Switcher Saturday: 2015-Aug-01

Custom CNJ 1002 working the yard...

WOW SIRT - very very very awesome!  I'm really super impressed with these, amazing!

thanks Rich!

Hi Dave, your welcome!  Great pictures too!  Best...Rich

SWSat!

I have gone down a rabbit hole of looking at Brookville engines after riding behind one last week. Brookville seems to be one of the last makers of switchers specific engines so I thought to share here.

Lionel Northern Pacific switcher on the S&Y RR.

      Bill T.

Dad was in this group until he moved from the area. 

http://www.blrhs.org/buildings...-brookville-rail-car

It's SWSAT time!!

Got a bunch of chores to get finished before I can dig out the camera n' take a pic n' prose about my latest acquisition (arrived yesterday)... SO...

This here Proto Pic will have to suffice fer now.

A couple things I liked about the old Rock Island:

* They never met a switch engine they didn't like. (They bought some really oddities.)

* They couldn't make up their mind what paint scheme(s) to use!

That in mind, here's a pic of one of their Alco S-2's taken in Memphis, TN, in 1956, that illustrates just ONE of their switcher paint schemes...

I've often fancied this SW1500 in Frisco livery. Anyone ever seen a model in O scale?

Source:  https://thelibrary.org/lochist...iscoline/diesel1.cfm

Great selection so far , here's a few from my layout last week. James

Lunch break!

Checkin' in to see what all's been posted.

Rich: Like the S-2 and the SW1!

Sirt: Don't have a clue what the little critter is, but it sure looks nice!  Good photos and good model/paint work, too.

Dave: Always enjoy your steam engine pics... these are no exception!

SilverLake: Well I'll be... didn't even KNOW there was a Brookville switcher mfg'er!  I learn something new everyday. (Unfortunately, I don't think that will keep pace with the things I knew that I FORGET everyday!)

Bill T: What's NOT to like about the NP switcher paint scheme??? Speaks "pure railroading", and, that it's an Alco S-2 is frosting on the cake!

hobby-go-lucky: I'm always up for a Frisco picture. The Frisco is one of my "shur 'nuf" favorites, plus, it's one of the "Foundational Four" railroads that I used to guide my modeling choices for my proto-lanced Kansas City & Gulf theme.  Sorry, can't help you with knowing if such a model has been produced in O scale.

Alibatwomble: Nice pics this week!  REALLY like the SP FM on account of two weaknesses I suffer from:

* It's a switch engine.

* It's a striped switch engine!

Now, why all the rhetoric?  Well... I was gettin' a mite lazy of late and just hittin' the "Like" button.  That's an easy way out (and fine when I don't have a minute to type/whatever). However, by typing out a response, you know WHY I hit the "Like" button!

Okay... lunch is over... back out in the fun-time heat/humidity of eastern OK and back to the yard work!!!

Andre

Took my kids to the Greenberg Train Show in Timonium Maryland this morning and I took a couple pics of switchers to share.

I saw a really nice brass Williams B6 Steam Switcher that I passed on, I'm kicking myself now for not taking a picture of it (and not buying it).  The used switchers in the pictures were all relatively inexpensive, except the Lionel Navy #51, the guy wanted top dollar for it because it was in fantastic condition.  I almost grabbed the US Army small Vulcan but it was a DC engine and I already have one DC->AC project I need to work on.  I also saw 3 Lionel C&O #624 diesels but the prices on the bay seem much more reasonable than what I was seeing at the show.

Rich:

Looks like you had fun at the train meet! 

The little humble Lionel Katy 600 switcher was probably my favorite Lionel switcher. I think that can be traced back to the little "Bantam Books" paperback I purchased in the early 60s that Lionel produced called "Model Railroading!".  Therein was an artists drawing of the Katy 600. Seein' as mom n' dad would drive by the Katy's Southwest Boulevard Yard several times a week livin' life... I related to it.

See? I've liked switch engines for a long, long time!

Andre

Okay... chores are all done... supper's over... shower's taken... time to relax a bit!

Yup, for me it's finally SWSAT time!

Every now and then, things just come together and you think: Serendipity. 

Case in point: One of signature KC roads for my KC Lines theme is the Kansas City Terminal. For some time, I intended to represent the KCT by modeling a couple of their Alco S-2's. I intended to paint/decal them in the following schemes (which are quite different):

Note that the hazard stripe angle on the #58 is 30 degrees, and there's no side sill stripe. The hazard stripe angle on the #52 is 45 degrees and there is a side sill stripe. These things are subtle, yes, but enough different to be noticeable to my eyes. I like variety, so given the choice, I almost always will choose two paint schemes w/variations for a pair of engines over one identical scheme on both. 

Then there's THIS little KCT engine, one of their first:

Now, as pictured, this is the "original" delivery paint scheme for the KCT's HH900 #50. The other two engines purchased about the same time (EMC NW's #60 and #61) were also basic black, but with only a pinstripe on the hood and a white side sill stripe. Notably absent was the intricate pinstripe "boxes" and double pinstripe w/bow wave on the upper hood portion as is on the #50 HH900.

Yup, I carefully AVOIDED any of the Alco S-2 schemes that had the pinstripe boxes. What a pain those would be!  There would be no KCT HH900 or any of the S-2's on the layout that had still had vestiges of the pinstripe box scheme in place.

Then that "serendipity thing" happened...

First, Atlas came out with their Alco HH models (before I returned to HO) but then last year something BIG happened. They released their HH in the Tennessee Central livery. 

Now, why is a Tennessee Central livery on an HH model a big deal?  Well, let me show you a pic of my latest acquisition and you'll see why, to this boy, that's a REALLY big deal!  Take a gander at what arrived on my doorstep this past Friday:

See anything AMAZING?  Yup, the Tennessee Central used the EXACT SAME "catalog" paint scheme for their HH as did the KCT... and wonder of wonders, even used the same NUMBER!!

Soooo... here's a'what I'm a' gonna' do:

First off, my non-DCC/Sound TC HH is going to be sent off to my DCC/Sound guy for a Tsunami 539T sound decoder to be installed.  Then, once I get it back, it will wait its turn to appear on the work bench to have the "Tennessee Central" lettering removed and part of the bow wave pinstripe (on the nose) removed.  It will then be decaled for the Kansas City Terminal (decals on hand!) and PRESTO: I have a very unique model that I didn't figure I would EVER have on account of those intricate pinstripe boxes!

See?

SERENDIPITY!!

Now... maybe "one these days" I'll share the detective work I had to do in order to figure out what paint scheme the little KCT #50 was wearing during the early 1960s.

However, that's all fer now!

Andre

A younger me at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in the early 1980s in the cab of a Southern Railway NW2.

Neal Jeter

Very nice.  I especially liked the older PRR B6 photos.

My RailKing MP 15, a great little switcher.

Here are is a  photo from the Free State Junction Railway engine service facility.

thanks to everyone for participating, it was great to see a few new people join the fun this week.  I'll catch you all next week...Rich

The Katy 600 headed my first Lionel train set, I still have it and it runs great even though it was a basic striped down engine. On my great lay-out to be built it will sit on a siding spotting covered hoppers at the Lionel grain elevator.