Switcher Saturday: 2016-Feb-06

RMT Bang S-4 Diesel Locomotive - PRR #8433

Early Saturday.  Last, new from Weaver, models that I purchased. 

A little out of season but...

Here's a K-line Plymouth.

Yay! SW Sat is on!

Great pics last week and so far this week guys.

This week I am posting images of some switchers from SMS Lines which operates now out of some Southern NJ industrial parks near Bridgeport NJ. One of the more interesting things about them is that they have a roster which includes 24 mostly operable Baldwin Diesels. Mostly these are switchers of several classes. Their paint scheme is very influenced by Reading but they have two switchers painted for Pennsy and B&O. 

Of course I'll start with the single SW1200 on the roster and then show some of the Baldwins.

Sure wish it would be practical ($$$) for one of the three-rail "makers" to produce this!

Ron

CNJ 3676 posted:

Following on my post covering the preservation of Lehigh Valley SW1 112 a few weeks ago, my contribution for this week discusses another Northeastern vintage switcher in the process of being saved. 

Built in 1949 by ALCo for the Lehigh & New England Railroad, S-2 611 served until cessation of LNE operations in 1961 with the Central Railroad of New Jersey acquiring portions of the railroad and the remainder being abandoned. The 611 was subsequently purchased by Ford to serve as a plant switcher at Dearborn, MI. The unit's next stop was the Toledo, Lake Erie & Western Railway and Museum. It was then acquired by a harvesting concern and served as a switcher at a grain elevator in Emporia, IN. The locomotive's duties were taken over by an EMD replacement in 2008 at which time it was stored in serviceable condition with the engine being started periodically to maintain its mechanical integrity.

The 611 was eventually sold to a scrapper; however, the scrapper, being aware of the locomotive's historical significance as the sole remaining Lehigh & New England diesel locomotive, was sympathetic regarding its situation (one other LNE locomotive survives but it is steam....0-6-0 207 at the Illinois Railway Museum). Subsequently, a purchase agreement and sale for the purpose of preservation was successfully executed. At present, a partnership of Bring Lehigh & New England 611 Home, the Railroad Historians of the Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the NRHS are soliciting donations to transport the 611 from its present location at Emporia to the Allentown & Auburn Railroad at Kutztown, PA where further evaluation and restoration work will continue. 

Below are several images of the 611 including two as it presently appears. The orange paint is from its days working at the Ford plant. I've also posted a link to the group's Facebook page so you can follow the project's progress.

https://www.facebook.com/lne611 

Bob

         

Is it my eyes,  is the steps on the right side of the coupler shorter than the steps on the left side?  Good pictures. 

My parents always purchased Ford cars, so they helped keep the switcher in diesel when it worked for Ford.

Here is my favorite switcher but then again i like them all. 

Took the kids to the "Great Scale Model Train and Railroad Collectors Show" in Timonium Maryland this morning and picked up this little one for super cheap, which is good because I didn't have much $$$ in my pocket!

It was a really good show, tons of HO stuff, probably at least 10 club layouts, and quite a bit of O stuff as well.  Lots of people, good layouts, and good stuff for sale, I'd recommend a visit if you are close by.

Here's a couple of switchers at Dodge City, Kansas.  Note the trucks under the GP.

MTH Railking ARR EMD MP15DC.

My second post.  I do not have recent digital pictures of a few of my switchers, so I am reduced to copying my photos of my switchers for now.

Dennis

Lionel 622

Thanks for the likes

late to the party again...I hate these 12 hour shifts!

Steamer posted:

 

 

I love this D&H Camelback. Such little is offered in D&H steam in O scale. For whatever reason when something somewhat suitable is offered (like a Challenger) it rarely is offered in D&H. 

saw a CNJ camelback yesterday at the show, really neat engine which I'd love to get one day.  Here's a not-so-great picture.

I also really liked this boxcab, but it was way out of my budget...

Here's a picture of my helpers standing in front of a very impressive HO gauge "Hogwarts".  My older helper is a Harry Potter fanatic, so she was thrilled to see this.

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Thanks to everyone for posting this week, see you next week...Rich

Thanks Bob, great info and pictures!  Best...Rich

CNJ 3676 posted:

The AGEIR box cabs  by MTH don't come up for sale very often at all. Their prototypes represented the initial forays into dieselization which largely was a direct result of smoke abatement legislation requiring railroads operating in New York City to eliminate the use of steam power. In fact, the Baltimore & Ohio's number 1 was assigned to the road's West 26th Street facility in Manhattan. Here are a few images of the locomotive working there courtesy of the New York offline terminals website at http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/ and www.northeast.railfan.net .

Bob

 

This is great stuff. The B&O #1 (8000) still exists in the St Louis National Railroad Museum. This whole neighborhood is full of Reminders of the different railroad lines that operated into Manhattan here. The LV, B&O  and NYC all had operations literally right next to each other. The Lehigh storage building still exists and now has a lot of high fashion companies based out of it. The former Terminal Warehouse exists still and has had a continued life as a notorious nightclub in the 80's and 90's as the Tunnel Nightclub. Now it is a conference space and is becoming a shopping mall / food court with offices above it. Inside it still looks very much like the warehouse it once was with doors spaced equally like boxcar doors.

 Interestingly the B&O storage building at this site in NYC existed until 2002. The old B&O Float piers have been restored on site and now lead to a floating restaurant called the Frying Pan located on the old Lightship of the same name. Also on the floating dock is an Erie Lackawanna caboose. I think this is the only caboose in Manhattan. 

All of this is only a block from the Highline and six or seven from Penn Station.

Would love to find one of these box cab switchers, but they just don't seem readily  available these days.  If anyone gets a line on one of these please contact me, my e-mail is in my profile.  Cheers Jim

For whatever reason my pics will not post. Here goes again.

First up is the B&O operation. The float Pier has been preserved and now serves as the entry to a floating restaurant called the Frying Pan. The light ship Frying Pan is there as is a EL Caboose. Most of the restaurant is on a RR float barge attached to the float bridge. 

This building was the LV warehouse and was served by thier float pier on the Hudson. No track connected to the B&O or NYC despite being literally feet away.

The Terminal Warehouse was serviced by NYC.  It is a block north of the LV operation.

I love this D&H Camelback. Such little is offered in D&H steam in O scale. For whatever reason when something somewhat suitable is offered (like a Challenger) it rarely is offered in D&H.

The early Challenger is the one closest to the D&H.  To my knowledge, most of the early Challengers produced in O Scale included the D & H version.

I too like the little Camelbacks.  If I could post photos, I could show you an 0-4-0 Camel in both 1/4" scale and 1" scale.

My compliments to Switcher Saturday, for not repeating all the photos twice this week.

The 0-4-0 camelback a are awesome, used to have a Mantua one from the 1950's

bob2 posted:

My compliments to Switcher Saturday, for not repeating all the photos twice this week.

^^^^ Really ????  

Let's please keep this nice little weekly thread "positive" and refrain from comments like this, thanks.

Nearing last run of the 2015 CCL-1 Christmas carpet Local.

Nice pictures everyone. I'm running a little behind...Here is a CNW boxcab.

Tom 

CNJ 3676 posted:

The AGEIR box cabs  by MTH don't come up for sale very often at all. Their prototypes represented the initial forays into dieselization which largely was a direct result of smoke abatement legislation requiring railroads operating in New York City to eliminate the use of steam power. In fact, the Baltimore & Ohio's number 1 was assigned to the road's West 26th Street facility in Manhattan. Here are a few images of the locomotive working there courtesy of the New York offline terminals website at http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/ and www.northeast.railfan.net .

Bob

 

I saw an MTH with Proto 2 model of B&O box cab today at Timonium Train Show.  It sold within an hour of my seeing it and sold at the asking price of the vendor too.  I went back to purchase a B&O Plymouth switcher and the Boxcab was sold... I did get the Plymouth and will have it up on SS in the near future.  

Murnane posted:

saw a CNJ camelback yesterday at the show, really neat engine which I'd love to get one day.  Here's a not-so-great picture.

 

I also really liked this boxcab, but it was way out of my budget...

 

Here's a picture of my helpers standing in front of a very impressive HO gauge "Hogwarts".  My older helper is a Harry Potter fanatic, so she was thrilled to see this.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to everyone for posting this week, see you next week...Rich

 

Rich - I was at the show in Timonium today and your photo is the exact B&O boxcab that was sold today.  I recognize it by the price tag and the surrounding Rock Island locomotives.

a few more

Here is a movie of this weeks switcher activity on the Free State Junction Railway.

CNJ 3676 posted:

The AGEIR box cabs  by MTH don't come up for sale very often at all. Their prototypes represented the initial forays into dieselization which largely was a direct result of smoke abatement legislation requiring railroads operating in New York City to eliminate the use of steam power. In fact, the Baltimore & Ohio's number 1 was assigned to the road's West 26th Street facility in Manhattan. Here are a few images of the locomotive working there courtesy of the New York offline terminals website at http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/ and www.northeast.railfan.net .

Bob

Yep. They're great little switchers and the die cast shell gives them a little extra pulling power (not that you're going to pull a lot of cars with it anyway). I got mine (CNW) off eBay on an auction that had an odd ending time -- brand new for less than half MSRP. However, the second one that came up went for over $400. I'm not sure MTH got the color correct. I think they were still black when they got the safety stripes on the ends, then they were later painted yellow. My plan was to paint the second one yellow, replace the pilot beams and install Kadees.

I'd really like to see it re-issued in Proto-3 and add the demonstrator to the mix.

rich...contact me direct via email off the forum...you have my email address...howard...

Nickel Plate Road 0-6-0 #365