What is that compartment in front of the DB fan on the Atlas GP30? Read on......

[6axlepwr]

In the thread WISH LIST FOR 2914, wcfn100 (Jason) mentioned for Atlas to remove the box in front of the DB fan on the GP30 model. So I thought I would post this information thread. So for those that do not know or those that are interested. The reason for this compartment is explained below.

There are only two railroads that sported this feature. Union Pacific and Southern Railway. These are the only two railroads that ordered GP30's with extended range dynamic brakes. That is why that compartment is there. Solely because of the extended range DB's. On these units there is also a contactor access door. Becuase of these contactors, the DB resistor wires had to be rerouted. So EMD rerouted these wires over the top of the hood in front of the DB fan and the compartment shields the resistor wires from the elements.

The rub is that the contactor doors are not on the model. So this model is not really good for anything. It is basically a prototype foobie.

Another feature of the GP30 that a lot of people do not know about is that there is a plate under the DB fan. It is 1" thick plate steel. In N-Scale it would be 0.006", but 0.005" would suffice. It fills the DB fan area from the front to where the blister starts to angle down.

Another feature, but yiu definitely need to check prototype photos if you can find them. On the cab roof there are a series of stiffeners. Down the center there is an overlapping weld joint. This is on all GP30's and 35's. It is about 2" wide. On the GP30's though there are additional stiffeners. They are different on the phase I and phase II models. I have one photos of a phase II and I used to have photos of the phase I as well, but do not anymore. If memory serves me correct. The phase I has stiffeners coming outin a shallow radial pattern and the phase II the stiffeners just run parallel to the overlapping weld joint.

[C855B]

Good stuff, Brian.

Important to note that the contactor access door is only on the left (fireman's) side. It would be a trivial detail to model, a roughly 18" x 24" panel with two latches at the top, on the vertical of the blister. Bottom-right corner of the panel aligns with the top-left corner of the grid opening, roughly an inch up from the 45° "corner" line of the blister.

As to the cab roof stiffeners, it's really difficult to see these in photos. The overlapping weld down the center shows in handful of pix I've picked-up online, but the radial or parallel stiffeners are nearly impossible to see unless the lighting angle is exactly right. I suspect they are not a detail you can do much with because the braces are welded on the underside, with the only evidence the slight angle differences in the exterior skin caused by the welding.

[robert3985]

Thanks for the info Brian.  I've got two UP GP30's on my workbench at the moment getting superdetailed and repainted.  I'll have to add the contactor door for sure.