Tier-4 Locomotive Mega-Pack (ft. BNSF, CN, CSXT, GECX and UP)

[ZachBell4400]

It is time I announce the addition of 20 locomotives to the ORTS fleet, with each railroad bearing 4 of them. All repaints of locomotives are in DDS format, with the exception of minor details (they remain as ACE files). This is the order in which I'll be repainting locos...

1) GECX (Demonstrators) #2021, 2022, 2024, 2025
2) CSX Transportation #3262, 3310, 3311, 3417
3) Union Pacific #2590, 2591, 2595, 2599
4) BNSF Railway #3695, 3792, 3897, 3995
5) Canadian National #3000, 3001, 3002, 3003

Here's a sampling of my first of four GECX engines - GECX ET44AC #2021...

[wwhall]

Are all of these the "original" stack design or are some of them the "whaleback" exhaust design that is now the standard?

[ZachBell4400]

There are new "whale-back" exhaust panels that are characteristic of Tier-4 GEVO such as the GECX 2021. The original stack design has been on the ES44 locomotives since late 2003, when the AC44EV and ES44DC were first purchased by BNSF.

[qballbandit]

Nice start, but some comments:
The picture posted looks like the stack design, yes?
Also, you have the brake wheel still in the BNSF color?
And, the lower section looks a bit grey and washed out. The GECX versions I have seen are a bit darker below:

[ZachBell4400]

Nice start, but some comments:
The picture posted looks like the stack design, yes?
Also, you have the brake wheel still in the BNSF color?
And, the lower section looks a bit grey and washed out. The GECX versions I have seen are a bit darker below:

Absolutely, you're correct. I'll decrease brightness using Paint.net which I use to repaint locomotives.

[qballbandit]

Cool. To my eyes, your blue looks closer to Conrail Blue, where it may need a tad more violet (or whatever) added...look at my picks to see what I mean - less pale, more blue.

[wwhall]

The picture of the 2022 is the original Tier 4 stack design, not the whaleback that is has been standard on ET-44's for at least 3 years now. The original ET-44 stack design was abandoned after it would not clear some tunnel roofs on CSX.

Here is a link to a photo of a model of a CSX whaleback ET-44. Note the offset exhaust and rounded design of the roof around the exhaust compared to the squared off original design. Not my photo, by the way.
https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/i...35b4d64a28.jpg

[pwillard]

wwhall, the link doesn't work for me.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/katsrc...n/photostream/

[chosenfrozen44]

Not my era.....but one helluva great job! Wow!

[frliss]

Pete,

I like that picture of CSX 3421 that you referenced on Flickr.

"A Beautiful Beast".

Fred

[pwillard]

Beauty ain't it? Such Detail!

[wwhall]

Sorry that my earlier link didn't work. Here is one from Railpictures showing CN3105--a whaleback. Again, not my photo, but for illustration of a whaleback unit.

https://www.railpictures.net/photo/680816/

A bit more background. The original "square top" ET-44 exhaust assemblies had clearance issues on CSX. A running production change was made, adopting the "whaleback" exhaust assembly design to solve the problem. Since the change was made in the middle of building ET-44 orders, blocks of locomotives ordered by the railroads could have either the original or whaleback design. I've done renumber repaints for my own use of some "original exhaust" ET-44 locomotives available here on TSim. Whenever I do, I look up prototype photos of the locomotive no. of my proposed repaint to make it sure it's one of the original exhaust designs.

[Spitz]

Any updates on these units? Been looking forward to them for a while.

[ZachBell4400]

I haven't even worked on this because I'm working on a current route project. But I will let you know.

[bp2]

Yea when are these coming??