Southern RR Fans- PHOTOS

Not sure what happened but at one point there was hilarious thread from MartyE about who's from Ceti Alpha V. That may have had something to do with it.

Let's keep it 'sane' and post some good photos of your SR equipment..
Forum member Bruce Clouette painted this new Weaver baggage car for us and is working on a matching MTH Express Mail car to go with it. He is one of the many talented fellas here on the Forum!

With all the snow we have since Christmas it's refreshing to remember some leaves!

C. Sam,

Who makes the Crescent Limited pacific in your photo?

Nice photos Sam, love the Southern even though i don't own any but like to look at it. The only other RR other then my Pennsylvania on my layout is the Texas special. Just no room for other road names.

Dave

Everything is packed away and too hard to get out,but I have one photo on the computer. [IMG][/IMG]

Another photo found. [IMG][/IMG]

quote:

Posted January 21, 2011 02:06 PM Hide Post
C. Sam,

Who makes the Crescent Limited pacific in your photo?

That's the MTH model from 2003 or so. Of the three Premiere MTH steamers we have, this one has the best whistle - sounds rich and full, quite unlike the ones in the other two 'big' steamers...

Johnny, that's an interesting Hudson - have never seen that one before!

My "Rolling Thunder" s&n print by Jim Booth of Southern steam at the Charleston,SC passenger station. [IMG][/IMG]

New to me Weaver SRR E-8 units.

Dave & SIRT, you guys do amazing work here! What age fellas are you may I ask? Its quite encouraging to see such talented younger guys active in the hobby...

I agree. Dave and SIRT, awesome work!

Nice photos guys.
Pretty as it gets--The Crescent Limited's #1396 poised in rural Mebane[Lionel's version of the Ps-4??].
The Depot and Section Car Shed---so typical of the creative hand of Vulcan.

Here are my two photos.
Three of my favorite engines.



Working on a Southern RPO conversion.

here are some more southern photos!!!!









................rogerw.

sirt, which manufacturer made your southern boxcars????................rogerw.

Great Pictures Guy's I'll have to post my picture later

thanks sirt!!!! rogerw.

This one is on order


I wish Williams had gone with this Logo


The trains are (or will be) mine the photos were just grabbed off the web at random.

I like the black locomotives best. I do like the Ps-4 pacific in green though.

RogerW's photo

Neal Jeter

lionlman! i love your southern photos!!!!!!..............rogerw.

hey southern fans! check out c.sam's photo in ctt's march 2011 issue......rogerw.

these are NOT my photos. look at the detail of this engine. i don't think it's o scale......check them out!!!



............rogerw.

Great photos Neal.

quote:

Originally posted by Dewey Trogdon:
Nice photos guys.
Pretty as it gets--The Crescent Limited's #1396 poised in rural Mebane[Lionel's version of the Ps-4??].
The Depot and Section Car Shed---so typical of the creative hand of Vulcan.

It's K-line, Dewey. Semi-Scale.

Roger I hope that how my Weavers E8's will look like after my detail project is completed.

s.r. sean, when you get them done, i would like to be the first one to view them!!.............rogerw.

i just found out that this engine is "O" scale!!!...........rogerw.

Vulcan
Both K-Line and Lionel painted their Southern Ps-4s with an accurate green cab roof. Although I guessed wrong between K or L, I knew it was not an MTH version which had incorrect red cab roofs. One exception is my MTH #1396 which was sent to me with a correct green cab roof as a result of some research work I did for them in the early days.

I have a SRR protoype question.
Anyone have any more photos or information about R-3 Rail Wear test Car?

A shot of the train car behind it would be great. If anyone knows the make/ model /year of the truck that would be great too.

It looks to me that the truck is connected to the train car by wire but not actually coupled together. Any one know for sure?
Thanks

Oh these were great looking engines to model,but I've ran this one and it was horrible Loud as I'll get out

I had the NS 5035 (former Southern)on the head of 150 loads of coal this past Friday.There was a former N&W SD-40-2 6100 behind it.The 5035 almost got me standed on the mainline.It kept kicking the governor button and the low water button.
Problem ended up being air built up in the low water button box.I bleed the air out and off we went.
So the ole girls keep marching on making money for the NS.

The Southern Railway R3 Rail test car truck is a mercedes benz. I know the truck a late 60's model I think it might be a D series.

Thanks for all the Southern/NS photos guys.

Ater looking for my files I had backuped to my portable harddrive I can now add my photo's to the thread so enjoy!!


K-Line Southern 4501 Storms into Mossville (Jerry Moss Layout)


4501 Loads her tender with coal to ready heeself for a full day of Steam Excursions


4501 arounds an s curve as she passes on a photo runbye at the Mossville Depot


Southern Quarter Master job from Huntersville arrives in Charlotte yard with the Traveling Box car.


Quarter Master Job pulls into the lead track at Charlotte


The Southern Crescent Limited and the Carolina Special wait there turn to depart Southbound from Charlotte.



lionel Southern Ps-4 #1396



Lionel Southern Ts-1 #1491


Southern Ps-4 and Ts-1 eyeball a stranger in there group as A.T.S.F. Hudson #3447 pay a visit into town. This is my Dad Santa Fe warhorse with Lionel Line Madison Cars.

Thats what I'm talking about!

s.r. sean, i like it!!! great photos!!!!...............rogerw.

s.r.sean, i wish that i could find another southern switch tower!............rogerw.

I'll have to post an all Southern Steam line up with my Lionel Southern Ps-4 #1396 and #1403,Weaver Ps-4 #1380, Lionel Ts-1 #1491, Lionel As-10 #6536,K-Line #4501 and MTH Kanawha #2716. I'm in the hunt for MTH Royal Hudson #2839 when I get my bonus to be a birthday present to myself in April.

hey sean! don't for get to add some "stinkin' diesels" ( dewey )............rogerw

Roger,
I can't beleive you don't have a Southen Switch tower.
I know the Southern had one in Atlanta at Terminal Station but I wasn't based on the MTH version.
I'm looking to get a my hands on a Weaver Watchman tower since there was one here in Charlotte at the old Southern Railway station. I think I'm going to change my mind and buy that MTH Southern Office building if I can find one.

s.r. sean, i do have a southern switch tower! i just wanted another one!!! i think the train loft in winston-salem still has some southern office buildings left..................rogerw.

Thanks Roger,
I'll have to post my Stinking Diesel line up later!!

Great pics guys. Can't wait to see more of your lineup.

Finally had time to take some pics:
My first O gauge engine,Railking 4-6-2 Pacific


Railking Scale H-24-66 pwr/dmy



Railking (not scale) PAs



And here is an MU for Allen

southern mike!!! great pictures!!!...............rogerw.

here is a picture of my mth-premier southern alco pa's...........rogerw.

Roger what P.S.A are used for your PA-3 and E8'S. Wondering if they are using stations named on the Piedmont Division.

s.r. sean, both of my E-8 southern crescent aba's announces stations that are on the piedmont division (washington-atlanta including greensboro and charlotte). my alco pa p.s.a announcements are for the ponce deleon station stops. my E-6 p.s.a station stops are for the tennessean and my southern F-3 had freight sounds but i changed the soundset for p.s.a. sounds. the p.s.a. station stops are for the "southerner" station stops..................rogerw.

Williams custom painted U33C with high hood added



Williams custom painted SD-45 with high hood added



MTH custom painted GP-30 with high hood added



I have had the U33C and GP-30 converted to TMCC with Railsounds.

Neal Jeter

Very nice conversions, Neal!

great pictures lionlman!!!............rogerw.

Revenue on the SRR.. Hauling people and pulpwood

The Trainmaster is a Williams cab with stripes added while the GP7 is an old postwar Lionel that was custom painted many years ago. Both units are on newer TMCC chassis.

C.Sam:

Did you weatherize the pulpwood load? It looks better than what the car came with originally.

Neal Jeter

c.sam great pictures!!! keeep them coming!!!...........rogerw.

Yes I did Lionelman - have three of 'em and each came out different! I plan to redo the one to the rear as I didn't put a thin black wash over it as I did the other two.
Thanks for the nice comments!

quote:

Originally posted by c.sam:
Let's keep it 'sane' and post some good photos of your SR equipment..
Forum member Bruce Clouette painted this new Weaver baggage car for us and is working on a matching MTH Express Mail car to go with it. He is one of the many talented fellas here on the Forum!

Where did Bruce get the decals for this car? I have a unlettered green Weaver RPO that I want to letter Southern (the later block version, not serifed).

Thanks,

If those decals are champs good luck in finding some. Those are some of the hardest decals to find!

The smallest Southern engine!


Ron

Jeff:

Nice work on the RPO!

Neal Jeter

Thanks Neal.

Jeff,

Were those Champ decals or another manufacturer?

Decals were done by Eric Etheridge.

Just released MTH Southern Railway mint car





Industrail Southern hopper



Weaver Southern Railbox



Berkshire Valley Southern kaolin boxcar



Berkshire Valley Southern Food Loading boxcar



Brother Love custom Southern four window caboose



Neal Jeter

My Southern Crescent Limited "Pacific" and steel caboose.

Nice engine Harleyhouse, how do you like her. Nick

Query for you Southern RR guys,

Was 1380 the only streamlined 4-6-2 Southern had?

The reason I ask is I have a drawing by E.H. "Ted" Lannom (Nashville Toy Museum) that was given to me by an old family acquaintance who got it from Ted as a gift.

It's a nice drawing, but the number he used on the engine is 1338. Was 1338 streamlined or did he make use of his artistic license when drawing?

Southern #1338 was a Pacific Ps-2 class bought new from Baldwin in 1913 and retired and scrapped in 1947. It was never streamlined.It operated in workhorse locomotive black decoration for its entire career.

Thanks Dewey! It's a shame he got that wrong (accident or intentional???) cause the drawing is very nice.

I would say it's hard to confuse 1380 with 1338 since 1380 was a Ps-4 and 1338 was a Ps-2. speaking of which 1380 was done in O scale by Weavers Model and as of today no manufacture has ever made a Southern Ps-2.
And for those of us that's into real steam Southern 630 will be back on the rails in the spring of this year. 4501 is still under going work to get her ready and should be back on the rails in the summer.

I hope I will also be back on the rails by this Summer Sean. Rust-painting railsides with a brush and then I have to ballast and do some sort of groundcover.
I know about the $200 "Ballast King" but even if available free it wouldn't help much since over half of my layout is Yard with clusters of turnouts plus crossovers on the dual mainlines.
The Southern, N&W and A&Y trains ain't running and I work sloo..oowww!

I like this one.The 3800 and 3900 GE 4 axles really weren't for the main line's like the NS tried to run'em,but they were neat looking units.
They rode horrible,but I did manage to pull 169 loads of coal with a 3800 and a 3900 once.Didn't break any land speed records,but it did alright.

Great looking model.What did you use to make the 3800 ?

Atlas Beauty:

Collin:

The U33C started out as a Milwaukee Road from Williams. I cut off the short low hood and built up the sides with styrene. I then glued the short hood onto the styrene sides so that it would be flush with the top of the cab. Then I repainted it and used Microscale O scale decals for the lettering. I also had it converted to TMCC with Railsounds.

Neal Jeter

The real NS 2215 is now at Portsmouth,Ohio being used as the car shop yard jobs unit

Well I was going to post some photo's of my Diesel motive power but my portable hard drive crashed and I lost all my pictures so here some Real Southern motive power instead.

Southern GP30 at Spencer Shops

Southern GP49 parked at the backshop at Spencer

Southern FP-7A at Spencer,NC

Southern FP7 and Southern E8 on a passenger train at Spencer Shops

Southern FP7 and E8 leads a passenger train pass the roundhouse turntable.

Southern GP38's at the Charlotte Fuel Racks

Southern GP38-2 Up close.

hey sean! love those southern photos!!!..................rogerw.

The streamlined 1380 was made by Weaver in 1996. I had it converted to TMCC with Railsounds.



Neal Jeter

I did the same upgrade with my Ps-4 "Tennessean" Neal. I bought a second one from "Purple Papa" in Conway, S.C. but ended up selling it to SRR Sean

I'm planning to send my Ps-4 to Weaver and have TMCC,Turbo Smoke and Cruise Control installed soon.

Sean, why not upgrade to PS2? When I purchased my 1380 the dealer also had one that was upgraded to PS2 but promised to another customer. I have a few extra PS2 kits one of which is earmarked for this engine. MTH has a sound file albeit maybe slightly off in speed and sound but does reference the "Tennessean."

Ron

Ron,
I didn't know that MTH has a sound file for the Southern Ps-4 1380. Since MTH hasn't made this locomotive in O scale unless they're planning to release this enging in the near future.
I feel with the Locomotive being Weaver and Weaver doing the upgrade I shouldn't have any issuse. My only thing is the sound on MTH PS isn't as robust as the sounds from Railsounds.

Sean, as I said the speed and sound maybe off a little. The file is for a RK N&W "J" engine. Recall that Southern and N&W handed off the "Tennessean" to each other.

Ron

Ron,
Since I'm modeling and basing my motive power and passenger trains to the Southern Piedmont Division having the sound set for the Tennessean will not be that important to me. 1380 was placed in the general steam pool and spent the last few years running from Spencer to Washington, D.C and from Spencer to Greenville,SC. but thanks for the tip.

Hey Guys, of the three MTH steamers in our roster, the Southern PS4 has the best sound. Nice robust whistle. Mentions New Orleans in the PSA.
The others are the beautiful PRR T-1 which is 'lackluster' and the mighty Santa Fe Northern which has the absolute worst whistle I've ever heard - its a whimp!


The last few posts have been bereft of photos so here are couple more to brighten up the thread.


The handsome 2356 F3s and my painting of the same from the 1954 Lionel catalog

The announcer on the Lionel StationSounds diner for the Crescent Limited has a cajun accent.

Neal Jeter

quote:

The announcer on the Lionel Railsounds diner for the Crescent Limited has a cajun accent.

I'd certainly like to hear that Neal! The true Cajun accent is quite interesting and melodic. I attended college in Lafayette, La and got to know quite a few of them. They are one of the nicest 'ethnic' groups you will meet! And talk about cook? Ya cher, dey know how to cook.
In fact there is a joke that asks "What is the difference between a zoo where YOU live and a zoo in south Louisiana?
The answer is that your zoo has a plaque on the cage with the common name of the occupant as well as the Latin name. Down dere its almost the same with the plaque listing the common and Latin names plus the addition of a recipe - a Cajun will cook anything! and it will taste great!

Here is our sleek Southern E6 'Tennessean' alongside her 'common' freight sister

Anybody have the MTH Southern SD-45? Sorry Dewey!

I guess I better charge-up my digital camera and take an up-to-date photo of my Southern Rwy. motive power display case. It doesn't hold everything, but has a variety of some 10 Southern locomotives (all MTH PS2).

hey sean! it's a good thing that you apologized, you know that dewey hates those "stinkin' diesels!!". i haven't purchased mth's southern sd-45 yet, but i plan to in the near future. i had to make a choice whether i would purchase either the sd-45 southern or the southern heritage sd70-ace. i chose the sd70-ace instead..............rogerw.

Sean:

I have them and they are nice engines.



Neal Jeter

here are some pictures of my southern sd-35 and gp-35 grain train..............rogerw

I was wrong.It's the 2415 in Portsmouth Yard

Awesome photos guys!!

I have a lionel southern diesel from a starter set.Nothing fancy about it at all.

Its like the William's brand.It runs and runs and runs with no problem.

And its really nice to look at.

Neal,
That SD45 is Awesome!!! Think I'm going to see if Little Choo Choo has one in stock.
Roger,
I have to come up and see your layout I've been dying to run some trains!

hey sean! just call me or send me an e-mail when you're ready to come to winston-salem..................rogerw.

OH NO!!!! Car numbers in the wrong place! Lesson learned! Will post an updated photo when I fix it.

Has anyone else seen this from the MTH 2011 RTR catalog?



The catalog states "Southern" Operating Watchman's Shanty 30-9173.

Ron

I hadn't seen that Ron--not bad but could stand a little weathering and Dullcote for my taste.

Hi Roger
Man that is some nice railroad empire you have even if there aren't any real locomotives on it. How did I miss seeing that operation when I was in your basement for the first "Module Meeting"?

When the high oil prices render all your pretty and fragrant diesels non-competitive in freight hauling and they are parked on the dead track; I will be glad to lease you some SRR and N&W coal-burning workhorse steam to move the goods[the oats, barley,corn,etc]----at a friendly, fair price of course. Cabooses come with them at a discounted rate.

I notice that your rails are so new that they haven't rusted yet and when SRR Sean comes to visit put him to work ballasting. All your work heading up the Module Group is no excuse for having "naked cross ties"!

hey dewey! you just won't cut me any breaks!!! i would've responded to you earlier, but i was at the train loft today in jeff's place. i'll be at the train loft all of next week in place for jeff. he is on vacation next week. the reason why you missed all of my "empire" is because you were looking for some outdated old steam engines !!! and if SRR Sean comes by to help cover my "naked cross ties", i'll be sure to call you up to come and help!!! .................rogerw.

also, if anyone haven't noticed, in the new mth r-t-r 2011 catalog, there are some southern railroad die-cast buses in the catalog. i plan on buying 2 for my greyhound bus station..................rogerw.

Roger, but the Pennys owned Greyhound at one time!

Ron

hey dewey! the train loft will be opened mon-fri from 2:00p.m. to 5:00p.m. and sat. 10:00a.m. to 5:00p.m. i'm in school from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00p.m. mon-fri. that's why the train loft is opening so late in the day. those hours will only be for next week until jeff gets back from vacation. true, the pennsy did own greyhound at one time, but the pennsy also had those "stinkin' diesels" too!!! ....................rogerw.

Hey Roger,
The next time your in the Train Loft can you check to see if Jeff has any MTH Southern SD45.

Thanks Roger
I'll call up there friday to place an order for the Ticket office and the SD45

K-Line Mikado pulls through Key West Station

That K-line Mike is a good looking model!!

MTH Southern Railway Ticket Office



Neal Jeter

Some caboose (cabooses..cabeese..caboosii? whatever )

A note to Roger, Dewey, & Sean - this is a 'Photo Thread'. You must post photos with your exchanges or face severe disciplinary action!

owwww!!!! ................rogerw.

Sam, does this picture qualify?



Question, what is the irony here??????

Ron

Ron,
For 1 thing the only items the Southern got from the Erie where the Ms-6 class Mikados. I don't think the Southern ever got any baywindows cabooses that way. MTH must have made a serious error so you might have a future collectors item on your hands.

Thanks Dewey.
Couldn't remember if the Southern Eries 2-8-2 where class 6's OR 7''s

David,

This is as MTH shipped it to local train shop. It is as built by the little "girls" across the BIG pond. I do not recall if I have ever taken it out of the box to see if other side bay window is same. As I recall the bay windows are a separate piece, so obviously the Erie one was slipped in in stead of the Southern one.

Back in mid-2007 I was talking through local train shop from O-gauge section to book room. I literally skidded to a stop and backed up. I caught sight of the Southern Caboose with a lightning bolt and word "RADIO"on bay. Without seeing the Erie diamond I knew this was something Erie. I road the Erie to see the Indians play. Pulled the box off of the shelf asking did anybody notice what was wrong here. No one had yet noticed. The other three or so on shelf were OK. So bought it.

Ron

Before this thread runs out, I thought I'd post a 'tour' taken by the PS4 as she traverses some other unfinished areas of the layout. Departing the Key West Station, she is admired by a couple of ladies at grade-side. Note the nice artwork on the K-Line FEC Reefer


After crossing the long wooden 'Gulf Bridge' she cruises past a control tower heading into the Appalachians


Passing a GP9 and FM Trainmaster, she cuts through the yard


She heads across and towards a bridge crossing a gorge


After reversing her course in a loop, she aims for the mountains before turning south to the water


and steams back the other way


Crossing Key West Causeway, the same gal is awaiting in her classy automobile! Must be a railfan.

c.sam I really like the fall colors on your backdrop. More interesting than the usual "different shades of green" approach.

Nice trip cross-country on the Crescent C.Sam.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the kind comments. Hope to meet you all sometime being that we all live in the same state!

Well since I've been put on notice I'll post some shot of my SD45 when they come in.

C. Sam, SRR Sean,Neal Jeter,Roger Whitsett and the SRR Kudzu Crew:

If I ever again achieve the tolerance and reach the low frustration level required for posting photos it will be akin to handing a unhappy terrorist a loaded automatic weapon! I will post and post and I might even post a picture of two of my Southern diesels--namely both of my green John Deeres fwd tractors.

After locating a friendly host[John Boy} I last posted a few layout photos on Christmas Day. Since then I haven't been able to master the right jpegs or whatever[?] and my pictures won't upload to the host.

Anyway I've got work to do, my little layout is stripped of everything except tools and junk as I continue rust painting rail sides in prep for the thrill of ballasting. Also rehabbing my hinged drop section[Barrett Gate]. It is serving on its third layout and is kinda beat up. Also gonna put some "through plate girder" bridge sides on it---thinking that a "pretend" bridge is better than just a flat plywood & foam right-of-way section.

Joseph at Model Structures made me a diesel fueling tower for my Service Yard in case Roger ever brings any of his "stinking diesels" over for a run. He painted it medium brown, weathered and decaled it with the Southern Ry Herald.
About $60--I like it!

quote:

I guess I better charge-up my digital camera and take an up-to-date photo of my Southern Rwy. motive power display case. It doesn't hold everything, but has a variety of some 10 Southern locomotives (all MTH PS2).

We would certainly like to see your photos Alan!

Dewey, you sent me some photos (via regular mail) when I first started here and if memory serves me correctly, you had a nice set-up which I gather was in Banner Elk. We look forward to some more!

So far, just painting for ourselves. I have dabbled in painting some scenes of trains and images from the Lionel catalogs and elsewhere but have no buyers as yet! I'm still am amateur..




Would consider helping someone paint a backdrop sometime if needed

Does anyone here have the Lionel aluminum 15" Tennessean passenger cars from several years ago? I have these and run them with the post-war 2356 F-3 ABA set. If anyone else is using a similar combination I would love to see some photos (I can't do pics myself unfortunately).

And Sam, I've said it before but I still think that painting is worth serious money. It's that good. Do you have some more of those to show us? What other SR scenes do you think would rate a painting?

Sam,

That's some good artwork you have there!

Here's some photos of that drawing I mentioned of Ted Lannoms:







I have no artistic talent whatsoever (shows in my scenery as well ) but some of you guys really have the knack for sharing.

Recent acquisitions of an MTH dummy Locotrol SD-35 tagged by a Southern “radio-receiving car.” Obviously the RC car is the excellent work of David Friedlander. But I must pop the hood on the SD-35 to boot out that lazy featherbedding crew. Next week there will be a new Locotrol SD-45 on point.



Speaking of featherbedding crews, WHY does MTH have to fill the cabs of dummy units and cabs of trailing “A”-Units???!!!!

Ron

Ron,
It might be possible that the crew is deadheading!!

Like you suggest, it's economies of scale or however the expression goes. That's why crews in dummies. Atlas puts them in theirs too. Another thing they do is to put traction tires on dummies. I don't know if they all do that or not. Seems to me the importers could save money by telling the Chinese makers to skip those, but there must be some reason they don't. IMO the traction tires on dummies are not only a maintenance issue, they also act as a "dynamic brake" of sorts by exerting a slowing influence or drag on curves. Another thing I don't like seeing on dummies is for all the gears to be engaged with each other, for the same reason I don't care for the traction tires.

Anyway, my Southern fleet contains Lionel post war diesels, Lionel scale steam and Atlas modern engines - Southern, C of G and S & A.

Thanks Ginsaw. I would like to offer to paint from anyone's photo of their layout or favorite locomotive if interested. My prices would be most reasonable (before I become famous!) The SOU F3s painting is available.

We now have 4 pages (!) going with this thread. Would indicate that the Southern is alive and well...

I may be biased but all of these pictures with the beautiful Southern engines both steam and diesel are fantastic. Thanks to everybody for posting and keep them coming. I will too when I have a chance. Maybe someone will see these and get curious about the SRR! The more Southern modelers the better!

Jeff

here are some photos of my mth-premier southern abba E-6 diesel engines..........rogerw

Very nice Roger. I was pleasantly surprised to see that your layout looks a whole lot like mine. Mine probably is much smaller however - a medium size 10 x 11. But, I have much the same MTH buildings, much the same looking track plan, the same green surface, I also skipped ballasting (to make it easier to disassemble one day), the same one level and no mountains, the same sort of vehicles, the same general benchwork and I also skipped a curtain around the woodwork. A couple things I did differently were to stain the woodwork (it did wonders for the appearance) and put the shelves with the transformers under a corner of the layout. I run mostly in command and so don't need to frequently get at the manual controls.

Otherwise, you might say "great minds think alike".

But, I don't have the E-6...I do have the Lionel Southern Mountain taking turns with the Lionel Ps-4 at the head of the Lionel heavyweight Crescent Ltd.

Anyway, the big news from my layout at the moment is, we just got a digital camera and are learning how to post photos..

thanks ginsaw!! i'm not very good at scenery, but i can lay track and do electrical work. anther reason why i don't have scenery is that i like to add new products to my layout. i don't want to tear out scenery materials every time i want to add something new. also the size of my layout is 37' x 20' and i run in dcs command mode. all of my engines are mth-premier...........rogerw.

Just got the new six car set of Southern boxcars from MTH last night. Not great photos but will give some idea about the cars. Photos are MTH car compared to an Atlas car. MTH car is more red and Atlas car is brown.

Forum member Larry Childers from the Greenville, SC area asked me to post these pics of his layout. He is quite a SOUTHERN fan and runs these regional roads.

Candlelight dinner on the Tennessean. I sent this MTH diner to Jack Pearce a TCA member who specializes in lighting diecast vehicles and railroad equipment. He added the candlelights and the utensils to the diner.



Neal Jeter

Those candles are fantastic Neal, thanks for the post.
We are constructing some small dioramas to use with the club modular layout. We keep them at home are are able to add scenes to our home pike as well. Here's SOU 2356 stopped at the cafe

SOU Trainmaster No. 2312 pulls in later on the front track

My latest addition to my Southern Railway roster.
Something for Passenger revenue.

quote:

Originally posted by JeffT:
Just got the new six car set of Southern boxcars from MTH last night. Not great photos but will give some idea about the cars. Photos are MTH car compared to an Atlas car. MTH car is more red and Atlas car is brown.

Besides the paint, the Atlas car shows the Southern boxcars when new in 1945, while the MTH version (and I think Lionel's PS-1 version as well) fits more into the 1950s era. The difference is in the Southern logo. On the Atlas car, the lettering in the SR circle is closer together, while on the MTH there is definite spacing. As for the colors, there was a difference between the orginial 1945 order and teh later 1950s repaints, so each of these appears correct for the eras they interpret. Check out the Southern Railway Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment book to see good color photos of these two cars and their differences.

I would like to eventually acquire some of the Southern MTH cars if somweone is willing to break up the sets.

I thought I would share a project i have been dabbling with for a while. I have an old Weaver Southern RS-3, No. 2133, that I have been detailing to better represent a SOU passenger RS-3. The brass detail parts are from P&D, and paint touch-up is with Scalecoat Southern Sylvan Green. I will also use decals to correct the color of the imitation aluminum stripe along the bottom.

I have had this model for a few years, long before the new Atlas Southern RS-3 came out. I do not know which model, Weaver or Atlas, is a better operating model.

quote:

Originally posted by DaveJfr0:

What is that brass part on the side of the body by the cab? Almost looks like some sort of ATC.

You are correct, it is part of the ATC control. I have not installed the box yet beside the cab. I have the shoe as well, and will work on the steam generator vent and exhaust as well. I think P&D has the correct screen to go over the exhaust fan on the roof.

My SD45 arrived. Tested it on Local Train Shop layout before acquisition.



Now only if MTH or Atlas would make an GP30!!!

Made another great acquisition today with pics to follow.

Ron

quote:

Originally posted by PRRronbh:
My SD45 arrived. Tested it on Local Train Shop layout before acquisition.



Now only if MTH or Atlas would make an GP30!!!

Made another great acquisition today with pics to follow.

Ron

I really like that long nose engine and the bell placement is neat. Need to get one some day.

I have my SD45 Powered and dummy unit on order to bad I have to wait until April to get them for my birthday. Now all I need are some Highhood SD40-2 or SD40 to go with my SD24 and SD35!!

Here a close up shot of 2133 from George Elwood website.

Sean,

The 2133 had lost its steam generator by the date of that shot but the ATC (Automatic Train Control) boxes are still evident as well as the shoe on the truck. I am keeping my 2133 model in the green era to eventually pull passenger cars.

If I ever come across another Weaver RS-3, I could decorate in this scheme to have a before and after model!

I also have a custom painted Southern Lionel GP-7 that I will detail as they appeared during the 1960s. It was one of the conventional versions from the late 90s with magnetraction and a strobe on the roof, so my main objective is to remove the strobe and find appropriate parts.

My newest acquisition is a Lionel brass 4501. If I can find another one at a descent price (and decals), I will paint in in the black scheme.

here is the latest additions to my railroad.....norfolk-southern center beam flat cars with lumber load................rogerw

Roger, I like the way you used those girder bridges in the last set of photos. It looks like they are serving the dual function of acting as a bridge over the open corner and at the same time are protecting the trains from being so close to the edge. Did you cut one bridge down the middle for that? If so, I think it's a great idea and I might try it where mine runs close to an outside edge too. I had been wondering what to do when you can't place a single bridge because of clearance problems with a parallel line.

thanks Ginsaw! yes i did cut the girder plate down the middle. that girder bridge is made by k-line by lionel. the train loft in winston-salem north carolina still has some in stock. i also have pictures on photobucket, myspace, and videos on youtube...... thanks for looking.................rogerw.

John, you are oh so right! The SD45 in Southern Tuxedo long hood forward just looks so right. MTH ended up doing a nice job on these. They power up long hood forward with class lights on long hood, markers on short hood. Only if the bell was painted black plus horn does not look right. They sure are nothing like what was cataloged.

Well my other acquisition the same day as the SD45 came from a semi-local train store.





I had been looking for a set of Southern Heavy Weight "Crescent Limited" car for my Ps4 for a year or so. And these had been at this store right under my nose. But really did not notice them until a week ago.

Ron

Ginsaw, you are right the Southern did NOT have any of these "C&O" K4 Kanawha's or any other "modern" steam engine for that matter.

The Claytor bothers brought in the C&O K4 Kanawha 2716 from the Kentucky museum for Steam Excursion when 4501 was down for maintenance.

MTH's green Kanawha is just the fantasy of "what if."

I recall that somewhere in this thread the 2716 is pictured. I did not order one since both times MTH pictured it in catalog it was why wrong, not the engine I had road behind. But, luckily I was at the local train shop the day they came in. It looked as it should, bought it.

Ron

Ginsaw
I am sure you know that the Southern Ry never had any heavy Berkshires. However the old original Norfolk Southern Ry, which Southern acquired,had light Berkshires especially designed to negotiate the wooden trestles accross the N.C.Coastal Sounds.

And in fact the NKP #765 did also pull some of the Claytor brothers steam excursion runs.

Ron

Here's the MTH 2716 from 2006:

From me personally, a great big 'Thank you' guys for the many terrific photos and historical information. There is so much knowledge here on the forum that we are ALL fortunate to have access to. Lionelman, I had not seen No.2716 before, thanks for posting.
There is a Weaver brass 'Tennessean' on the bay ending about 7:30 tonight (Sun)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...geName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
Again, THANKS a LOT everyone.

It seems like I recall the photo of the real 2716 had the word Southern in large letters on the tender where the model has the road number. I hope I'm not incorrect about that however. The photo was b/w so I couldn't tell if the tender lettering was white or gold. But it looked white. The engine also looked like it just had a shiny black paint job.

I think the infra-red drawbar that Lionel used on my NKP 779 was more real railroad looking than the hookup on the MTH 2716 as shown here. That aside, the 2716 has I believe better under the cab detail that is missing from the Lionel model. The 779 is also missing a bit of main steam pipe detail that should run from the right side cylinder up thru the running board into the smokebox area. But I can't tell about that from the above photo on the MTH 2716. The 2716 boiler also appears to have quite a bit more taper to it.

Sam, you posted at the same moment I did. I must not type as fast though. But thanks for the info about the Tennessean. Somebody will no doubt jump right on that one. It's a HIGHLY desirable model. I may even try getting in on it myself. You can bet someone from here will. Let us know if one of you wins it..

Ginsaw:

The 2716 ran an excursion here in NW Alabama in May 1982. I took several photos of her and checked them. The MTH model is painted just like the photos I have. A big "2716" on the tender with the smaller "Southern" higher up on the tender near the cab.

Neal Jeter

I dug out an old calendar from 1988 with beautiful paintings by CA artist Michael F Kowtowski. He has a dozen handsome renderings like this of the various streamlined steamers like the 1380 pulling into Washington DC's Union Depot on a steamy August evening.

norfolk-southern o.c.s. train pulling into whitsettville at dusk...........rogerw.

Close-up of the Southern ticket office. When powered the round emblem blinks off and on.

Here is a good view of that 1380 Tennessean prototype (hopefully it's not already posted somewhere in the thread's 4 pages) - third pic down - http://condrenrails.com/MRP/Te...Tennessean-locos.htm

As for the ticket station, there's one still standing in Corinth, MS, we used to ride out of when I was a kid. You could buy tickets on the Southern or the GM&O. They had logos of both railroads on the station (still do I think). The station marked the crossing of those two lines, with the Southern being east-west and the GM&O being the north-south track. Both were mainlines. One's now obviously a very busy NS line and KCS, surprisingly I think, wound up with the other.

I've never seen a model station with the same floor layout, kind of Y shaped. If I could scratchbuild such a thing, I'd do it...

For those who might be interested there is a Southern Switch Tower up for sale on ebay. Item #360353870411. I am in no way connected to the auction.

Neal Jeter

lionlman i can't find the switch tower on ebay. where exactly is it located on ebay??...............rogerw.

lionlman and c. sam, i've already places a bid on it. hopefully i'll win it................rogerw.

Some close-up photos of the Weaver 1380.

Ginsaw,
None of the streamline cars where delivered in 60'
The only 60' foot on the Southern where baggage and RPO's
Just remember the railking cars for Semi scales while the Premier line is scale the cars are all in 72' in length. So far K-line had the correct length for there streamline cars and Goldengate Depot for there heavyweight cars. I have a set of Goldengate cars for my Lionel Southern Ps-4 I'm looking to add a Atlas Trainman 60' RPO and baggage to the consist.

Thx Sean. I was thinking about them as a substitute for, or to supplement my Lionel aluminum Tennessean streamliner cars in 60' - 15". I like the car names on them, but they're that old, old '50s design and, you know, are rather toy-like or cheesy, if that's the right word. And being aluminum instead of plastic, they are rather noisy at high speed. The sound kinda reverberates around in them if you know what I mean.

What for me would be ideal is 70' (18") streamliner cars marked for the Tennessean. I can't use the 21". The 18" is the biggest I can use and they also would match my Lionel Crescent heavyweights. I want to standardize in other words on the car length. Doing that and finding them in Tennessean names seems impossible.

It's a need I wish one of the importers would fill...

ginsaw, if you'll check mth's 2007 volume one catalog on page 164, you'll find a the bottom of the page southern premier streamlined ribbed passenger cars. i brought the whole series of passenger cars. i've done some research on these cars (thanks to dewey and sean) and these cars are labeled for the "tennessean" and "southern crescent" passenger trains. on the back of the "louisiana" observation car is an "tennessean" drumhead. also the E-6 aba diesel engine set has psa for the "tennessean". you can find the E-6 aba set and 5-car passenger set at the train loft in winston-salem north carolina. the train loft may have the two 2-car sets, vista, and RPO mail passenger/mail car.

here are the names on the passenger cars:
sweetwater
louisiana
alexandria
york river
elizabeth city
huntsville
greenville
sheffield
decatur
north carolina
grand junction....................rogerw.

Roger, can you post any pics of those?

I don't know about buying the E-6s with them. I already have the Atlas F-3s and Lionel's original PW F-3 ABA 2356 set.

On those car names, the "Grand Junction" is from an historic small rural town near me and was a well known cross roads going back to Civil War times. It's where the Southern crossed the IC. The Grand Junction is the baggage car on the Lionel set. The other names you mentioned are not among those on the Lionel's Tennessean. One's that are - Roanoke, Charlottesville, Chattanooga, Johnson City and obs car Memphis. The last is interesting because Lionel's orange/brown MPC IC CNO passenger set also has the Memphis as the obs car.

Two cars of the same type with the same name on two different roads is quite a fluke.

The Sheffield and Decatur MTH cars are named for north Alabama Southern Railway towns and not that far east from Grand Junction on the Southern ex-Memphis & Charleston mainline. They were well known stops for the Tennessean.

ginsaw, here are the pictures you requested. the picture of the drumhead on the back of the observation car isn't very good............rogerw.

I like those and will maybe look into it. Thx.

The Lionel cars have black roofs. I don't know which way is correct however. In any event, the MTH cars (which I assume are 18" 70') appear significantly better.

Of course, if they wanted a Tennessean that's prototypical of what I recall riding on in the mid '50s, the only way to re-produce that would be with a real varied mix of cars of different styles and eras and even some from other railroads. Because that's what it was.

I also never saw a dome car, although that doesn't mean Southern didn't use them elsewhere.