length long hood railings.  The piping above the fuel tank was hand-bent from brass wire using a jig.  The supporting straps were then soldered to the serpentine piping.  The fuel tanks were donated from a Proto2000 SW9.  The horn, antenna and bell are all from Details West.

The three-pane all weather window was fabricated using several Kaslo etchings (left over from an M420 kit,) strip styrene and clear acetate.  This was the only option, as there was no commercially-available window that captured the distinctive shape of the prototype.  The stock exhaust stack was removed and replaced with K&S aluminium tubing, cut to length with a pipe cutter.

Once again, the railings were made from hand-bent brass wire threaded through Smokey Valley stanchions.  The coupler-cut bar is another hand-formed brass wire item.  

Additions to the stock paint job were Microscale decals for the "Burlington" and "Burlington Route" heralds.  The BN lettering and numbers are, again supplied by Woodland Scenics.  The numberboard numbers are tricky, at exactly 1.5mm in height!  The ACI tags are decals affixed to styrene.  White pencil was used to highlight the doors on this model.  Otherwise, this model is entirely weathered with chalk and sealed with Testors Dull-Cote.