Sir,
I have received a final billing for renewal of my subscription to Model Railroad News. I am not renewing my subscription. However, I wanted to say that my reason for not doing so is purely economical. As a retired teacher my resources are, shall we say, a bit slim. While a renewal to my subscription is not much, it does represent funds which I otherwise would be able to use in creating my model railroad.
You have created a well written, informative news magazine for our hobby. Model Railroad News goes beyond the other model railroad publications in supplying product information well beyond what otherwise would have been available. I commend you for your efforts, and I have recommended Model Railroad News to my friends in model railroading.
Tom Artman
Modeling B & O in HO
Hi Mike:
I would like to bring to your attention, in the recent review of the Life-Like BL2, the statement that the BL2 was only operated with one other unit due to the weakness of the frames. This is just not so. I remember seeing many lash-ups where several BL2s were used. The BAR, which borders my property, often ran six unit lash-ups with a mix of BL2s, F3s, GP7/9s, as well as GP38s. As a reference, please check Don Marsons & Brian Jennisons excellent book, Railroads of the Pine Tree State vol.1, published by Four Ways West Publications. Page 101 of this book shows four BL2s being led by a lone GP7.
In talking to railroaders over the years, it was mentioned that these units were very cold for the train crews, and people in the diesel shop complained that they were very hard to work on due to the cramped quarters, as a result of the shape of the body. However, they also said that they would just about out-pull any other units at the time.
I just thought I would bring this to your attention so modelers can prototypically run more than two units. Thanks, and keep up the good work on a great publication.
Neil E. MacDonald
Hermon, ME
Thanks for writing. You are right, of course, and other modelers shouldn’t feel limited by what they feel is a prototypical restriction. The issue has more to do with how some railroads perceived the locomotive than what it could actually do. I located this piece of information on the web at <http://exotic.railfan.net/BL2.htm>. This website is authored by Brent Holt and is devoted to Exotic Diesel Locomotives. Under the section titled “Technical Features” is item number 5 which states, “Weakness of the frames in the BL2 limited their usefulness in multiple-unit operation to no more than 2 units at one time.”
I haven’t contacted Brent about this matter, but he has a bibliographic list on the web page and may be prepared to defend his assertion. I accepted it at face value because I have heard informally the same complaint about BL2 frames. I have no evidence that EMD made any comment or recommendation about this issue and, as you have noted, BL2s were often put in lashups of more than two locomotives. In fact, in Classic Trains video GM’s Geeps in Action, there is a lovely clip of a BL2 leading a lashup that also includes an F7B and a Geep. After seeing that, I guess a body could lash it up with almost anything else they have sitting around! — John Sipple
As usual, I very much enjoyed your review of Life-Like’s upgraded BL2 in the October issue. Although I own two of the original Proto 2000 engines in Monon colors, I can confirm that they are very smooth running and have been no trouble whatsoever.
The brief history that you include in your reviews is equally enjoyable. However, your comment that only a “quartet” of the BL2s still exist is in error. In 1998 I visited the Wisconsin & Southern engine yard in Janesville, Wisconsin where I was delighted to find two BL2 engines on a house track. One engine was Bangor & Aroostook No. 56, wearing blue paint and a fair amount of rust streaks. The other BL2 was the Janesville & Southeastern No. 52. The J&S engine was in pristine condition.
The Kentucky Rail Museum in New Haven, Kentucky has another BL2, the Monon’s No. 32. I last saw this engine about three years ago, when it was covered in masking tape in the museum’s paint shop. This engine wears the original Monon freight colors of gold and black although the Monon also used its BL2s in passenger service on occasion. This engine has been used in excursion service since it was retired by the Monon.
So we have three more that can be added to the quartet, and there may be more out there someplace. Considering that only fifty eight BL2 engines were ever built, it is remarkable that so many have survived. A tip of the engineer’s cap to those who have preserved these unusual locomotives for our enjoyment and appreciation.
Robert Supinger
Rockford, IL
Dear MRN:,
I just wanted to add a small addendum to John Sipple’s response to the fellow looking for a large scale GG-1 (letter in Sept., 2001 issue). John stated that, other than a tinplate model marketed by Lionel, he knew of no other mass-produced models in a scale above HO. It turns out that there is a beautiful scale model in S being produced by American Models (plastic injected shell). But I have to agree with John on the major point of interest. I know of no such model being available in large scale. I guess the person in quest of a scale GG-1 will have to convert to S scale to get the model he/she desires.
Jay Mellon
New Orleans, LA
Sir:
(I have just) read my first issue of Model Railroad News, heretofore ignored because I assumed it was some sort of circular. Hal’s Hobby Shop of El Paso, Texas gave me a complimentary issue, and while the publication is largely product reviews, I found the exposition to be of exceptional crispness and considerably more in depth than the product reviews of other publications.... I read it cover to cover and am looking forward to more.
I am particularly interested in the TAMR column, as young people are our future as it relates to truly the World’s Greatest Hobby. After reading their latest column, I may soon inquire as to how I might help sponsor a chapter here in El Paso.
Regarding the excellent review of the Aristocraft Doodle Bug, one anecdote regards a 1930s era Doodle Bug service on the two hundred mile line between El Paso, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Apparently it was dubbed the The Horny Toad Line owing to the large numbers of these unique desert lizards that would crawl up on the rails during the cold desert nights to find warmth. Guess one would call this “rail kill.”
Jeff McNeal
via the internet
