Question for the "Rivet Counters"

[Wyonate]

What is the difference between the Dash9 and the AC4400 bodies? I have an idea to skin a dash9 into a AC4400 as long as its the same body type with little or no changes from the dash9 body. I already made one but not sure how prototypical it is. And as long as I can get permission from Frank to release the loco and JR to use the sound, there might be another loco out as soon as this evening. Arn works (BNSF 5600-5717), error free, and weathered.

 

[Wyonate]

I guess there is no difference... either that or I posted on the wrong forum section haha

 

[JohnnyC1]

Big difference is the truck style/design the AC4400 has AC traction motors hence the difference. Also the AC4400 may have a steerable truck.

John

 

[Wyonate]

Ok. I know that one is ac and one is dc. I was just wondering if the body of the dash9 is different from the ac4400. I reskined a dash9 into a ac4400 but just making sure its pretty close prototypical. Thanks for the reply

 

[mjolnir]

What you might do is spend some time on some of the railroad picture sites and study the two types of locomotives. www.rrpicturearchives.net (to name one) allows you to search by locomotive model, so that you can study the two types of locomotives, and determine what the external differences might be, and then be able to decide whether those differences are so great that you cannot ignore them.

On rrpicturearchives.net, selecting "by locomotive model" in the upper left of the page (under "view photos") brings up a page listing the various locomotive manufacturers; scroll down to GE, and you can select the photos of the dash-9's and the AC4400's. And if the AC4400's don't work, there may be other GE models which do. As far as reskins, one of the major payware sites has assigned numbers that a major US road uses for a class of GE locomotives to models which would have been built by EMD, and assigns road numbers which would have been assigned to Wide cab EMD models to low hood models.

ns

 

[Wyonate]

I did that. I couldn't find any differences between them but I figured I'd ask here just in case I missed something. Well, if I get permission from Frank, there sound be another BNSF loco uploaded to trainzproroutes soon. I already created it just to see if I'd like it or not and I think it'll get a few downloads and won't be a waste of my time. So if anyone is interested in an AC4400CW I'll post something over in Freeware Announcements.
Thanks for all the replies.