Simple Number Boards, and Curiosity Satisfied

#7312, finally with number boards

It took awhile, but I finally got around to putting number boards on two units that had gone without them for far too long: 7312 and 1341.

I added the number boards using my simple word processing system. (If you have Word or any other word processing system, you can do it, too.)

Before the number boards were added.

After I added the number boards, I was curious about the prototypes. As it turns out, 7312 never wore CP Rail livery, and the 1341—an Athearn Blue Box staple—never existed at all.

As long-time readers of this blog know, absolute fidelity to the prototype is not a big concern for me. My goal with the M & M Sub. Is plausibility, not realism. I try to employ the “CPR principle:” C—context, P—probability, and R—records.

These two units fit two of the three criteria: They could have existed in that way at that time in that place. And event if these two units never existed in the real world, it doesn’t cause me to lose sleep at night.

In its heritage scheme

But what about the prototypes? As I noted, there didn’t seem to be any GP38-2 units in the 1300 series. But there was a real GP38-2 7312.

7312 was one of a number of ex-D&H locomotives acquired by CP Rail when it took over that railroad in 1991—right in my time frame.

It has an interesting history. Originally, it was owned by Lehigh Valley, before it went to D&H. It went next to Guilford, then back to D&H and to CP Rail.

CP Rail painted it in a D & H "lightning stripe" scheme as one of the units in its heritage series. It stayed in that scheme until 2000.

Upgraded and repainted, but without number boards.
(Photo from Canadian Railway Observations.)

Last year, 7312 was upgraded and overhauled to Tier 0+ compliance and repainted into modern CP livery. 

All very interesting, but on the M & M Sub. 7312 wears the Two-Flags scheme. Totally unprototypical, but at least it now has number boards!