Babyface

Most model railroaders might be familiar with Baldwin "sharks". They are a very distinctive looking locomotive. Their extrodinary car bodies were designed by Raymond Loewy, a major player in industrial design in that era. The shark nosed style appeared on two diesel models and on one steam type in that period, all products of Baldwin Locomotive Works with the strong influence of the Pennsylvania Railroad...

Pennsy Shark

What many modelers may not know is that the mechanicals of the original sharks were based on an earlier locomotive design. In the 1940's Baldwin built a series of car body diesels meant to compete with the bull nosed products of General Motors...

General Motors FT Set

Because of design patents the sleek lines of the Electro Motive locomotives could not be duplicated. Baldwins major competitor for second place in diesel production, American Locomotive Company, came up with the unique streamlined noses of with their DL109, PA and FA products...

ALCO FA Set

Unlike the ALCO designs, which many railfans consider works of art, Baldwin's attempt did not inspire a great deal of enthusiasm. The locomotives were somewhat pugnosed with windshields that brought to mind the droopy eyes of a cartoon character. This series of Baldwin's DR designated models became known as "babyfaces", a somewhat derogatory moniker along the lines of "A face only a mother could love".

The first series of these "babyface" diesels were 2000 HP passenger units. They could not be considered successful. Very few were purchased and production never reached any major numbers. Aside from the sharknose version of this model, the Pennsy BP20, the only memorable version of these locomotives were the double ended DRX-6-4-2000 units of the New Jersey Central...

Central Railroad Of New Jersey Diesel Class PD-30

Another series of passenger units, even more obscure, were known as vest pocket passenger diesels. The DR-6-4-1500 sold a whopping nine locomotives...

Vest Pocket Passenger Unit

The freight version of the babyface design, designated DR-4-4-1500, also failed to topple GM as leader of diesel production... 

Babyface Freighter

Of all the "babyfaces", this model had the largest production numbers. One hundred five units were sold to five different railroads. The Jersey Central purchased fifteen, the New York Central bought another six. The Missouri Pacific owned twelve, the last of the babyface freight units produced. The remainder of the production run went to the Pennsylvania. These are the most familiar of the DR-4-4-1500's although none of them wore the babyface car body. These fifty units were the first generation of shark nosed freighters...

Sharknose DR-4-4-1500

As far as I know, there have never been any N scale models of any of the babyfaces, at least not by any major manufacturer. Thanks, however, to the miracle of 3D printing and a fellow who goes by the Railwire handle of Piperguy an N scale DR-4-4-1500 is readily available. I just received an A-B set my wife gave me as a birthday gift... 

DR-4-4-1500 A Unit

Baldwin DR-4-4-1500 B Unit

"Babyface"

I still have to wash off the wax that is part of the printing process. I was a tad excited and took these as soon as I opened the package. While I'm told there may be some evidence of the layering action from the printhead, a magnifying glass is required to see it (at least at my age). From the normal viewing distance I doubt anyone can see it.

I'm planning to paint these units in the "as delivered" color scheme of the Jersey Central. The tangerine over blue is my favorite...

Tangerine Over Orange

To my mind the more familiar green and yellow paint applied later is not as atractive. They will match the set of  F-Units I'm in the process of painting....

Jersey Central Diesel Class FD-42

Meanwhile, back on the layout, some more progress. Track 2 of the four track section has been put down and tested. I use a Pennsy 2-10-0 to pull the test train. It has the longest wheel base on the roster and the curves have to allow for it. The radius the decapod can negotiate is the absolute minimum for the Class 1 mainlines. I took a shot of the I1s and her charges at Average, her mass overwhelmed by Hollow Mountain towering in the background...

I1s At Average

I'm still working on the decal project altough I've changed direction. I'm falling back on the tried and true silk screen method, albeit with a 21st century slant. The screens will be created in a much simplified way using ready made emulsion screens...

The emulsion screen as provided by EZ-screen is rather expensive, especially when you can buy it from the manufacturer for half the price. I'm already creating the stencils for the emulsion by modifying the previous set in Vizio. Because I'm using photo sensitive emulsion no color background is required. The stencil need only be in black and white. Probably the most involved part of the process is creating all the variations...

Pennsy Decals

Caboose Decals

Boxcar Decals

Aside from saving money (I hope) making your own decals means you only make the ones you will use. No more odds and ends of lettering from time periods you don't model. You can also make a full set with different road numbers instead of cutting out individual numerals. Hopefully this idea will work the way I'm planning on. If not, at least I'll have some artwork I can send to somebody who actually knows how to do this.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad