Penn Erie (LWS)

[Dennis Holler]

Oh, I really like that having grown up in a little town in the 70's that I saw tons of these U boats including a couple of those custom shorty U18's

[De Bruin]

Neat U25B Carey; begs for decals and glazing but a great find regardless with that CLW drive. Very nice, me LIKE!
I’ve acquired some additional LWS models that might be of interest to you and the other cast diesel fans here but I will post it on this longer LWS thread that Chris bumped last week for continuity sake.
Your video has got me looking for that 1963 RMC article by Krayer too, I was totally unaware that he had done any magazine contributions beyond his advertisements.
Again, great stuff, thanks for posting and doing these videos too.
Pete

[bob turner]

I could not find that longer LWS thread, so I am taking the liberty of bumping Pete's photo from the preceding page here. This has to be one of the best examples of a Penn Erie doorstop?

[De Bruin]

Thanks Bob. I seem to recall Maroon posting example photo(s) of the Penn-Erie drive sometime in the past, perhaps before the last purge. I have since acquired two such Penn-Erie models with those “factory” drives, described in Carey’s U-Boat post as rubber-band though here more accurately O-ring driven. The motor to truck pully system employed is clever, albeit tad “Rube Goldberg-ish” (opinion) and varies in performance and noise apparently from one example to another. I apologize if I’ve posted this earlier, I know I put it up on OGR recently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmfU17o ... 7b&index=4
Jim has filmed a similarly powered example U-25B of his at speed in the above DFW club video on You-Tube (around 3:56) with drive-noise worthy of a 50’s era science fiction movie death ray. Ironically my other factory drive LWS (which I'll post later) is also a U25B.


So here’s an outlier to the usual Penn-Erie catalog of U-Boat castings, yet still a contemporary in GE’s catalog from the early sixties to the end of the U-series, not-unlike the E-44’s though on the other end size-wise.
This example center cab, specifically the last of three versions of this long running (1940 to 1976) 65-ton series, likewise most modern looking with a narrow hood and lower cab and large end platforms, than the two earlier 65-ton models which look like typical 44 ton-ers. Although somewhat rare in class one service, they made their mark mostly in short-line and thrived as industrial “critters” for a full gamut of industries, government authorities etc. with an Italian steel conglomerate owning the largest fleet at 41 units across five subsidiaries.

Despite the ultra small car body space in 1:48 this guy has essentially the same factory O-ring drive option as the larger U-Boats; with a motor(above, on top of the right truck) having an extended cross slotted shaft/pulley connected to a pulley on the lower level drive shaft driving both trucks.

The truck side-frames on this one look like something out of the Wagner or Q-Car catalog.

I originally saw this on E-bay but lost out in the bidding to Sarge, who kindly horse-traded it to me later, including the spare O-rings seen here. It runs well but is indeed noisy and has a high starting speed. Me thinks it would benefit from a pair of magic carpets like the old Q-car steeple cabs instead. Needs glazing, additional detailing and a second coupler etc.

Also thinking about a paint scheme too, leaning towards the Western Rwy. of Cuba (Occidentales) but have no idea what that looked like, though they bought theirs new in 1960 so its the correct version and I might be able to find a later shot of it in its “ commie pajamas” which would definitely make for another weird post on the "Paint Shop" string.

[Chris Webster]

That 65-tonner is a really neat model.

I've been meaning to mention that the Lake Shore Railway Museum has been busy preserving locomotives built in Erie - the museum is 11 miles from the plant. You guys might want to talk to them to make sure you're not bidding against them on Penn Erie stuff.

Seller also has a U30C for sale (Item #375289201552) that is on 3-rail trucks, but I'm not sure if that is an LWS or something else.

Here's the link to the completed auction, a six-axle U-boat painted as Chessie System #3312:
Ebay Item #375289201552 O 3 RAIL C&O CHESSIE U30-C - ROAD# 3312 - WILLIAMS? WALTHERS? RED CABOOSE?
I can't tell if it is an LWS or not - its roof is much better detailed than the roof of the Erie Lackawanna U33C posted up thread.

The same seller had several finely detailed plastic F-units and GP9s converted to 3-rail, such as this F7 that sold for $65:
Ebay #375290024248 - ATLAS O 3 RAIL B&O EMD F7 - ROAD# 4654 - DETAILED
and this one that sold for $69:
Ebay #375289206626 - ATLAS O 3 RAIL B&O EMD F7 - ROAD# 4630 - DETAILED

I saw the mechanism under the second one and figured that the F-units were all kitbashed from the 1970s Atlas F9, but now I'm not so sure - they might be P&D bodies. The other F appears to have a P&D mechanism.

[De Bruin]

Thanks Chris, agree this little guy is interesting, I have plans for it now thanks to Carey’s newest find resurrecting this topic.
I was going to say that U30C here is a Penn-Erie but after rubbing my eyeball on it looks more like a (nicely) modified Williams shell. The slot across the bottom of the tank, cut up steps and absence of the original molded floor suggest some major surgery to get the three-rail factory underbody(center tanks) moved out flush to the side frame, also the William’s version having that roof detail matching this one too.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166524689989
As always, if you recognize anything in this picture call 1-800-URF-LOBS and set me straight, as just my best guess.

The two F’s look like Roco F9 shells/underbody tanks with P&D detail "gingerbread" one with a modified Roco truck set and the other with a P&D.
Not bad either. Not a three rail guy but feel saddened that all this good work didn’t get better closing prices.
Hmmm.

[Chris Webster]

I was going to say that U30C here is a Penn-Erie but after rubbing my eyeball on it looks more like a (nicely) modified Williams shell.

I concur - it looks more like the Williams shell than the Penn-Erie.

Not a three rail guy but feel saddened that all this good work didn’t get better closing prices.
Hmmm.

I considered bidding on them, but passed because I don't need another project.

( I also figured that converting them back to 2-rail would probably end up costing another $50 or so per unit, which didn't seem very cost effective when compared to my Red Caboose geeps with the brass frames and brass P&D trucks that I acquired for $125 each... )

[Chris Webster]

FWIW, an unbuilt Locomotive Workshop kit just sold on ebay:
Ebay #226055629225 Locomotive Workshop O Brass Alco Century C-628 Switcher Kit

The seller describes it as being from the 1960s, but I think the 1980s are more likely since the instructions were made using a dot-matix printer.

[De Bruin]

Fairly elaborate kit too, etched wrapper hood, lots of parts all for just over $170 with shipping.
I have a Stevenson kit having a similiar component list for the carbody, but it lacks the chassis and trucks.
Then there's getting an appropriate drive too.
I have the feeling were I to start building it now, work on it diligently etc.
I would be fortunate to finish it by this time next year..... and even that seems optimistic.

[De Bruin]

Apropos to Carry’s UP U25B and Bob’s 2-rail doorstop post(s), this early Penn-Erie has a factory drive in it and (opinion) is somewhat of a rarity as both a prototype and a model. GE built eight of these early hi-nose U25B demo units with four later sold to the UP and other four to SLSF(Frisco.) They originally barnstormed the lower 48 for GE to attract orders for its new “Universal” line of road switchers in the early sixties and again we’re assuming the advent or introduction of the U-Boat series in the early 60’s corresponded with the cast aluminum promotional model procurement from Ken Krayer/Penn-Erie by GE.

Interestingly/ironically the units did indeed demo on the Pennsy and they placed an early order as a result though I have my doubts this particular model’s scheme has anything to do with that since their order was delivered with standard low noses and the early single large windshield.

The factory drive implies this model was built to order for a rail modeler. Note the cleanly installed, small gauge handrails.

Here the Penn-Erie factory drive has the motor down in the tank area of the car body driving a large gear that engages an upper shaft running the length of the roof that drives the “O” rings, one per each axle.

I should make and post a video of this unit running, the sound or “warble” of the powered-up motor/driver is unusual, albeit not terribly loud, Jim tells me it’s one of the quieter examples he’s encountered. I'm tempted to keep the factory drive until it's inoperable however I do plan to incorporate a directional diode harness with flasher for the headlights and some other details like glazing, a horn cluster and a firecracker antenna though.

While GE later built high nosed U-series models for N&W and Southern starting with U28B’s these early demo-units were obviously a significant outlier in their catalog.

Note our version here deviates from the prototype in the headlight arrangement having a fictional second horizontally mounted set below the headlight sconce at the top, likewise the prototype's headlight pair was arranged horizontally rather than here vertically though. Candidly I lack the will to fix these discrepancies.

I don't however lack the will to re-work this to the Frisco’s black version as scheme-wise it already has a nice smooth black finish and I have the nice K4 Supply decal set for it that includes all that busy striping seen here in this shot linked from George Elwoods excellent Fallen Flags site. Note these also made it into the later red and white scheme which doesn't resonate with me as much.