Today, from Bachmann, we have a locomotive from a railroad way up north - Alaska!
It's an EMD GP40 for the Alaska Railroad, but there's some detail discrepancy... but I'll cover all that in the prototype details.
Anyway, let's get started!
EMD GP40 History: Built by EMD (and their Canadian subsidiary GMD) from Novemeber of 1965 to December of 1971, this diesel-electric would prove very successful, with 1,221 built for many railroads, and with many of those still in use today. They are powered by an EMD 645E3 V16 prime mover, which puts 3,000 horsepower through the traction motors to two 2-axle trucks (B-B). There were several variations throughout their production runs, such as passenger variants and high-hoods. On January 1, 1972, they were replaced in EMD's lineup with the GP40-2, which had an updated modular electrical system, as well as some minor exterior changes.
ARR 3002 History: Alaska Railroad had one straight GP40 - and 3002 was not it. 3002 is actually a GP40-2, which are virtually visually identical, eneough so that this model is an adequate representation. Anyway, here's the history of the real 3002 - it was built in April of 1975 and delivered (via ship, as ARR is isolated from the rest of the North American rail system) in ARR's black and yellow scheme. It was repainted into the current blue and yellow scheme in 2006/7 (which was done in Horicon, Wisconsin, and thus 3002 traveled via ship once again back to the lower 48, then up north again). Also in the late 2000's it was leased to the Portland & Western in Oregon while many of their locomotives were undergoing modifications. After it's stint with the PNWR, it once again sailed home to Alaska, where it remains doing what it's done for 48 years - pulling freight.
Info on box.
I think this is a very nice livery, especially with the silver trucks.
Photos of a couple issues.
The paint wasn't particularly well applied. In several areas, as seen here, there was obvious yellow overspray.
Various minor chips and splatters as well.
And the mechanical (motor, gears, electrical) box almost entirely filling the cab.
Ratings~
Good: Overall, it's well built and sturdy, coming in at 14.7 oz. The details are what I expect on a Bachmann loco - not particularly extensive or impressive, but good quality and sufficient for a nice looking model. The various small stickers/decals look nice, and the paint looks mostly fine. It also operates just as it should.
Bad: The mentioned paint blur/overspray is particularly noticeable. The cab, which had no detail and is almost completely filled with the chassis block. Also, the sound is not that great - it sounds like the speaker is very low quality; there's a distinct shrillness and rattling quality to it. It's unpleasant enough that I'll probably adjust the volume down.
Overall: My main focus on a loco is how it operates, and this one operates just fine. The details leave some to be desired, but nothing was broken or damaged, just of questionable quality. So basically, it operates fine, but lacks fine details and careful production in some areas.
That's it for this review, thanks for looking!
Truly enjoy your detailed reviews and videos. The silver trucks on this engine are unique.