Bill,
Holck Vol. 1 has a couple of VO-1000s in St. Joseph, MO
with four stacks, and a couple of pictures of single stack VO-1000s in Clyde
and Chicago yards. Holck Vol. 2 has two photos of four stack VO-1000s at Murray
yard in North Kansas City. From these photos, it looks like the single stack
VO-1000s were in Chicago area and the four stack VO-1000s were in MO. It would
be interesting to know why a single stack Phase IIIa VO-1000 was switching Burlington
in the Spring of 1948.
Railway Prototype Cyclopedia Volume 8 has a really nice article on the
VO-1000s, and there are photos of 9372 in Chicago (single stack)
and 9358 in North Kansas City (four stack). This article is must reading for anyone
wanting to superdetail a Q VO-1000. Bowser has issued the blackbird scheme in
both Phase II and Phase III versions, and the Q had some of both, however the
issued road numbers aren’t consistent with the Phase versions, so
prototype modelers will want to change the road numbers for authenticity.
Fortunately, Bowser includes parts to build both phases in either one or four
stack versions.
Nelson Moyer
Iowa City, IA