Front end Friday.....

@Bill Swatos posted:

Nice PW Berk! I've got these two...

Like that Blue Comet from the 70s 80s?

@leapinlarry posted:

Good afternoon fellows, beautiful pictures everyone. I finally hooked up my new Sante Fe REA Reefer to my Sante Fe passenger train. The car looks great, however the coupler wouldn’t hold the five eighteen inch aluminum Lionel passenger cars, the coupler kept opening. So, it’s getting replaced. It is a beautiful car. Happy Railroading Everyone

The Pennsylvania designed and manufactured R50b front end reefers sure were good looking.  In one of Staufer's books someone referred to them "as the best looking reefers in the USA."

MTH's fantasy shiny stainless steel Santa Fe version sure are "Purdy" behind red war bonnet F-units.

Ron

@Hancock52 posted:

Well, I am always late to this thread, but as the most recent post was 10 mins. ago and it must still be Friday somewhere, here's a big front end (shown in profile):

This is a 3rd Rail N&W "Jawn Henry" steam turbine with the pair of AWTs made with it. A real beast of an engine that I understand was a monumental failure in real life.

The gang is al here!

Ron

@Hancock52 posted:

Well, I am always late to this thread, but as the most recent post was 10 mins. ago and it must still be Friday somewhere, here's a big front end (shown in profile):

This is a 3rd Rail N&W "Jawn Henry" steam turbine with the pair of AWTs made with it. A real beast of an engine that I understand was a monumental failure in real life.

I bet that looks great running around your Christmas tree assuming your Christmas tree is a California redwood.

Hudson

@Sitka posted:

Like that Blue Comet from the 70s 80s?

Thanks! That's a Blue Comet Hudson from the MPC era. They sold them from '78-'80. I got it at an estate sale and had to tweak it some to get it to run smoothly, smoke, and make "The Mighty Sound of Steam." And I don't know where my head was (perhaps in a certain mountain range in Massachusetts) when I complimented your PW Hudson as a Berk! I hope I don't get thrown off the OGRF train for that screw-up! What Hudson is it? I can't read the cab number.

@Ron H posted:

Hudson

Very nice scale Hudson. Is it the Williams J-3a Crown Edition brass version?

Bill,

It is with added brass detail.

Santa Fe freights.

@Bill Swatos posted:

Thanks! That's a Blue Comet Hudson from the MPC era. They sold them from '78-'80. I got it at an estate sale and had to tweak it some to get it to run smoothly, smoke, and make "The Mighty Sound of Steam." And I don't know where my head was (perhaps in a certain mountain range in Massachusetts) when I complimented your PW Hudson as a Berk! I hope I don't get thrown off the OGRF train for that screw-up! What Hudson is it? I can't read the cab number.

That is #2065 Hudson made from 53 till 56 nice running engine got it for a bargain, yeah you don't want the OGR Police pulling you over on a siding LOL

@Don McErlean posted:

@Steamfan77- I really liked the DC-3 inspection car for the LIRR.  I had never seen such a vehicle before.  Is it a commercial model or did you make it yourself?   Really neat.  Thanks for posting.

Best wishes

Don

Thanks Don, it’s from MTH.

Andy

Steamfan77- Thanks for the info...Im going to keep a lookout for that.

Don

Burlington Northern SD70MAC, #9600, rolls past the Interlocking Tower on the lower level. Have a great weekend.

Donald

FriYAY!

SO all Dressler'd up and no place to go

Konrad Dressler ( Germany ) that is

And for formal occasions .... Black naturally ...

It's been a week and I have waited for the next episode of Front End Friday.

Last weekend My bride and I went to Stetson, ME to visit my brother and his wife.  It is our annual trek to enjoy the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association fair.   It is also close to the Belfast and Moosehead Lake RR headquarters and museum. The Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad (reporting mark BML) was a standard-gauge shortline railroad that operated from 1871 to 2007 over a single-track grade from Belfast to Burnham Junction in Maine. Currently the BML is owned by the Brooks Preservation Society.  A not-for-profit organization established to protect and preserve historic rail transportation infrastructure and assets.  Their principal operation is Tour runs in the service area.

This year we decided to ride the BML shuttle to the fair. We went to the station which also included their storage and repair shop.  I have been to the museum, but never to this stop. It was flat out exciting, we had the chance to roam around on the grounds. Below are front end pictures of their equipment.  Look at the snowplow unit in the pictures and in the second video you will see their new snowplow.

Happy Friday:

Rock Island BL-2

Here is my ends of the front kind for this fine Friday!    A B&O GP 9 approaches as a set of Pennsy GG1s running lite with caboose sit on a siding.

A Western Maryland Consolidation coming atcha!

Happy FeF from the Subway maintenance facility!. They're up bright and early fixing everything before the morning commuters have arrived on the upper platform --

Wow, so many beautiful front ends of diesels and steamers to review, real and model, a great selection, older toy versions and also the latest and greatest… Happy Railroading Everyone

Happy FEF ....

@Wood posted:

It's been a week and I have waited for the next episode of Front End Friday.

Last weekend My bride and I went to Stetson, ME to visit my brother and his wife.  It is our annual trek to enjoy the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association fair.   It is also close to the Belfast and Moosehead Lake RR headquarters and museum. The Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad (reporting mark BML) was a standard-gauge shortline railroad that operated from 1871 to 2007 over a single-track grade from Belfast to Burnham Junction in Maine. Currently the BML is owned by the Brooks Preservation Society.  A not-for-profit organization established to protect and preserve historic rail transportation infrastructure and assets.  Their principal operation is Tour runs in the service area.

Love the sound of that GEEP winding up at the end of the first video. Thanks for sharing the pix and videos.

Bob

Happy FEF!

Bob

Wow what beautiful pictures and videos everyone, great diesels and stately steamers.  @Wood - that was a great trip, looked like a real fun day. @Strap Hanger - that was a really imaginative "over and under" picture of the subway maintenance facility.  RSJB18, Patrick, leapinlarry, Richie C - great pictures of your layouts and trains.  phlashgordon - a great video and your train was not attacked by "Ming the Merciless"!  Dave - that is a really beautiful BL-2 is that new?

Today I have some relatively common locomotives for the post.  It is part of a collection of mine of early MPC Lionel "Columbia" types that used the Lionel 4 wheel power section with a variety of shells and details.  I collected these early in my hobby days because they were colorful, cheap, and for the most part run well.  That's still the case today and its a fun entry into train collecting part of the hobby for new collectors.

Here is the Lionel #8203 from 1972.  A 2-4-2 with electronic "Sound of Steam" & smoke.  Charcoal black with red stripe and red tender lettering.

Here she is exiting the "mountains" on my layout with an early post war PRR N5 cabin car.  Note that this version has the 1130T "oil" type tender.  It also came with the 1130T coal tender.

Just a year earlier, here is the # 8141 from 1971 also a 2-4-2.  This grey / red stripe engine was the first to carry the "new" Lionel electronic "Sound of Steam" function.  It also has a headlight and smoke.

Here she is exiting the tunnel pulling the pre war (1942) version of the PRR N5 cabin car.

Well Best Wishes everyone, hope you have a great weekend

Don

Finally learned how to improve my pics.

Still reliving the past for mine.  These are from my 2011 Christmas layout

- walt

One more

CBS's Railroad newly rebuilt GP30...

@Rob Leese posted:

Finally learned how to improve my pics.

WOW !!! Quanah !!! COOL !!! Got to be one of a kind !!!

@Richie C. posted:

Happy FEF ....

Especially love those MP FEFs !!!!!  
Thanks !!! 🙂🙂🙂

@PRRronbh posted:

I will just have to chime in here!

Ron

Bringing back BL2s from last week here's Williams version of the GM Demonstrator scheme.  Notice the different horn placement.

An actual picture of the BL GM demonstrator.

MTH actually did a good job even down to the horns painted blue.

Ron

@BAR GP7 #63 posted:

Happy FEF.

Maine Central ALCO S2 #301.

Johan, that young lady looks lost walking besides the track like that.  It's incredible how you blend your modeling skills into your photographic skills using your photos as backdrops.

Happy Front End Friday!

Here is a recent find. A pair of repainted Weaver EMD E8s to Seaboard Air Line. A nice representation of the "Silver Comet."

@coach joe posted:

Johan, that young lady looks lost walking besides the track like that.  It's incredible how you blend your modeling skills into your photographic skills using your photos as backdrops.

Joe. Thank you. Maybe the woman has lost her ticket and is a little panicked, because the train is about to leave. 😉

Johan

Happy FEF. Maine Central GP38.

@leapinlarry posted:

Wow, so many beautiful front ends of diesels and steamers to review, real and model, a great selection, older toy versions and also the latest and greatest… Happy Railroading Everyone

Larry, we can always count on you to share an abundance of cool FeF photos! Thx! Happy Friday to all!

@TrainBub posted:

Especially love those MP FEFs !!!!!  
Thanks !!! 🙂🙂🙂

and two for the road ....

And a nice MP T&P pair !!! 😜😜

3rd Rail E8s

Hello FEFers.  Running a bit late today; getting ready for Ian (shouldn't be bad for my area)

Here is a Front End that needs fix' in.  It is a Lionel E7 that was delivered with their pointed E6 pilot.  A while back I picked up a couple of different EMD F3/7 front ends as possible replacements, but have not yet got around to drilling the new holes that are required.  Maybe I should do that while waiting for the rain to stop.