BC Northern acquired two GE Dash-8s for standard road service. The CW is of former Illinois Central / CN „Blue Devil“ heritage, while the CM is a former BC Rail unit. Both will receive the BC Northern blue and silver / grey paint scheme with white BC Northern Lettering.
BCN Dash 8-40CW No. 4057
BCN Dash 8-40CM No. 4042
Unfortunately Bowser Alco C630M Chassis – or its Dofasco Trucks – are just about not available in Europe and prohibitively expensive to import, so this engine will ride on a standard Bachmann Spectrum C40-8 Chassis for the time being. For this purpose I recently aquired a C40-8 (Std. Cab) unit from the UK, whitnessing in first person that Brexit was just rubbish for model-railroading (or other hobbies). It’s also just short of prohibitively expensive nowadays to purchase from UK vendors, but I digress. So the following photo shows the Kato shell (I only barely begann cleaning it up) sitting ontop of the C40-8W chassis borrowed from the unit above.
Here comes an image of the donor engine, an undecorated Spectrum C40-8.
Whether that was a good idea or not remains to be seen, because the Standard cab model is probably of an earlier run and has a much more massive side sill, that would need to be milled away or down. I probably try to get my hands on another C40-8W or design my own frame and trucks in CAD.
The Dash8-40CM is one of my all-time favorite engines of which all but two have been retired and likely scrapped. But it’s remains one of my faves. At least one will make it to my pike. Two, if I could get the CFO (my wife) to release the necessary funds. We’ll see. So milling down the frame it will be.