Evolution of a Favorite: The Alco C-420 as offered by MRC/Model Power and Atlas

AlCo C (Century) 420
https://www.american-rails.com/alco-c420.html

Having been in N-Scale for most of its existence I have a few examples of early "excellence" that really cause me to despair. Anyone that has been here for a little while can 'fondly' recall some of the utter garbage that passed for locomotive models back in the early days. Even then some were better than others...

Atlas started selling the single powered truck SD45 and GP40 probably about the time I started N; my first set was an SD45 (GM Demonstrator) with freight cars, a loop (oval) of track, and transformer/power pack. I think I still have the caboose.

Along the way the line of the "single powered truck" expanded only slightly with the addition by MRC (the power pack people) with the Mehano C420; there were a few others if I recall, but this was the only one I managed to acquire, and twice. The other examples in my roster were the RSD15 which had two power trucks, and the much later F40PH.

The N Scale Alco C-420:

Source: N-Scale Locomotive Encyclopedia (North American Prototypes) http://www.spookshow.net/locos.html

Alco or more properly American Locomotive Company (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Locomotive_Company for a brief history lesson) produced some very interesting locomotives into the diesel locomotive era. While they may not be as popular as EMD or GE( In numbers) they have a very dedicated fan base, and sometimes are iconic examples of a particular railroad or a segment of their operations.

The Model:

Two faces of Alco

Just what you expect from contemporary offerings (left), and what we had to accept as "all there was" once upon a time (right)...

Side by Side

Atlas model is on the left; the scale width hood and better handrails are the visual wins, plus better overall detailing and smooth running. Shame it is not a great puller, but it does all right...

Roof top view

I've always despised the 'open' radiator grills. Better to look scale and be enclosed. There was a school thought that they did this to allow heat to dissipate from the motor, but as you can guess if the motor were to get that hot the shell would still melt from heat radiated through the metal motor frame! On the SD45 there was a thin piece of foam between the fans and the motor, quite effectively quashing that line of logic.

Side view

Another ghastly grill, not to mention those awful handrails

Then...

Not a bad loco, just not up to the level of the Atlas release. But this is just sitting still. In its defense this model DID have handrails painted the same color as the locomotive body, which if you were one of us from the 1970s and into the Kato era are not necessarily always a “given”. Shame about the running quality...

Spookshow gave it an "F": http://www.spookshow.net/loco/c420.html

and Now...

I always liked the look of the C-420, so when it was released this I had to have one...

This one deserves it's "A":http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/atlasc420.html

The worst thing about all of this is that these locos were (at the time) some of my best runners; no, I did not say good runners, but about the best of what I had. That is until I picked up my first Minitrix U28 and Con Cor SD40-2 (but more on the latter in a future article). Those were improvements!