Alco Models brass General Electric E2B

Photo by Bill Volkmer

Another work in progress. The General Electric E2B were experimental, straight AC, B-B electrics built for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1952.
Four were for the PRR and two were built to demonstrate on the Great Northern and The New Haven. Neither of those railroads bought them, so
PRR bought the demos in 1953. Road numbers for the six were 4939-4944. The ex-demo units had nose-mounted numberboards (to appeal to the GN)
and 4944 had extra large jackpads. They looked quite a bit like the ALCo FA2. The wheelsets were 48" as compared to the 40" of the ALCos.
This meant that the trucks, although very similar to the ALCO B-truck, were larger. I used Proto 2000 FA2s to repower the Alco Models brass E2Bs.

For more prototype photos go to Bill Volkmer's stuff at Dave's Railpix.

	Out of the box (or off of the display shelf, in this case).
	I tried replacing the gear towers with those from one of the U30CGs, but the axle gears were also cracked.
	The E2B's wheels were 48". The KMT wheels are actually 46.1".
	The frame of the Alco Models E2B is a flat piece of brass. I had first trimmed the FA2 frame to fit inside the body of the E2B. That would have been the easiest way to repower. However, the body wound up sitting too high off of the trucks. So a few cuts to the Alco frame allowed me to install the P2K trucks.
	I had to remove the large contact tab from each truck and open up the bolster hole to take a machine screw to allow the trucks to pivot properly.
	I soldered the pickup wires to the metal frame of the trucks on the engineer's side. The fireman's side contact comes through the mounting screws. I mounted the motor using an industrial-strength, double sticky pad. I did not have to adjust the length of the drive splines. It would have been nice to have the motor sit lower so that it would be more in line with the trucks' worms, but that would have required removing the air reservoirs.
	I installed the decoder in the back of the body since the clearance is tight over the motor. I also added some lead weights.
	I ran each E2B in each direction for about 30 minutes to wear-in the drive train.
	It actually works. The one thing that still bugs me is the smaller size of the wheels and trucks. I've kept the KMT trucks with the idea of eventually replacing the crappy gears with NWSL gears. Someday.
	Need a few more details. Some glass. Headlight. Couplers. Paint. Decals. Catenary.
	That's real dust on the roof--they've been on display for about 30 years.
	They actually run quite well together. The E2Bs, as delivered, could not MU with anything else. PRR eventually modified them to MU with the P5As.
	A few details added: hoses and a pair of safety chains secured to flat lift rings(top) and coupler cutbar brackets(lower).