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South Jersey S Scale Modelers

Conrail GP35 2374

This is an American Models GP35. It is a basic plastic model that has been superdetailed.  I did not build it and do not know who did build it. It was an eBay purchase in June 2020. This was the only photo of 2374 in Conrail blue paint I have found.

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I did not take any in progress photos. It arrived and literally in 2 minutes I was tearing into the loco. It was just a repair and add DCC project. Nothing all that big to see. Since it took almost 2 weeks to arrive from Canada I actually had the TCS WOW4 decoder wired and basic programming done. These are the before photos from the eBay listing.

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The builder was seemingly knowledgeable about Conrail locos, but there was a few things I thought were odd. The pilot footboards should have been removed. I did not like the decaling job for the numberboards. They had to be redone. For as detailed as the loco is it never had lit headlights. They were MV lenses.

 

The details were sourced from various places and not all were S Scale. There was S Scale parts easily available for most of the HO parts used. There are 2 windshield wipers missing so matching them is going to be tough or not possible. The handrails were a big issue. The handrail stanchions are likely Athearn “Blue Box”. None of the handrails were glued on – ever! They barely reached the holes in the shell for pin insertion and some not at all. They were just laying flat against the shell. How could you do that? I thought the handrail wires were hand bent and a pretty good job of that.


I was hoping for open brass fans for speaker placement but there was none. It is a sealed plastic shell. The DLG8 speaker is pointing down right over the motor. I changed the motor to a Sagami 22mm x 36mm to get rid of the flywheels. All of my American Models GP projects have Sagami motors so they all will run well together. I used my usual 3MM LEDs. Getting the up close to the front headlight bezel in the cab cowl was a challenge.

 

I fixed the numberboards using the original AM clear parts. I painted them and used a Microscale alphabet set for the numbers. There was 2 brass air tanks added next to the fuel tank. I thought the weathering job was really good. It was a 2 day project – get it done!

 

Completed 6-13-20

 

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I have run the GP35 with my brass PRSL GP38. They run well together.

 

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Updated 6-14-20

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