Rivet Counter HO Scale GE DASH 9-44CW, BNSF/Hertitage I & II (R3)

Name: Rivet Counter HO Scale GE DASH 9-44CW, BNSF/Hertitage I & II (R3)
SKU: 513267
Availability: OutOfStock

Rivet Counter HO Scale GE DASH 9-44CW, BNSF/Hertitage I & II (R3) by ScaleTrains.com

With railroad, road number, and era specific details, our Rivet Counter series DASH-9 is the definitive model of this popular GE locomotive. In our continuing effort to push the boundaries of realism in model railroading, the Rivet Counter DASH-9 features operating LED front, rear, and side walkway lights.

DC/DCC Ready
Retail: ~~$239.99~~
OUR SELLING PRICE: $189.99

DCC & Sound Equipped
Retail: ~~$349.99~~
OUR SELLING PRICE: $279.99

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Item Number	Road Number	Control & Sound Options	Our Selling Price	Availability
SXT32367	4331	DCC & Sound Equipped	$279.99	Sold Out
SXT32368	4331	DCC/Sound Ready	$189.99	Sold Out
SXT32369	5441	DCC & Sound Equipped	$279.99	Sold Out
SXT32370	5441	DCC/Sound Ready	$189.99	Sold Out

Product Details

Road Number Specific ScaleTrains

Road numbers 4144 and 4158
- Era: late 2010s to present, series BNSF 4097-4146, built 10-11/02
- STI-CO PTC antennas
- Motive Equipment Inc. (MEI) ME7000 HVAC Unit
- Salem Air Dryer
- Orange color under lower yellow stripes on nose front
Road number 4337
- Era: late 2010s to present, series BNSF 4300-4598, built 1-12/99
- Octagonal antenna dome
- Exhaust stack storage cover bracket
- Motive Equipment Inc. (MEI) ME7000 HVAC Unit
- Wabtec Graham White 994-500 Series Air Dryer
- Green color under lower yellow stripes on nose front
Road number 4346
- Era: late 2010s to present, series BNSF 4300-4598, built 1-12/99
- STI-CO PTC antennas
- Exhaust stack storage cover bracket
- Dayton Phoenix (DPG) Model 280260 HVAC Unit
- HVAC in faded paint as replacement unit
- Salem Air Dryer
- Green color under lower yellow stripes on nose front
Road number 4478
- Era: late 2010s to present, series BNSF 4300-4598, built 1-12/99
- STI-CO PTC antennas
- Exhaust stack storage cover bracket
- Dayton Phoenix (DPG) Model 280260 HVAC Unit
- HVAC in faded paint as replacement unit
- Salem Air Dryer
- Orange color under lower yellow stripes on nose front
Road number 4331
- Era: late 2010s to present, series BNSF 4300-4598, built 1-12/99
- LinkUp PTC antennas
- Exhaust stack storage cover bracket
- Clear air cab and engine cab swapped with H1 unit
- Dayton Phoenix (DPG) Model 280260 HVAC Unit
- Wabtec Graham White 994-500 Series Air Dryer
- Engine cab swapped from H1 painted unit
- Rusty air tanks
- Green color under lower yellow stripes on nose front
Road number 5441
- Era: late 2010s to present, series BNSF 5420-5499, built 4-9/00
- STI-CO PTC antennas
- Exhaust stack storage cover bracket
- Clear air cab and engine cab swapped with H1 unit
- Dayton Phoenix (DPG) Model 280260 HVAC Unit
- Salem Air Dryer
- Engine cab swapped from H1 painted unit
- Orange color under lower yellow stripes on nose front
GE safety cab with “gull-wing” roof profile and four (4) side windows
Operating LED front, rear, and side walkway lights
Operating front deck mounted LED ditch lights
Short snowplow with open doors and grab irons
5-step stepwells with see through steps
Walkway with front anticlimber
Narrow profile end handrails
Front nose headlight
Nose door with window
Two-piece nose top grab irons
Standard battery box doors
Cab interior with desktop controls for both engineer ad conductor
Late angled engine cab profile with tri-fold power assembly access doors
Late dynamic brake exhaust
Early electrical cabinet with drop grab irons on rear
Lost-wax brass Nathan AirChime K3LAR2 horn mounted on engine cab
Late non-flanged exhaust stack housing
Tall latched access door on long hood end
Late radiator door grilles in alternating heights
High-mounted rear sandfiller
Standard wheel type handbrake
Early lifting lugs on ends of radiator wings
Separate air tanks with lower mounting brackets, connector pipe and connector pipe cover
Fuel tank mounted steel bell
Dual fuel fills per side
5,000-galon fuel tank with vertical weld seam
Round and vertical analog fuel gauges
Late Hi-Ad trucks with cantilever struts on right front and left rear sideframes
Early, square handbrake chain bracket
Spare coupler knuckle holders on rear pilot face

Rivet Counter DASH 9-44CW Locomotives Also Feature

Fully-assembled (except undecorated)
Multiple road numbers
Operating front, rear, and side LED walkway lights
Printed and LED lighted number boards
Four (4) cabs
- “Gullwing” with three (3) side windows
- “Gullwing” with four (4) side window
- Standard safety cab with low headlight
- Standard safety cab with high headlight
- Dayton Phoenix (DPG) Model 280620 or Motive Equipment (MEI) ME7000 HVAC Units
GE Hi-Ad trucks with separately applied brake cylinders, air plumbing, and struts (per prototype)
- Early with reinforcement bulge
- Late with cantilever struts on right front and left rear sideframes
- Late with non-cantilevered struts on all four sideframes
- Late with cantilever struts on all four sideframes
Rotating axle bearing caps
Nose door with or without window
Four (4) step or five (5) step stepwells with see through steps
Narrow or wide profile end handrails
One or two-piece nose top grab iron(s)
Early (curved), late (angled) or late (angled) with “tri-fold” power assembly access doors engine cab profile
Early flanged or late non-flanged exhaust stack housing
Early or late lifting lugs on ends of radiator wings
Low or high rear sand filler
Separate air tanks with lower or upper mounting brackets
Three (3) types of fuel fills per side: single; dual; dual with rear fill blanked
Spare coupler knuckle holders on truck sideframes or rear pilot face
GE “nub” pattern walkway tread
Accurately profiled frame with separately applied plumbing and traction motor cabling
Detailed cab interior with separate floor, rear wall, seats, and desktop controls or control stand, per prototype
Tinted cab side windows
26 individually-applied etched metal see-through radiator intake and exhaust grilles on sides and top of radiator compartment
“Bathtub” exhaust silencer
5,000-gallon fuel tank
Factory-applied detail parts: wire grab irons, snowplow, spare knuckles, trainline hoses, 3-hose MU clusters, uncoupling levers, windshield wipers, mirrors, sunshades, air tanks, fuel tank mounted bell, brake wheel, exhaust stack and more
Motor with 5-pole skew wound armature
Dual flywheels
All-wheel drive
All-wheel electrical pick-up
Directional LED headlights
Printing and lettering legible under magnification
Paint colors match Tru-Color Paint color wheverpossible
Operates on Code 70, 83, and 100 rail
Packaging safely stores model
Minimum Radius: 18”
Recommended Radius: 22”

DCC & sound equipped locomotives also feature:
- ESU-LokSound 5 DCC and Sound decoder with “Full Throttle”
- Two (2) cube-type speakers
- Accurate FDL-16 prime mover and auxiliary sounds, horn, bell, and more
- ESU-designed PowerPack with two (2) super capacitors
- Operates on both DC and DCC layouts*
DCC & sound ready locomotives also feature:
- Operate on DC layouts
- DCC ready with 21-pin connector

* Note: some sound and lighting functions on DCC & sound-equipped versions are not operable using DC

Prototype History

General Electric wrestled the title of top domestic locomotive builder from EMD during the late 1980s with their Dash-8 series. GE once again positioned themselves to shakeup the locomotive world yet again less than a decade later. Entering the 1990s, GE completely revamped their locomotive lineup by utilizing customer feedback, learning from experience gained from previous locomotive series, and improvements in technology.

A single C44-9W demonstrator unit, numbered 8601, made its debut in 1993 (and later became C&NW 8601). While similar at first glance to predecessor models like the C40-8 and C40-8W, the Dash-9 series featured a few notable physical differences. Built on a slightly longer platform that allowed for a massive 5,000 gallon fuel tank, Dash-9s also featured thicker radiator “wings” at the rear of the carbody. This is usually the quickest way to differentiate them from previous models.

Thanks to its long production span and customer options, small detail differences could be noted between various customer orders. This includes changes with HVAC system vendors (the large “A/C” box behind the cab on the conductors side), engine cab profile, radiator lifting lugs, hood end, trucks, fuel tank, stepwells, operator’s cab, and even handrail profiles.

The C44-9W proved to be extremely popular over its production span with over 3,500 locomotives being sold new to ATSF, BC Rail, BNSF, CN, C&NW, NS (including 100 spartan cab equipped versions, nicknamed “Top Hats”), QNS&L, SP, and UP.

NS was an important customer with over 1,000 Dash-9s on the roster. They preferred customized models in the form of 100 spartan-cab equipped, 4,000hp C40-9s (nicknamed “Top Hats”) and numerous examples of safety cab-equipped versions rated at 4,000hp, and designated as C40-9Ws. All C40-9/Ws would eventually be uprated to 4,400hp with their designations changed accordingly.

Over the years, the Dash-9s could be found in a variety of assignments. Santa Fe’s C44-9Ws were delivered in the famed red and silver “Superfleet” scheme and could be found hurtling across the southwest with hot piggyback trailer and container trains in tow.

Southern Pacific’s units were some of the first new six-axle power on the beleaguered railroad’s roster in more than a decade. They were pressed into a variety of assignments ranging from hot intermodal trains to coal and iron ore drags.

Chicago & North Western’s units made their debut in flashy “lightning stripe” livery and handled numerous assignments during their brief tenure before being absorbed by Union Pacific.

The Dash-9 series remained in production until the early 2000s when it was superseded by GE’s “Evolution Series” ES40/44-series models. Age has begun to catch up with the earliest C44-9W and related models so some railroads are storing and/or rebuilding these veteran units. NS’s oldest units, the spartan-cab C40-9s, are being rebuilt with the latest GE safety cab for increased crew comfort and safety plus AC-traction for increased performance.

Originally built in the early 1990s, some of BNSF’s former Santa Fe fleet are also in the process of being rebuilt with AC-traction to extend their service lives and improve their performance.

Built over a long timeframe, and proving to be a solid, upgradeable platform, the C44-9W family of locomotives including rebuilds is sure to remain a fixture on today’s railroads for the foreseeable future.