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#SwitcherSaturday is back!

Lots of us out there love switchers (shifters, docksiders, yard goats, etc.), so lets keep #SwitcherSaturday (a.k.a. SWSAT) rolling!

What a week we had last week, over 80 pictures and videos posted, tons of comments, just "plain old good fun"!
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...saturday-2015-aug-22

Today at the Murnane house we've got my C&O #39 Steam Switcher on duty (Lionel 6-28662).  Taking a page out of Laming's playbook, I'll attempt a caption, here goes:


"Raven Rich has got ol' number 39 fired up this morning, shifting coal cars around the yard before his second cup of joe"

 

 

 

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I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, the weather here in Maryland seems like it's going to be fantastic!

 

If you get a chance, please post some pictures or video of your favorite switchers!

 

Best...Rich Murnane

 

p.s. Miss the post on Saturday? NO BIG DEAL, just keep posting pictures of your favorites until the next #SwitcherSaturday

 

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  • C&O #39 Steam Switcher / Lionel 6-28662: C&O #39 Steam Switcher / Lionel 6-28662
  • C&O #39 Steam Switcher / Lionel 6-28662: C&O #39 Steam Switcher / Lionel 6-28662
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SWSAT!!!

 

Okay... confession time:  I'm a bit lazy on 'ya this week.  You see, I'm in a "model airplane" mode ("control line" model airplanes) as I ramp up in advance of a trip to an annual "Vintage Combat Plane Festival" in NJ to relive the wonder years of my youth and see old model airplane friends. Soooo... didn't really take any "new" SWSAT pics this week. Instead, I'm using "stock" pics from my stash.

 

THAT SAID... what say today we take a gander at the Santa Flush's exquisite "Zebra" stripe scheme, this time on an Alco S-4.  (New in the box Bachmann HO scale, DCC/Sound that I got for a whopping $109 street price!)

 

 

ATSF_S4_1529

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And for this week's Proto Pic... how 'bout a Rock Island SW8 #818 snapped in Joliet, IL, in May of '59?

 

 

RI818_SW8_051659_Joliet

 

All fer now, have a great weekend everybody!

 

Edit: To correct an FFS issue. (Fat Finger Syndrome.)

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  • ATSF_S4_1529
  • ATSF_S4_1529b
  • RI818_SW8_051659_Joliet
Last edited by laming

SwSat is on!

 

Great pictures as usual guys!

 

This weekend I am moving and tearing down my biggest tiny layout (the one that can't move with me) so...

 

This week I'm posting pics of Whitcombs without much history behind them except that they stopped making new ones in 1956. A lot of the engines were tiny industrial things but some were big enough to be switchers on Class one RR's.

 

Two of these engines I'm posting wore special Bientennial paint schemes in the 1970's. One has it in the picture and one is restored to an earlier scheme. A Marvel comics style "No"  prize to whoever can say the other.

 

I'm starting with two from one of my favorite RRs the Washington and Old Dominion. The southern terminus was my hometown of Alexandria VA.

 

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What a fantastic week, great pictures and tons of interaction (likes, comments, etc.).  Thank you all for contributing, this little weekly ritual is really enjoyable for me!

 

Some comments

 

- Silver Lake:  I'm still enough of a newbie here on the forum (and in Maryland) that I didn't even know about the "Washington and Old Dominion Railroad", much less hear of "Whitcombs", both of which now I'm an expert on after reading the Wikipedia pages (kidding of course).  Thanks Silver Lake for posting these.  I hope wherever you move to has some space for some nice layouts!  

 

- SIRT and joeyA:  You guys are like the Ninjas of weathering, the Gurus, the Yodas, whatever you want to call it, I'm always super impressed with what you do, amazing!

 

- Laming:  Thanks for being our weekly go-to guy for a breath of fresh air!  I love your enthusiasm, it's so much fun to wonder what you are going to post or write.

 

- ChessieMD:  Welcome to the #SwitcherSaturday club!  I'm glad you posted and the picture is very "AwesomeSauce"!

 

- Steamer:  I really really enjoy the old-time photos, each week I take new pics and try to make them look old, like the ones you post.  Thank you very much.

 

- TrumpTrain:  Sorry you had technical difficulty, but love the pictures, and I really love that Canton diesel switcher (and the NattyBoh guy).  Are you in Maryland too?

 

- brwebster:  Thank you for posting the B6 pictures.  I'm lucky enough to have a LHS (Star Hobby in Annapolis) and he's got a new PRR B6 on the shelf (one of the big ticket $ Legacy locomotives) and I've been wondering how this might look next to my B6 which is circa 1989 or so.  I'm pretty sure I'm likely not going to be the guy to buy it though, it'd take me quite a while to squirrel away my lunch money to be able to afford that thing.

 

- Rusty Traque:  Love the picture, I'll need to google for "Olympia Railway" after I post this reply!

 

- Bill T:  You've got some good old-fashion diesel power running the show over there!

 

- MikeCT:  You've got serious diesel going too, and I thought you were a steam guy for some reason?  :-)

 

- taycotrains:  What I love about your pictures are not just the good colors of the LV stuff, but the things in the background (more engines, VW buses, a little bit of everything).  Great pictures!

 

- Paul 2:  Your picture is going to inspire me to go down to the basement and find gems in my collection which I may have "forgotten" about!  Great pic!

 

- mike.caruso:  You asked us to pardon your messy background, but man I'm not the only one here wishing they could build a layout like that in their garage!  looks incredible!

 

- Bary GP7 #63:  the picture you posted is really really really a great picture.  I've zoomed in on it like 20 times and each time I'm super impressed with the details of everything.  I can't say enough how much I enjoy it!

 

- Joe K:  A critter and a switcher in the wild!  I love pictures of these guys in the real world, good stuff!

 

- Alibatwomble:  Thank you for contributing from "over the pond"!  Your layout looks fantastic, it's great to see real-world sunlight lighting it up, all my trains are "basement" trains (although I'm considering doing a G-Scale outside train at some point).

 

- pittsburghrailfan:  Thanks for posting pics of switchers in the wild!  The club layout looks like it's a lot of fun.

 

If I missed someone in this recap please don't take it personally, I'm still on my first cup of coffee!

 

See you next week...Rich Murnane

Originally Posted by brwebster:

The idea was to illustrate the size difference between a prewar Lionel traditional type 0-6-0 and the almost scale remake of 8976.  It was tough getting a shot that showed it well.

 

The little 201 is a bell ringer with swapped out tender trucks, so it will haul knuckle coupler consists

 

 

One of the most obvious differences is the e-unit lever that pokes up through the boiler for the #201 and #203 (short) boilers compared to the semi-scale prewar and 1989 re-release which have "clean" (and longer) boilers with no e-unit lever protruding through. 

 

 Tom 

 

Rich writes:

 

brwebster:  Thank you for posting the B6 pictures.  I'm lucky enough to have a LHS (Star Hobby in Annapolis) and he's got a new PRR B6 on the shelf (one of the big ticket $ Legacy locomotives) and I've been wondering how this might look next to my B6 which is circa 1989 or so.  I'm pretty sure I'm likely not going to be the guy to buy it though, it'd take me quite a while to squirrel away my lunch money to be able to afford that thing.

          .................................................

I can only imagine the LHS price of a new Legacy B6, if they get some imported to the Great White North.  I studied the catalog illustration and thought the cast in detail too plentiful for a $700 engine.  Maybe I'm a bit spoiled, having an Atlas USRA 0-6-0.  IMO, the new B6 was basically the old K-Line offering with Legacy added...or so I thought.

Subsequent video posts here really are impressive.  The sound alone was enough to change my way of thinking.  I'd give serious thought about purchasing one now, if I ever have the opportunity.  To actually find one for sale locally and see it in the flesh would probably seal the deal.   Just made some extra green this weekend hosting a yard sale too.

One of the big differences that keeps the prewar B6, 8976 and the 1989 version from being scale is the equal wheel spacing.  K-Line fixed that by spacing the drivers unequally, and so it is with the new B6.  Aesthetically, the old 8976 is going to look dated next to the new offering, but there no mistaking, the old one IS a B6.  Pretty impressive when you think that at one time Lionel made only one engine with better fidelity than the 8976, the 700E.

 

Bruce

Last edited by brwebster

 

 

Thanks, Tom.

 

Sure looks like a home made tender compared to the rounded edges on a B6.  The old arch bar trucks were probably a transplant from something else.  Neat to see a shot mid coaling exercise.  Even the coaling tower is somewhat unique with it's adjoining sanding tower.

 

BTW, my bride has French Canadian roots.  Heaven help both of us!

 

 

 

Bruce

Last edited by brwebster

Here's a couple of engines that spent some of their long lifetime doing switching.  The Shay was last used (before its current life hauling tourists on the Roaring Camp and Big Trees RR near Santa Cruz, CA) shunting coal cars in Virginia.  The Heisler started life in 1899 working at a lumber operation in the Sierra Nevada (CA).  We rode behind the Heisler to the top of Bear Mountain, which included backing up a ~10% grade on a switchback.  Great fun.

I'm not aware that either are available in O or S gauge, though the local (SF Bay Area) ON30 club has a beautiful logging RR setup they bring out to various shows and they have at least one extraordinary shay.  Now that I think about it, I think one of the local G-scale clubs has a shay also.

 

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Images (2)
  • IMGP0013: Tuolume (Heisler)
  • IMGP0002: Dixiana (Shay)

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