# ALCO Rehab



## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

Its was a beautiful Fall afternoon to enjoy running trains in the garden and football with my old granddad  and one of JFK's favorite smokes .
I just finished rehabbing my old FA-1 / FB-1. They got lowered by 3/16's of an inch, new version trucks installed, all the chrome, brass and silver repainted in very flat black and wired together for 16 wheels of power pick up.

They are mighty sharp looking now on the old stone bridge -











and comfortably pull 15 cars up a 3% grade - 











cruising thru town....




















a couple of 'bos were bummin' a ride...











past my variegated hydrangeas -




















-Brian


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## steam5 (Jun 22, 2008)

I really like the FA’s, and yours have come up a treat. Nice looking models. 

But where is the black ALCO smoke!









Alan


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice job! My FA unit I bought 15 or so years ago was a REA Pensy unit, I painted it UP.


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

That looks really nice! I love seeing something in a livery I'm not used to.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

The diesels and your layout look great. I really like your stone bridge. 

Randy


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

*Tks. for the nice Photos... FA-1( a & B ) Eng . and yard looks great... Nice work. 
Yup.. got to have Football with trains.. lol.*


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Brian,

Looking great!! What did you do to lower them? Did you do it like George Schreyer did? I was also running my FA-FB on Saturday. Great engines, aren't they?

Later,

Mark


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By markoles on 05 Oct 2009 12:29 PM 
Brian,

Looking great!! What did you do to lower them? Did you do it like George Schreyer did? I was also running my FA-FB on Saturday. Great engines, aren't they?

Later,

Mark 



I did them similarly but less complicated (I'm not sure what the bolts and washers are for).
Take it all apart then you flush cut (hack saw blade or thin Zona saw) the bolster discs as described. Then I simply remounted them on the top side of the deck in the same orientation (bottom side on bottom). I had to cut small notches on the disc for two bumps on the top side of the deck. That also helps align them. I glued them in place with Ambroid ProWeld (made a very strong bond) and reinforced it around the outside edge with 5 min. epoxy. Put it all back together with lots of white grease (that's what was there). There's an article GS refers to on LSC - http://www.largescalecentral.com/ar....php?id=31
The only problem I had was trying to wire the new trucks back up to the existing motor switch. For whatever reason I could not get them to work for the A or B and both worked before. I gave up and wound up bypassing it and just straight wired it. Won't be diifficult to add a track/battery switch later on if needed.


-Brian


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