The prototype. Delivered by General Electric in 1954, Union Pacific nos. 61 to 75 were the second group of 4,500-hp gas-turbine-electric locomotives rostered by the railroad. Different from the first order, these 15 locomotives had open walkways under overhanging roofs along both sides of their hoods, earning the class the “Veranda” nickname.
The Verandas originally ran between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyo. In 1955, the railroad starting equipping the turbines with 22,000-gallon fuel tenders, extending their range from Ogden to Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The gas-turbine consumed massive amounts of bunker C fuel oil (about 600 gallons per hour at full throttle and 200 gph at idle). Starting and shutting down the turbine took about five minutes.
For hostling purposes, General Electric built the Verandas with an auxiliary 250 hp diesel engine that moved the locomotive at speeds up to 25 mph. This engine also started the turbine and provided power for air compressors and other auxiliary equipment.
High maintenance and fuel costs led to the demise of Union Pacific’s turbine fleet in 1969. All the Verandas had been retired by 1964. General Electric reused the trucks and span bolsters of the
Verandas on the UP’s U50 diesels.
The model. The dimensions of the Athearn model come within a scale inch or two of prototype drawings in Turbines Westward (T. Lee Publications).
The printing and striping on the model is straight and opaque. The cab window frames are neatly edged in silver, while the windshields are edged in black to represent rubber gaskets. All the windows have clear glazing.
The locomotive and tender truck sideframes are correctly painted aluminum. The tender has 20-scale-inch-high “UNION PACIFIC” lettering on its sides, which matches the prototype from the mid-to-late 1950s.
The body shell is plastic, and the well-defined molded details, including side grills and engine-access doors, match prototype photos. Separate parts include scale-profile handrails, ladders, and windshield wipers.
The cab interior has engineer and fireman seats, but doesn’t include figures. However, the interior is easy to reach once the body shell is removed, so it wouldn’t be hard to add figures.
The tender also matches photos of the prototype’s 22,000-gallon tank. The end ladders and see-through platform on the tender are separately applied. Some brake gear is modeled as separate pieces on the tender’s underframe, including the main reservoir and brake cylinder.
The motor and flywheels are mounted at the center of the die-cast metal chassis. The locomotive pilots swing back and forth, which is prototypical. The two inboard trucks are geared to the motor. The two outboard trucks have free-rolling metal wheels.
There are two printed-circuit (PC) boards on each end of the frame. Each PC board has a white light-emitting diode. The LED on the front PC board is for the headlight, while the LED on the rear PC board is for the backup light.
A wiring harness with wires color-coded according to National Model Railroad Association RP-9.1.1 is connected to the rear PC board. The DCC socket on the end of the wiring harness will accept either an 8- or 9-pin DCC decoder. The factory-installed jumper board must be removed to install a decoder.
There is a 1.2″-diameter speaker opening with sound holes at each end of the frame. There is 1⁄4″ space between the front PC board and the front speaker opening and 3⁄4″ between the rear PC board and rear speaker opening. SoundTraxx offers a Tsunami series DCC sound decoder for the turbine (no. 827114, see www.soundtraxx.com). QSI Solutions also has a Revolution-U decoder with appropriate turbine sounds (see www.qsisolutions.com).
A two-pin wiring harness connects the backup light in the tender to the electronics in the locomotive. The metal tender wheels don’t pick up track power.
In reverse, the locomotive’s backup light turns on. When the tender is connected to the locomotive, the tender’s backup light turns on in reverse.
I ran the model without difficulty forward and back through an 18″ curve at both low and high speeds. The locomotive also ran through no. 6 turnouts without any problems. However, the tender did derail on a couple runs because of low coupler trip pins.
The front and rear McHenry knuckle couplers on the tender were at the proper height, but the trip pins hung low according to my Kadee coupler height gauge. I used a pair of needlenose pliers to carefully bend the trip pins until they cleared the gauge. After these adjustments, the tender no longer derailed through turnouts. The front and rear couplers on the locomotive were at the correct height, and the trip pins of those couplers didn’t need any adjustments.
The Athearn Veranda turbine is a fine-looking model of its prototype and it runs great on DC. I was a bit disappointed that the locomotive wasn’t available with factory-installed sound, but at least modelers can add this feature on their own
Manufacturer
Athearn Trains
2883 E. Spring St., Suite 100
Long Beach, CA 90806
www.athearn.com
Road numbers (all Union Pacific): nos. 65, 61, 71, 74
Era: 1953 to 1964
Features
- All-wheel electrical pickup
- DCC wiring harness installed to accept an 8- or 9-pin decoder
- Five-pole skew-wound motor with dual brass flywheels
- McHenry scale knuckle couplers at correct height (trip pins too low on tender)
- Metal wheels in gauge
- Weight: 1 pound 91⁄2 ounces (locomotive), 41⁄2 ounces (tender)
