BLS 486 Alpinist -1

You could probably see this coming...

I've mentioned previously the appeal of a BLS intermodal train on the layout, and one of the reasons is a very cool series of locos that imply that "we climb the mountains for you".

My personal favourites are the series with a mountaineer's face (for rivet-counters, actually there are two subtly different versions of the Alpinist).

One of these locos is pictured below leading a Zebra:

I figured that one of these would be a good partner for my recent BLS creation.

Compared to the 'Connecting Europe' loco, the 486 has a different front end with a lower lip.

Like the 485, I started with a matching Hoyer top and quickly lowered the wee section above the grilles (by the pantographs) before modifying the front end by notching the lower corners and adding the lower extensions in the corners with white plasticard:

To fit these bodyshell extensions on the chassis it had to be reduced in width at the corners (the right-hand example here, notched behind the buffers):

Hard to see in the next shot are the little horizontal stepsills at each corner below the main headlights:

The following picture (crassly stolen from the internet) shows the difference between the 486 'Alpinist' and the flat bottomed 495 "Connecting Europe' loco: