7mm US model dabblings

[mickoo]

Bet that Dash 9 DPU sounded good, always found the Dash 9 to have a sharper bark to the stack, probably something to do with not being so restricted with Tier regulations.

Last train from my 2018 vacation was memorable at Cosnino, I played it out as long as I could before driving to Phoenix for the flight back to Orlando, just one more train, then just one more.

BNSF had bottled up Transcon 2 and Winslow was throwing train after train West once the flood gates opened, ten trains in two hours, let alone the half dozen East bounds, one of those typical canine 'ball...stick...squirrel' episodes.

Finally after pushing sensibly past departure time it really was time leave, just as I got in the rental I heard another approaching, go or stay, bugger it! There's always another flight!

Grinding up grade at about 15 mph a quintet of Dash 9's, better yet, a gull winged cigar band head end unit; the cut is just deep enough to put you at the same height as the stack, it can't be described, you have to be there to hear and feel it. BNSF have an energy mandate not to power at Run 8, I can't tell the difference between Run 7 and 8 but my guess is this rag tag manifest was using it all to just keep moving.

I suspect this was the last and slowest train out of Winslow, all the previous ones had been stackers and pig racks.



I raced down to the outskirts of Flagstaff where the grade eases and speed picks up enough to hear the traction motors whining, still pulling hard for the big climb up to the divide a few miles ahead. The pair of Southern Belles were a double Brucie bonus and the faded warbonnet on the end topped it all off. Lighting was sunny side down, a minor triffle.



Tail end charlie was another gull wing cigar band Dash-9 giving it the big push.



I paced the DPU for the next two miles as the road runs parallel, windows wide open at 30 mph just taking it in. Couldn't stop grinning all the way to Phoenix, not a care in the world, hell of a way to end a rail fanning vacation.

Five triple four will be on my roster one day

 

[RGSrr]

I think I'll have to take that back - as I've found a photo with a bay window like the Overland model !

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I was just Idly flipping through a book I've not looked at for yonks titled "The History of the Union Pacific" and found a photo of 4466 with such a bay window in a similar position to the Overland model. I think I may have an idea how it worked - what is missing from the Overland model is steel strips, in effect rails, top and bottom of the window so that when required the armrest would be removed and the bay window slid backwards to cover the open window at the rear of the cab. Maybe this was found to be too cumbersome in practice and they adopted the fixed type as on 4442.

Phil, I agree with your suggestion the the all weather bay window could be on runners thus enabling the engineer to hunker down in blizzard conditions.

 

[RGSrr]

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Going back to the last century (topic page wise - page 91 to be precise), after a long period of inactivity the UP 0-6-0 switcher is back in one piece, now fitted with DCC sound. The rods and valve gear have been treated with Humbrol Metalcote polished steel as previously described. I thought this came out a bit too grey, maybe because I'm too used to the normal silver colour motion on models. So its been further treated by drybrushing with silver, then drybrushing with matt black and spraying with Dullcote. I'm not quite sure about the final result, but I've fiddled about with it for so long it will have to do - for now at least. Some weatherists seem happy to just paint the motion in black.

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The backs of all wheels have been skimmed to 29mm back to back, so it will run on the mixed gauge section of my D&RGW layout, although not really appropriate. The overall finish is from Vallejo satin varnish which I'm quite pleased with, after trying Halfords matt lacquer (too shiny, little different from their satin laquer) and Dullcote (too matt). It needs some light weathering, and I emphasise the 'light' - just some road dirt on the running gear and soot on the smokebox/ boiler top.

The green cab window frames are a bit too garish and would have been repainted black, but there's one behind the bay window and there doesn't seem to be an easy way of removing the bay window to get at it. I don't know what purpose these bay windows served, I would have thought that they would have partly obscured the drivers vision when looking forward out of the cab. I think the cabside numbers are a bit too thick and I do have a Champ UP decal set that would replace them. However it would require repainting the lower cab sides and the decal sheet doesn't have the small lettering below the numbers, some of which is specific to each loco class, so I'm leaving the numbers "as is" for now - if in doubt, do nowt.

The rear tender coupling has been fitted with a Precimodels remote uncoupler, worked from one of the Tsunami decoder auxiliary outputs, and this works very well. Being a switcher the loco should of course also have one on the front coupler.


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Phil, it’s looking good. Agree with you that a black wash on the bright green window frames more appropriate

 

[JasonD]

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I'm heading up to Des Plaines now, if you are reading this Jason, I'm going for Denny's breakfast !

Richard

Aaaahhh! Good to know even when you're 75, sensible people are still listening!

 

[richard carr]

After 7657 had passed by I set off on foot to find where the line crossed the Elkhart river.
Unfortunatley you couldn't gain access to get a decent photo so I carried on until I reached a level crossing about 10 minutes from the car park.

This was the first train I saw







I had to wait about half an hour for the next one.



This one started out on the far line (M1) but was moved right across to the nearest one (M3)



I saw this one later in the afternoon it was parked up about 4 miles north of here.



It was a good 20 minutes to the next train, it arrived on M3 and was switch across to M1, the loco and freight cars were rockin and rollin through the point work.






After this one I decided to call it a day here and headed back to the car.

I also decided to head back to Matteson Illinois where I was staying on Saturday evening, the plan was to go to the Park Forest Railfan Park and see what was happening there.

 

[richard carr]

The Park Forest railfan park isn't much of a park but there is an elevated observation platform which gives a great view of the connecting line between the J, the Elgin Joliet and Eastern railway (the Canadian National owned route around Chicago) and what was the Illinois Central mainline south from Chicago). The connecting lines were built around 2012 so are very new in railway terms. The J itself was built around 1880, when of course it was empty countryside, today though the Chicago suburbs have expanded so much that it now runs through the edge of greater Chicago. It also crosses numerous lines out of Chicago, most of them have been turned into flyovers these days but a few flat crossings remain. My favourite one is Turner Junction where the J crosses the UP 3 track mainline in West Chicago, you can easily walk to it from the Metra station and stand on the pavement right by the tracks to watch the trains.
I arrived at the Park Forest railfan park just as a manifest freight was heading east bound on the J, here's the next one that came along





It's not a great location for trains passing on the J you really need to get them on the connectors, these two locos did oblige





You also get a view of trains on the mainline, here's a container train heading south just before Matteson Metra Station.



It's not a great photo location but you can see what is going on, this was taken with a 400mm lens.



The park does have a caboose on display in EJ&E livery, you can still see a few diesel locos wearing this livery, I did see 2 of them on my drive out to Elkhart, but I haven't had a chance to get any photos of them yet.

If you are wondering why I'm posting this at 6 in the morning, it's called jet lag !

Richard

 

[richard carr]

I was flying home on Sunday afternoon, so the plan was to visit Des Plaines hobbies to see what goodies they had available, they don't open until 11am on Sunday's so first stop was Denny's for breakfast, there is one just by O'Hare, so only 5 minutes from DP Hobbies.
Breakfast didn't take long so I went to Des Plaines Metra Station to see what might turn up, it is on the UP mainline so I was hoping for a sunday morning freight.

Not a chance of that though, but about half mile west of Des Plaines the UP mainline is crossed on the flat by 2 other routes, I don't know much about them, I'm sure someone else can fill us in on this, but there were freights operating over them



I almost missed this one completely, then about 10 minutes late on the other route a coal train went past, I missed the leading loco but there was a pusher on the back.





A metra train in each direction did appear, there is a 2 hourly service on Sundays





After this it was over to DP Hobbies, they do have a large stock of 2 rail freight cars, but most of them are the steam/diesel transition period but I did find this one.



This has trucks which are scale width.

I also managed to pick up some more P48 wheel sets for Atlas SD35 locos.

Richard

 

[JasonD]

Later Atlas frt cars had thinner sideframe trucks. That UP frt could have originated in Proviso Yard just south a ways. The first RR just east of Des Plaines Hobbies is now CN I think, previously others, when you come out of O'Hare Airport they're up on the embankment. Come out of DPH car park the back way onto Oakton head west and you cross the CP turn south (seat of pants time) and it's there on your left, dammit where's the map and curling round the bottom of the airport you get to Bensenville Yard. Head for Mannheim Metra Station (small), park up and eat your KFC while the east end yard switchers work in front of you. Lets look up that new shortline switcher - what's that? What did I have for breakfast this morning?? How do'you expect me to remember that???

 

[mickoo]

My 'stash' finally arrived, four days from Jims Post office to Coventry, ten days for customs to pull their digit out, one day to deliver to local Parcel Force depot.

It hadn't even been processed when I knocked on the counter to pay charges and collect, you need to wait for the letter we send out sir.......my steely glare and silence convinced them that probably wasn't my preferred option! In fairness I did explain I waited three weeks last time for the letter which never came and wasn't prepared to endue further delays. The lady went through the door and within 20 seconds my package arrived.....didn't even have to walk far.

First up some basic commodities for the layout. I cannot recall what Jim put in there, suffice there's enough for 50' of track which I think will cover everything I need, quite a lot of track is covered by road, inside warehouses or just covered in sand/soil/dirt on old trackage, that'll all be PCB tie based. I now need to decide on a track plan and get some cast guarded crossings.



I did toy with cutting up the stirrers I have here but reasoned the time spent doing that wasn't the worth the saving in cost getting pre-cut ones, they'll get repurposed into something else, pallets or scenery items here and there.

Next up a couple of Kaslo Canada comfort/safety cabs, I'd seen photos here and there but they do not portray how good these look in your hand, very impressed and I'll be looking to getting a couple more.



They're fitted to quite a few EMD and GE (CN/BCR Dash 9's with alterations to light clusters) engines but mine will go on GP38-2 and GP40-2, a couple of CN ones and a couple of KCS, one in stealth grey and one in Southern Belle colours. There are other options like Pan Am and Guilford for regional operators, I do need to start a research package to find out where more of these went when CN unloaded them.



Some more Weaver ACF covered hopper bodies, these'll get added to the conversion stash and worked into two and three bay hoppers in due course. A couple of brass (Pecos River?) 3 bay hopper bases were in the collection as well.



The remaining bulk were Atlas Trinity 5161 3 bay covered hoppers, very nice models too, finally RTR that has some finesse. Designed primarily for grain traffic (not an intended industry for me) they are also used on sugar, potash, fertilizer and other chemical cargo flows so I need to work out an industry to accommodate all these now.

First up three KRIX versions, all 5161's are sans trucks which isn't a problem as I want to make my own 3D 100T S2 Barbers at some point.



These will probably get repainted in BNSF swoosh brown if I can find some 5161 generic data panels, I did a trawl around and found some data panels but cannot recall if it was for Boxcars or 5161's.....shocking short term memory these days.

Next up some BNSF heritage ones, I might just try and lift the Frisco decal off and ignore the fact the numbers are wrong or they'll go into CSX cream with boxcar livery, again depends on decal availability.



Finally a pair of UP and one CP version, none of these will be tampered with, just weathered a bit here and there, like the BNSF/Frisco I may try and lift the heritage SOO decal off the CP one.






Finally some light reading, a few Diesel Era's ti fill in gaps in my collection, it's nearly complete. The DVD is from Eric Neubauer and features several of his out of print books on US Railcars, primarily covered hoppers and box cars for my planned projects. Whilst out of print Eric did happily put a few on a DVD for a reasonable price to cover costs so they're now added to the digital collection.



Overall I'm nearly there stock wise, I need more tank cars, the smaller kinds, not sure what traffic flow yet, corn syrup or petro chemical, a hand full more high cube box cars and a small collection of PS 4427 ribbed low sided covered hoppers, mind these tend to be earlier periods (earlier in diesel era's) and I'm tending to edge toward an 80's - 00's era myself now.

Having said that, 4427's lasted a long time and some appear to have been repainted into BNSF red oxide and a few even with Swoosh decals; like the 5161 a lot were used in grain traffic but other flows exist, malt and sand are a couple I've seen listed. The alternative are some more modern high sided versions, not sure which ones as yet.

 

[richard carr]

Mick

Some lovely stuff there, I'm not sure 50 foot of track will be enough !

As for an industry, I'm going for brewing, incoming barley, hops, malt, out going canned and bottled beer.

A lumber yard is another thought.

Richard

 

[mickoo]

Mick

Some lovely stuff there, I'm not sure 50 foot of track will be enough !

As for an industry, I'm going for brewing, incoming barley, hops, malt, out going canned and bottled beer.

A lumber yard is another thought.

Richard

Richard,

Cheers, I think it might be, maybe not for rail head but certainly for ties and tie plates as a good part of the track will be covered or at least the tie plates too so no need for tie plates and cut ties, those areas will be PCB ties and soldered fixings.

My space isn't big, an L shaped 17' x 7' max and with a curve at one end you're effectively looking at 15 x 5 track area and I'm trying for less is more....which is a hopeless task

I 'think' I can get three small industries in, the short L section will either be a two track petro chemical plant or sand, lime, cement type affair, this is ideal
Specialty Minerals by David Blazejewski, on Flickr

A second will be a warehouse for box cars, one or two spurs and the third something to account for all the covered hoppers, either plastics or food stuffs, maybe with food stuff tanks.

Something like this I saw in Orlando, I think Sherwin Williams produces paint but it needs covered hoppers and tanks.





Even that one plant alone would fill most of my space so do you do one really big plant/industry well, something like Crab Orchard TN mining with their own engines or Ash Grove Cement MT serviced by MRL. Or two or three train set industries to fill the space.

I've got so many choices picked out and photographed it's insane, I'd model them all if I had the space and three life times worth of energy

 

[JasonD]

Did I see it in real life? Chicago area, grassy knoll with 2 recently laid (different colour ballast?), shortish tracks to a nondescript (in layman's eyes) warehouse side. Compressed air tubes and valves on wheeled frames to plug into the parked hoppers. Shallow use of backscene.

Also in Chicago, CN delivery to large, fenced site. Uncouple inbound, loaded cars on main. Loco(s) run in to get the empties, bring them out, park them and take the loaded cars in. What Brits might call a 'fiddle yard'.

 

[Overseer]

Finally a pair of UP and one CP version, none of these will be tampered with, just weathered a bit here and there, like the BNSF/Frisco I may try and lift the heritage SOO decal off the CP one.

Before you do, check whether the hopper matches any CP numbered hoppers. I think Atlas chose the SOO number as only some US based Canadian Pacific hoppers match the model. Canadian Pacific still use fallen flag reporting marks to identify where the tax has been paid, as well as CPI and others. It is/was correct as it is. I couldn't find any Canadian hoppers which matched the model when I looked so it probably shouldn't have a CP number.

 

[JasonD]

When Atlas Master brand was launched it was going to be 'accurate' including details. The Trainman brand was to be 'nice' and maybe not 100%, eg: my D&H U23B doesn't have the triangular filler between the body roofline and the radiator section. Atlas Premier starts off as ex-MTH, I wish Americans would get into the habit of pointing out this quality difference.

Anyway, I've got sidetracked again haven't I. Here's Atlas's SOO Line hopper. That's a Trinity ...yes?!
Jason

SOO 121766 CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

SOO 121766 CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

www.rrpicturearchives.net

 

[JasonD]

Forgot to mention, the Atlas model appears to have the correct hatch modifications on the roof for handling sugar, etc as well as grain.

 

[richard carr]

Mick

Yes Sherwin Williams does make paint, I saw one of their lorries on Sunday with "Paint the World" written all over it.

I'm still in favour of beer.

Richard

 

[Ken Ford]

The remaining bulk were Atlas Trinity 5161 3 bay covered hoppers, very nice models too, finally RTR that has some finesse. Designed primarily for grain traffic (not an intended industry for me) they are also used on sugar, potash, fertilizer and other chemical cargo flows so I need to work out an industry to accommodate all these now.

They really are quite nice. Atlas did a single car in the initial 2009 run with round hatches and gravity discharge, I’ve been meaning to find a few and determine appropriate ladings. I’ve been assembling a fleet of covered hoppers for pellet plastics and chemicals usage, and these may make a good addition. Atlas photo:

Otherwise I’ll need to dream up an industry that can take the trough hatch/gravity discharge versions. One of my possible inspirations is the former Morton Salt facility in Chicago whigh took covered hoppers full of road salt, but 5161s may be a little new for this. Crain’s Chicago Business photo:

Chicago Switching | UP Switching Morton Salt

chicagoswitching.com

 

[mickoo]

Mick

I'm still in favour of beer.

Richard

Duff by any chance

 

[JasonD]

 

[richard carr]

The bridge from Jim arrived a few weeks ago and yesterday I finally started to put it together



The main trusses are together but there is still a bit more work to do on the top supports





This is the basic idea of where it will go, carrying a single track over the entrance to the fiddle yard.