Santa Fe Sunday

Sunset Alco PAs

Lee, that is a great idea!  Very nice car!  Lots of folks have Santa Fe.  As an Appalachian railroad modeler, I’m afraid I have nothing to contribute!

Nice idea Lee!

My first train set was a Lionel HO ATSF AB Streamliner set. Always been a big fan of the Warbonnet since.

The newest addition to the fleet is the Menards F7. I added a Lionel B unit since.

Some ATSF action from my old layout. 

MENARDS F3 Alco - A B A

Gary

Ship Santa Fe All the Way!!

Keep the Santa Fe rolling guys! Great stuff. Thanks for sharing

In my book, it's tough to beat the SF warbonnet color scheme!

@lee drennen posted:

Thought I would start a thread on the Santa Fe Railroad. Post anything Affiliated to the Santa Fe Railroad. I’ll kick us off with this old Santa Fe All Nations Reefer I restored. Enjoy the thread and let’s see your Santa Fe.

That's a beauty Lee...hope you're having a great summer...!

The Super Chief passing through an industrial district on her way to Los Angeles.

Lionel Santa Fe U28CG

Front end of the classic Postwar Lionel 2343 F3:

Rusty

Santa Fe ...........ALL THE WAY

I got this Custom O27 Lionel Santa Fe Pup trailer  done today one more to go and the one to the Piggyback Flat.

@Mark Boyce posted:

Lee, that is a great idea!  Very nice car!  Lots of folks have Santa Fe.  As an Appalachian railroad modeler, I’m afraid I have nothing to contribute!

CSX  ,  BP ,  PENNSY ,  B&O  and  C&O  here.............but ever since seing a video of a real SF on Pennsylvania rails I  had to succumb to the call of the Premier plated F7s .

( even cast my cash in for some Premier UP F7s and the gray 4-8-4  😶 )

...........never looked back

ATSF Business Car Atchison

Weaver E-8 ABA.  Smooth, powerful(two motors in each A unit) and good looking!  Fifty-one inches in length. John

Custom detailed ATSF Alco PA with scratch built brass pilot, detailed trucks and proper radio antenna. Did a post on detailing a Lionel ABA set years ago.

@Rusty Traque posted:

Rusty

Nice looking two rail photos Rusty. 🤓

When I see things like your photos I  get the feeling I should do a rebuild and keep things clean and simple but done very well.  🤔

@Ron H posted:

Custom detailed ATSF Alco PA with scratch built brass pilot, detailed trucks and proper radio antenna. Did a post on detailing a Lionel ABA set years ago

Ron,  this is still one of my favorite clips of the ATSF PA's.   The three plumes of smoke are spectacular!  You should consider making a new feature video of this locomotive in a realistic setting for everyone to see sometime. Your 'scale' track is terrific too. In looking at Erik's 2 rail layout and your track I realize that 2 rail is probably in my future if I stay with the hobby down the line. The lower profile track is SO much better visually as it gives the effect of making our models appear more massive like the prototypes.

My old layout was appropriately named the A.T.& S.F. because we are in the Appalachian Mountains, my ex wife was from Tampa, and the Santa Fe was my favorire RR.

A few shots of a E8m A-B pair on my modular layout.

Thanks Sam.

Ron

Legacy ABA set with MTH passenger cars, including a short video. The B unit is a Superbass.

As you can tell by my OGR name I'm a Western Pacific fan, the company that struggled up until UP bought them in 1983. But, I'm also a huge AT&SF fan, with two ABA sets of Santa Fe WarBonnet paint schemes. One day I'd like to have a F3/F7 Blue and Yellow WarBonnet! The photo is of #18 TMCC AA set with added B unit from the Lionel 2004 catalog. It's pulling the Semi Scale Chief set of passenger cars.

This Santa Fe WarBonnet paint scheme caboose was made by Lionel for LOTS. I purchased it from a LOTS member. The interior is complete with cabinets and tables.

Semi Scale Chief Dome Car. I added figures in all the passenger cars. I even have a guy sitting on the throne in one of the bathrooms! :-) Yes, the figures pants are down around his ankles, and little kids see that and just start laughing out loud! I love it! I'll spare you from a photo of that as it may not be acceptable in this forum.

Here's a couple of Menard's trucks in Santa Fe WarBonnet paint. These are lighted trucks.

Thanks for posting you beautiful pics and videos Guys I am really enjoying them.

Hard not to love a warbonnet scheme.....

I painted this GP9 in the mid 1990's It has TMCC and is a great runner

Loving that Warbonnet paint scheme. I have quite a few Lionel ATSF freight cars, including the ATSF Vision Reefers. I also have a Legacy ATSF B40-8W in the Warbonnet livery. Santa Fe all the way!

Here is Marx's interpretation of the F-3 War Bonnet scheme.  The #21 lithographed diesel is about the most elaborate diesel Marx made, certainly in tinplate.

Don

Good Morning Santa Fe fans. It’s that time again so let’s see your Santa Fe stuff. I just finished this Lionel Alco FA yesterday and the Piggyback was finished last weekend for my Santa Fe project I’m working on.

Rusty

Is it Sunday already?

@RSJB18 posted:

Is it Sunday already?

Yes it is Bob and that’s a nice group pic you have there. Thanks for sharing.

Modified Ce-1

Q-LANY rushes east with “A-B-A” power:

RM

My SANTA FE SECTION A MIXTURE OF LOTS, LIONEL, K-LINE and MENARD'S 

GG1GUYY

@lee drennen : Lee really neat Alco freight cab unit...I saw on another thread how you made this one and it looks great. Fabulous pictures everyone, GG1Guy that is quite a display ... but where are the GG1's??

Here are a couple of Santa Fe switchers for you all:

Here is the Marx 1998  Alco S3 switcher made between 1955 and 1962 in two color schemes.  First the more common maroon and yellow, shown here with a MOPAC (note lee!) cattle car and an empty auto rack.

Here is the same locomotive in the much less common but likely more prototypical black and white livery.

@Don McErlean posted:

. Fabulous pictures everyone, GG1Guy that is quite a display ... but where are the GG1's??

Not quite on topic for this thread, but the GG1s?

Here:

Here:

Here:

Here:

Not pictured are my Vision Line 4877 and Weaver PC version.

Forgot the HO and N ones too:

Back on topic with some more ATSF with 3rd Rail E6s:

Short Sante Fe train.

The "Chief" boards passengers at the North Main Street station, while the seated passenger(s) get a complimentary view of the Friday night car show on North Main...

The short and long version of Santa Fe trailers on flat cars.

GG14877...WOW!! You weren't kidding, that is some collection of GG1's.  I rode behind the G's when the corridor was still PRR.  I rode from New Brunswick to Newark NJ weekends to go home from college.  An hr to 90 minute drive was a scheduled 17 minutes behind a G...and when we loaded in New Brunswick, we loaded in the forward cars, usually coaches although they were still served by Pullman porters, but when we took off the acceleration was unbelievable.  We were doing 100 mph before the last car cleared the platform!

Thanks for showing me your collection

Don

Back to Santa Fe...

@Don McErlean posted:

GG14877...WOW!! You weren't kidding, that is some collection of GG1's.  I rode behind the G's when the corridor was still PRR.  I rode from New Brunswick to Newark NJ weekends to go home from college.  An hr to 90 minute drive was a scheduled 17 minutes behind a G...and when we loaded in New Brunswick, we loaded in the forward cars, usually coaches although they were still served by Pullman porters, but when we took off the acceleration was unbelievable.  We were doing 100 mph before the last car cleared the platform!

Thanks for showing me your collection

Don

Don,

My first GG1 experience was in 1975 when I was 6.  My family took a CNJ train up the Jersey Coast Line which terminated in Penn Station, Newark under what I later learned was the Aldene plan.  I have always been a railfan since I remember which goes back to my first train memory of riding the Strasburg when I was about 3.  My dad, being a railfan just like my grandfather pointed to the Clocker that pulled into the train shed at Newark while we were waiting and said, "that's a GG1!".  It scared me and thrilled me at the same time.  I have been a fan ever since.  Later as a teen my father took me and a friend of mine to ride the last ride of the GG1 in 1983 behind GG1 4877.  My future two rail layout that is designed in my head if not on paper yet is all PRR and CNJ.

One might ask, why Santa Fe?  When I moved to Arizona in 1992 I was still a die-hard PRR fan.  It took all the way until 2014 before I finally came around as a "Westerner" to finally appreciate what an amazing operation the Santa Fe was.  PRR trains were worn out and dirty.  Deferred maintenance ruled the road from the mid 50's on.  Penn Central was a disaster.  Meanwhile, Santa Fe was still providing first class service on a daily basis between Chicago and points west.  What finally got me hooked was when I was working on the 3rd Rail FT project.  No eastern roads I modeled purchased the FT.  As a matter of course, I like to have at least one example of each project I work on as part of my portfolio.  The original cream yellow cat whisker scheme was really attractive, so I got an ABBA set.  I was sold.  Since then, I still get a 3rd rail PRR locomotive in 2 rail when it is available, but often get a 3 rail ATSF locomotive to go with it.  The rest is history as you might say.

Here is a poor set of photos of that FT set that got me hooked on the Santa Fe.  Pardon my wordiness, when I get passionate on a subject the drivel flows!

And a video of an AB set pulling 50 cars on the Paradise and Pacific in Scottsdale:

Going through my collection in more detail and ran across more photos.

In what could be the worst example of a Santa Fe Locomotive ever is this Model Power HO E7 that was built by Roco.  Not a bad example of an E7, but a really poor execution of the Warbonnet on a locomotive the Santa Fe never purchased.  They settled on 4 axle units after the war due to grades and the only reason they ended up with E8s was that they were remanufactured from the original E1s to serve the Chicago to Texas routes that were relatively flat grades.

While K-Line calls this an F7B, it is really a Phase IV F3B.  The tell is the slotted vents where a fan would occur on an F7. 

Yes, I too have a Menards FP7 which was never rostered by the Santa Fe.  As a beta tester my unit came with many problems that I won't get into here.  I'll simply state that I have replacement parts to upgrade this and will add some details for a post 1955 Santa Fe diesel to make it a good working part of my Santa Fe collection.  It will pair nicely with my F3B.

A few cars currently in the box, but I sure do love Atlas cars.  Plug door boxcar and a covered hopper.

GG14877  Thanks for your story, I love the background and the beautiful pictures of the locomotives.  One more PRR and GG1 story.  In the late 50's Dad took be to the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia.  Believe it or not, the Army-Navy game was the PRR largest single day passenger movement schedule in the year.  When we left the stadium, the PRR had taken over the adjacent freight yards and all the trains were lined up...parallel to each other like one of your pictures.  The trains had big signs in the front, like "Newark", "Washington DC" etc.  You walked out got on your train and soon you were on your way home.  It was an incredible experience.

Don

A day late, but how many videos do you want?

Photos taken by me in Santa Fe and ABQ, NM on May 2018.  That cantilever in ABQ once held one of AT&SF's home-spun "TRAIN" signs.

Added this box car to the fleet this week.

HAVE THIS WITH MY SANTA FE 208 ALCOS

GG1GUYY

A "stand in" model for one of the ex-NYC 2-8-0's that the Santa Fe inherited when they bought up the Kansas City, New Mexico & Orient in 1929:

Rusty

When traveling through the rugged country near Raton on the ATSF you come across this -- and it comes up very quickly.  So much so that it took several trips on the Southwest Chief over, a period of years, before I nailed the shot.  (It also helped that the train seemed to be moving quite a bit more slowly than normal as we came through on the lucky pass-by.)

Mike

@RSJB18 posted:

Added this box car to the fleet this week.

Bob a very nice addition I may have to find me one now.

It’s that time again Santa Fe Sunday. I see the early risers have already posted thanks for kicking us off you pics are beautiful and a nice mixture. I got this in the mail this week and I’m pretty proud of it. Enjoy your weekend

Well "Santa Fe" fans, its that time of the week again, so I am really enjoying your posts and pictures.  Thanks to all who got up early and posted.  Lou1985 great scenes from Santa Fe and Albuquerque (I once served at Kirkland AFB in that town). RSJB18 and GG1Guy great boxcars.  Lee its good to see your #633 again in action...I am one of those folks who just love to see our Pre and Post war toys back in operation and really looking good!

Here is a Santa Fe switcher as interpreted by Mr. Marx, in the same time period as Lee's Lionel #633.  Its a Marx 1998 Alco S3 from 1955-1962.  The consist is some Santa Fe Marx cars that I put together for the picture, they didn't come as an official set.

And here is a "Santa Fe" delivery truck, pulling up to the Marx freight station

Have a great Labor Day everyone.

Don

Here is my offering…..

The PA pulls in...

A pair of Pecos River 50' double door boxcars.  One for road service and the other painted for MOW service.  What is interesting is the MOW painted one is factory painted over the traditional ATSF billboard map paint scheme.  Not sure why, but it is actually very prototypical in that regard as the MOW cars were all repaints over road service paint schemes.

Here are some from my archives (shot at AGHR):

This is one where I changed the cab numbers:

Lionel ABBA ALco PA's from the late 1990s.

MTH RK Scale Yellowbonnets

My contribution - running Lionel’s LionChief Super Chief set and the Lionel 120th F3 Deluxe LionChief+ 2.0 set together on my 4x8 layout.

@GG1 4877 posted:

Not quite on topic for this thread, but the GG1s?

Here:

Here:

Here:

Here:

Not pictured are my Vision Line 4877 and Weaver PC version.

Forgot the HO and N ones too:

Back on topic with some more ATSF with 3rd Rail E6s:

All that SF stuff sure clashes with that PRR stuff. I would sure be happy to take some of that 3rd Rail SF stuff of your hands.

@AGHRMatt posted:

This is one where I changed the cab numbers:

Matt who made these units? I need some of these.

@Shawn_Chronister posted:

Matt who made these units? I need some of these.

They're from MTH and are Proto-2 (3v). Bought them back in 2009. They were offered in hi-rail or with scale wheels. Both the hi-rail and scale-wheel units can be operated on 3-rail or 2-rail mode. The later Proto-3 releases were not polarity-dependent, plus had DCC-compatibility as well as DCS and conventional (AC or DC). Unit 6609 was a duplicate 6608 that I was able to grab off eBay (the scale-wheel units sold out fast). They're still showing up occasionally in the secondary market and my understanding is that Atlas did NOT buy the U25 tooling from MTH. I'm hoping that the MTH successor will continue to produce these down the road.

@AGHRMatt posted:

They're from MTH and are Proto-2 (3v). Bought them back in 2009. They were offered in hi-rail or with scale wheels. Both the hi-rail and scale-wheel units can be operated on 3-rail or 2-rail mode. The later Proto-3 releases were not polarity-dependent, plus had DCC-compatibility as well as DCS and conventional (AC or DC). Unit 6609 was a duplicate 6608 that I was able to grab off eBay (the scale-wheel units sold out fast). They're still showing up occasionally in the secondary market and my understanding is that Atlas did NOT buy the U25 tooling from MTH. I'm hoping that the MTH successor will continue to produce these down the road.

Thanks I must have missed them. I am not impressed with Atlas as of yet they have the opportunity to take the 3-2 forward but yet choose to sit on their hands. I love the fixed pilots and kadees and am going to go broke trying to get the all those offering through 3rd rail since they are the only ones left doing it right now.

@Shawn_Chronister posted:

Thanks I must have missed them. I am not impressed with Atlas as of yet they have the opportunity to take the 3-2 forward but yet choose to sit on their hands. I love the fixed pilots and kadees and am going to go broke trying to get the all those offering through 3rd rail since they are the only ones left doing it right now.

Yeah. The last MTH engines I bought were the BNSF [so-called] Heritage units with scale wheels. I think I'm pretty much done buying engines at this point -- at least until things shake out.

@Patrick Downing posted:

My contribution - running Lionel’s LionChief Super Chief set and the Lionel 120th F3 Deluxe LionChief+ 2.0 set together on my 4x8 layout.

Patrick. Nice video your background is very convincing and I like that Santa Fe Stock Car. Thanks for sharing

@Shawn_Chronister posted:

All that SF stuff sure clashes with that PRR stuff. I would sure be happy to take some of that 3rd Rail SF stuff of your hands.

I am planning a BIG layout one day where I can model both the PRR and the Santa Fe from NYC to Los Angeles via Chicago.

@GG1 4877 posted:

I am planning a BIG layout one day where I can model both the PRR and the Santa Fe from NYC to Los Angeles via Chicago.

Jonathan,  How about a half mile square piece of property in Kerr County, Texas?  Seldom rains and has a nice gulley for an eye catching trestle.  Stainless steel track would be ideal for an out of doors layout.  You could model the Horse Shoe Curve, simulate switching to Dearborn Street Station and across the Great Plains.  John

@rattler21 posted:

Jonathan,  How about a half mile square piece of property in Kerr County, Texas?  Seldom rains and has a nice gulley for an eye catching trestle.  Stainless steel track would be ideal for an out of doors layout.  You could model the Horse Shoe Curve, simulate switching to Dearborn Street Station and across the Great Plains.  John

Based on a quick calculation the amount of land I would need would be 61.46 miles to do it to scale.  It is about 2950 miles by train which is the equivalent of 15,576,000 feet divided by 48 to equal 324,500 feet.  Divide that by 5280 feet to the mile.   

I think I am better off selling everything and buying a 1:1 short line.

Going through more boxes of trains and came across my recent acquisition of an era appropriate ATSF steel caboose for my FT set and a Lionel Railsounds boxcar.  RLS2 only so not quite the same in today's era of super bass, but it is a nicely decorated car. I might gut the sounds just to have a nice boxcar to run and put them in a locomotive.

61.6 miles, why son, you could just move here to Texas and set up in the back yard!  (have to mind the cows though)

  Don

Howdy folks, gonna try and embed a YouTube video here. This is my Santa Fe Sunday entry, Santa Fe Chief with F3 WarBonnet ABA and semi scale Chief passenger cars. Enjoy, I hope!

Love my Santa Fe...

In the Caprock, TX yards an Alco S2 tacks a dangerous load onto a local switcher. 

The Q.A.&P. GP9 has wandered past the Floydada gateway and onto AT&SF territory.   

J.T. Campbell, RFE is a pilot for the Q.A.&P. crew.

Santa Fe 0-6-0 shoving a few cars.

Rob. Thanks for kicking us off this morning. Nice video and layout

Happy SFS. Everyone I am lazy this weekend as for as the layout. Today we are dropping off a Santa Fe Plug Door at the C.E.S. Warehouse. Enjoy your Sunday.

@RSJB18 posted:

Santa Fe 0-6-0 shoving a few cars.

Bob nice overview  of your layout

@lee drennen posted:

Bob nice overview  of your layout

Thanks Lee. Making the most of the available real estate

Bob

Santa Fe/JB Hunt Quantum Service trailer, circa 1991. This is an MTH 48’ trailer repainted.

RM

I know I've posted this in other threads before...  But hey, it's Sunday and Santa Fe:

Rusty

@Rusty Traque posted:

I know I've posted this in other threads before...  But hey, it's Sunday and Santa Fe:

Rusty

Post as many times as you like Rusty we enjoy looking at your stuff

These are scans of newspaper clippings from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal newspaper (date forgotten).  This steam locomotive was moved to display in Slaton, TX.

Enjoy your Santa Fe Sunday !

All I have for now! LOL

@mike g. posted:

All I have for now! LOL

Mike, Menards $20.00 freight cars, can't go too wrong with that! I too have a similar WarBonnet boxcar from Menards, different road number though. Also in the photo below with the WarBonnet is a Chief boxcar with graffiti. I have a bushel of Lionel metal sprung freight trucks, so I replaced the Menards trucks with the Lionel on these two units.

Happy Santa Fe Sunday!

Here’s a Custom Lionel FA I painted and decaled recently.

FOR SANTA FE SUNDAY:  The Lionel 2065 Santa Fe style Hudson pulling Santa Fe streamlined passenger cars.  I received the Hudson with a freight set for Christmas when I was 4 years old.  I purchased the passenger cars with allowance and grass cutting money when I was in 6th grade.  

Lionel Santa Fe FA 2 I received for Christmas when I was in 5th grade.  The set of diesels came as an AA set with one powered unit and the other a dummy.  This engine was never a great puller, however at the time all that mattered to me was that it looked cool with the warbonnet scheme ... and that it could handle those 3 passenger cars in fast fashion!  LOL!

Lionel LionChief Plus 2.0 0-6-0T Docksider, Santa Fe No. 95

@Lou1985 posted:

A day late, but how many videos do you want?

HOLY  SMOKE OUT .   NICE  LOU ...........   DON'T  KNOW  HOW   I  MISSED THESE BEFORE  !?

It is 7:00 pm in Floydada, TX and SL-SF locomotive #5010 has arrived ON TIME with QLA. The train will continue west to Plainview and Amarillo, TX on Uncle John Santa Fe with an ultimate destination of Los Angeles.  #5010 will depart Floydada with eastbound CTB (California Tulsa Birmingham) at 8:00pm to return to Quanah, TX and hand off to parent company Frisco at 10:45pm.  #5034 will depart with eastbound 3310 at 11:30pm.

St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Co system timetable No. 1 effective Sunday, October 17, 1971 at 12:01am CST

photo credit: Robert R Leese

Rusty

An addition of some new cars to near completion on my "Fast Mail".  GGD 80' coaches, RPO and an MTH 72' baggage. 

A little early Sunday morning get together at the "Charles Street Yard"...the general foreman is wondering what was going on there Saturday night

The Fast Mail Express, lead by Hudson 3463, heads west.

Meanwhile El Capitan, leas by DL109 number 50, heads east.

AT&SF #7 behind my favorite 4-8-4. 

...and a question @Number 90.  Did #7-8 ever have a streamlined rider coach?

Rusty

Hello Santa Fe fans, hope your Halloween Sunday is going well and your candy box is all prepared for the little guys in costume tonight!  Rusty that is some long and beautiful train...I enjoyed seeing all the passenger and mail/baggage cars.  Rusty, never get tired or seeing the real thing...thanks!  Well my offering on this SFSun is very humble.  This little guy only made one very modest but highly collectable appearance.  He was part of the 1963 "Libbys" set which is a rarity in itself.  I have parts of it, but am still looking for the Libby's vat car.

Here he is, a simple one color heat stamp on grey plastic, built 1963, the Lionel ATSF #6076 Hopper Car.  A very inexpensive car, one bay, never offered with a load, no color,  fully plastic including the trucks and couplers.  Things were definitely winding down for Lionel by 1963.

Here is the logo end, proving his heritage as ATSF !!

Here is the end view.

Best Halloween Wishes to All.

Regards

Don

To all: In my above message I made a mistake, the long train was posted by Rob Lees and not Rusty who posted the actual picture of a Santa Fe warbonnet engine.  Rob, sorry for the typo

Respectfully

Don

A B & W night shot at the "Charles Street Yard!" 

Williams by Bachman Santa Fe cop and hobo gondola.

Happy Halloween!

@Rob Leese posted:

AT&SF #7 behind my favorite 4-8-4.

...and a question @Number 90.  Did #7-8 ever have a streamlined rider coach?

Nice train, Rob.

Trains 7 and 8 the Fast Mail and Express, never had a lightweight chair car or combine assigned, although I feel certain that one was used on a few occasions when the regular rider car was unavailable.  

The 7 and 8 of the 1960's used a heavyweight combine with air conditioning and plush reclining seats, or an air conditioned chair car with the same type of seats.  The combine was the "regular" rider car, but the train frequently ran in sections and so heavyweight chair cars caused no increase in the heart rate of any observers.

In an unusual act of bad timing, Santa Fe bought a number of new Budd RPO cars and rebuilt the rider combines used on the mail train, just a few years before the Post Office cancelled the contract that provided the reason for running this train.

Maybe we ought to become organized in petitioning Sunset/3rd Rail for Santa Fe heavyweight chair cars and the rider combine.

The afternoon Caprock switcher picks up a new Lone Star Hi Railers covered hopper on the team track.

Here are a couple from the Archives (I'm finalizing a couple of designs and hope to start the home layout build after Christmas):

Post War Santa Fe F-3s

F-3s leaving the city with a passenger train.

The Super Chief passing the harbor.

Hello, Santa Fe enthusiasts! A lot of great-looking photos and videos this Halloween evening. To keep the ball rolling, here is my contribution.

My meager contribution…Both MTH products…

Tom

A couple of My USA Trains ABA with a Lionel 2343 for size comparison

May have shown this elsewhere, but it's Santa FE sunday.

@AGHRMatt posted:

Here are a couple from the Archives (I'm finalizing a couple of designs and hope to start the home layout build after Christmas):

Nice videos Matt. 👍

I liked how the rock strata was shaped in the beginning of the first video.    It seems to follow the curvature of the hillside.     I noticed that when traveling through parts of Pa. where the highways were cut through the mountains.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Nice videos Matt. 👍

I liked how the rock strata was shaped in the beginning of the first video.    It seems to follow the curvature of the hillside.     I noticed that when traveling through parts of Pa. where the highways were cut through the mountains.

Thanks. It gets tricky sometimes when you plan out the track, then try to build up the back scenery as if it was there before the track was cut in. I'm going to try something similar when I do my build at home.

Great looking stuff

I shot this yesterday

Erik, You have skills and talent far beyond the rest of us.  Thanks for sharing another fantastic O scale photo.

This is an MTH car modified with an end gate and rear end marker.

A couple of F units waiting to go to work.

Hey good morning guys!

Wintery skies and cold November temperatures cool the heels on this crack Santa Fe train in western Kansas in O scale.

How about a Summer 1948 consist of The Chief

Eric, realistic setting...nothing like "The Chief" rounding the bend.  The clacking of the rails sounded like the real thing, and the '48 consist is hard to beat!

Hello Santa Fe fans, great pictures this week thank you all for sharing. Eric your outdoor (or seemingly outdoor) photos are amazing.  I really can't tell if they are "real" or a model scene.  Fantastic.  My offering today is from one of my favorite vendors, Mr. Louis Marx.  It's 1955 and Marx is trying to keep pace with the increased realism of the hobby.  He introduces his "1998" type Alco S-3 switcher with a very interesting engineering innovation.  The switcher looks like its has two 4 wheel trucks but in reality the center two wheels are Marx's old stand-by 4 wheel motor.  The two front and two rear wheels and truck frames are fake, cleverly attached to resemble an 8 wheel switcher.  This does 2 things for Marx :  1) it keeps cost down as it allows re-use of his well designed and reliable motor and 2) it gives him a competitive locomotive as the hobby moves forward into greater realism.   Its really an example of Marx's highly cost conscious engineering.

Here he is, the Marx 1998, Santa Fe Alco S-3 switcher and matching caboose from 1955-1962.

Best wishes everyone, may you have a blessed week

Don

My contributions for the week: Lionel LionChief Plus GP38, No. 3441, and Lionel LionChief Plus 2.0 F3 Diesels (from the 120th Anniversary set), Nos. 2353 and 2333.

Santa Fe Sunday Freight. Seems I still have some work to do on the layout expansion.