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Hello #swsat fans, and welcome back to our weekly homage to all the smaller,  nimble, multi tasking locomotives that do the big big work of railroading.

From broad gauge to z scale,  we celebrate all Switchers regardless of scale or gauge.  The only requirements are to keep things somehow Switcher related,  follow the ogr tos regarding pictures,  and have fun! 

While one of our regulars has been teasing something new this weekend,  your humble dispatcher came across a nice trackmobile in the real world.  This one happens to be at a facility that specializes in separation of left over carbon from coal ash.  The carbon has multiple uses, while the cleaner ash is used primarily in concrete production.

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Lots of modeling opportunities there if any was so inclined. I hope you like the photos.

So please share your Switcher stories, photos and videos. Have a great weekend everyone 😀. 🚂

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JHZ563 - Interesting photos. Thanks for posting.

It's a cold Saturday morning - about 2 degrees F at 12:40 AM.

MTH Railking New York Central “lightning stripe” ALCo RS-3 #8344 (30-20816-1) is my best-running diesel locomotive model. MTH delivered it with PS3 in November 2021 at an MSRP of $359.95. Its quality of manufacture is exceptional – with no visible defects and MTH’s excellent ALCo engine sounds.

Last Saturday, we talked about the speed control on my MTH Premier USRA 0-8-0 steam switcher. Unlike the steamer, this engine has four widely-spaced pickup rollers and the speed control keeps the speed and sounds absolutely steady in low-speed conventional operation on the switches and O-54 curves of my 10’-by-5’ layout. The engine is running at 10 scale miles-per-hour in the videos – which is as slow as I would ever run it. At that speed, if the train had completed a circuit of my layout, the video would have been too large to upload and post on the Forum.

Some people tout locomotives that can creep smoothly at less than three scale miles-per-hour - certainly an outstanding accomplishment of model engineering. However, after watching that kind of operation for a minute or two, I’m ready to advance the throttle and get the train moving. I’d rather see a fast freight or passenger train running at realistic scale speeds and hear the chuffing of a steamer or the drone of a diesel with horn or whistle blowing.

The American Locomotive Company built 1,265 RS-3 locomotives for U.S. railroads between 1950 and 1956. They weighed 247,100 pounds and had a 4-stroke V12 diesel engine that produced 1,600 horsepower with a starting tractive force of 61,775 pounds. Maximum speeds were between 65 and 85 miles-per-hour depending on gearing.

Between 1950 and 1953 the New York Central Railroad acquired 130 RS-3 locomotives with road numbers between #8223 and #8352. New York Central RS-3 #8344, class DRS-6h, was built in September/October 1953 and renumbered to NYC #5344 in 1966 in anticipation of NYC’s merger into the Penn Central Railroad.

MELGAR

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Late night switching session! The new to me CP rail MTH railking MP15 is making moves on the layout. It was my Christmas gift this year. Picked it up at one of Mr. Muffins auctions. Runs great! I’m am very happy with it. One “all weather” window was missing. So I added an “all weather” window on the engineer side, along with the rooftop A/C. Dusted her up with a little bit of weathering. And she’s in service! Have a awesome weekend everyone!4EF45691-544C-420A-B8AC-A74383C3C79B

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@CAPPilot posted:

Early on a very cold morning in late 1949, a 44 tonner is waiting for a boxcar to complete loading so it can be moved to the westbound classification track.  The engineer is admiring the brand new '49 Peterbilt.

DSC_0001DSC_0002

Ron, that is a very cool Campbell's Soup truck. When I was a kid, my uncle's and father's land was leased to a pair of brothers that farmed it. They planted tomatoes that went to Campbell's Soup.

Greetings, SwSatites on this -12 morning in Central MA!  Today your Yardmaster is anxious to show MELGAR (y’all,too) the $50.00 switcher he bought at the Springfield show.

B&M EMD SW9 no. 1230 is a MTH Railking model catalogued in 2000.  Like the Sante Fe SW9 I posted a couple of weeks ago, it’s Mike’s economy model, equipped only with lights, a QSI reverse unit and a horn that sounds like a buzzer. The seller didn’t know if it ran, but your Yardmaster took a chance because not much can go wrong.

Upon arrival at the Steam Crazy yard, your Yardmaster sent it to the shop for the following services: inspection, lube, oil, traction tire and yellow paint on the steps and handrails for safety.  The SW9 then fired up immediately and runs great!

Your Yardmaster is thinking of upgrading the SW9 with an ERR or Dallee sound system.  He’s not sure about that because sometimes he still enjoys just hearing the wheels on the rails.  He’s also found he doesn’t notice if an engine is mute if he  runs it with a sound equipped engine.

John

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Happy SWSat!

Since we are keeping track...5 deg according to the Weather Channel, 8 degrees on my boiler reset controller on LI this morning. The wind finally stopped howling around 5 AM. Back up in the 50's next week so today I'll hibernate in the basement. Gee, I wonder what I will do to pass the time.....

Just some random shots around the layout today.

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And since Mel showcased his RS-3, here's my RS-11 in NYC lightning stripes.

2023-02-04 07.44.36

Stay warm today. Only 6 more weeks of winter!

Bob

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Yay SWSat is on!

Great stuff so far everyone.
This weekend I am too cold to go out but last weekend I did. I took Amtrak from NY Pennsylvania Station to Springfield and I went to the Amherst Railroad show in Springfield Massachusetts. Taking the train to the train show is the only way to go. There was lots of switcher stuff as I’m sure you can imagine but the 1926  two foot gauge 0-4-4F Porter Forney they trucked in from Edaville and had in steam was what caught my attention.

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Little Forneys like this one are definitely in the running for my favorite steam engines. They just have such character at a human scale. The show opened at 9 on Saturday with a whistle blast from this engine with some accompanying blasts from horns mounted in some pickups and ran till Sunday. Spread over four buildings there was more to see than I could get to in the time I had. Sellers, Manufacturers, Importers, interest groups and layouts fill the show. I joined the O Scale Central 2 Rail advocacy group.


@Steam Crazy   I didn’t find a $50 engine I wanted  

Of course I blasted through my budget and mostly got kits and detail parts from smaller manufacturers but all the big guys were there. I got to speak for awhile with MTH about how they are going forward and any possibility of a return to including some 2rail O again.

Have a great weekend. Stay warm inside if you can. I can’t wait to see what you all post.

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Last edited by Silver Lake
@jhz563 posted:

Hello #swsat fans, and welcome back .So please share your Switcher stories, photos and videos. Have a great weekend everyone 😀. 🚂

Thanks for kicking off Swsat JH.

Layout room starting to warm up this morning and I find every available switcher being pressed into service to clear the yard from TCT 's ( Tank Car Thursday 's )  forum thread photo shoot .

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........hope no BEER was ruined from last night's freezing temps.

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JHZ, thanks for kicking things off again this week.  I think Trackmobiles are cool little switchers in the critter line.  I hope the convalescing is coming along nicely.

Mel that RS3 is a winner.  One can never go wrong with NYC lightning stripes.  Let me say I totally agree with you, "Some people tout locomotives that can creep smoothly at less than three scale miles-per-hour - certainly an outstanding accomplishment of model engineering. However, after watching that kind of operation for a minute or two, I’m ready to advance the throttle and get the train moving. I’d rather see a fast freight or passenger train running at realistic scale speeds and hear the chuffing of a steamer or the drone of a diesel with horn or whistle blowing."

Jesse, were you able to buy the all-weather window and a/c or did you have to fabricate them?

Steam Crazy if that SW9 didn't run you would have gotten a "Deal" because it would have been one good looking display but since it runs you got a "Steal" for $50.

Bob, I love RS-11.

Strap, I'm sure it was the rain and not the65 degrees that kept you out of the boat this morning.

Andy your commitment to this hobby is astounding. I thought taking the train from Manhattan to White Plains was a trip for a train show but all the way Amherst, Wow!

Happy and thankful to share enthusiastically today in your posts, photos and stories.  
Normal rail operations have been cancelled for the day.

Current temperature in my basement (11:30 a.m. here in mid coastal Maine).

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Looks like 35 degrees to me! Brrrrr


However, it’s comfy upstairs in sunlit southern exposure.
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@Leroof posted:

Happy and thankful to share enthusiastically today in your posts, photos and stories.  
Normal rail operations have been cancelled for the day.

Current temperature in my basement (11:30 a.m. here in mid coastal Maine).

67365C12-0A7D-46CF-B705-DF4833009AD5

Looks like 35 degrees to me! Brrrrr


However, it’s comfy upstairs in sunlit southern exposure.
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Better keep a close eye on your pipes Pierre.

Hi Everyone,
I'm enjoying the Switcher Saturday pictures, here is my entry for this week.  These pictures were taken by me on my layout.  I'm not a camera expert so I was just experimenting with camera settings and lighting to see what would happen.  These two shots were the best, I think they show the model's details well.
Chris
0_6_0_LIGHTRS_2_LIGHT

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@Steam Crazy posted:

Greetings, SwSatites on this -12 morning in Central MA!  Today your Yardmaster is anxious to show MELGAR (y’all,too) the $50.00 switcher he bought at the Springfield show.

B&M EMD SW9 no. 1230 is a MTH Railking model catalogued in 2000.  Like the Sante Fe SW9 I posted a couple of weeks ago, it’s Mike’s economy model, equipped only with lights, a QSI reverse unit and a horn that sounds like a buzzer. The seller didn’t know if it ran, but your Yardmaster took a chance because not much can go wrong.

Upon arrival at the Steam Crazy yard, your Yardmaster sent it to the shop for the following services: inspection, lube, oil, traction tire and yellow paint on the steps and handrails for safety.  The SW9 then fired up immediately and runs great!

Your Yardmaster is thinking of upgrading the SW9 with an ERR or Dallee sound system.  He’s not sure about that because sometimes he still enjoys just hearing the wheels on the rails.  He’s also found he doesn’t notice if an engine is mute if he  runs it with a sound equipped engine.

John

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Gentlemen,

A lot of great posts on this very cold morning. The National Weather Service reported the low temperature in Bridgeport, CT at -4 degrees F. It was too cold for me to go outside and check the reading in my backyard, but it's always two or three degrees less than on the shoreline. The heating in the basement keeps me and the trains and layouts functional.

John,

I've been waiting anxiously all week to see the new mystery engine. You didn't disappoint me. If I had been at the show, I would have bought it too. The fact that it is "Mike's economy model" doesn't matter at all. Use it well and enjoy it. It looks like your model is Railking B&M SW9 30-2179-0 from the 2000 Volume 1 catalog at the unbelievable price of $129.95, although the MTH image shows that model with silver trucks. No matter what, your model is worth the price. Looks good on the video too!

The B&M model that I run most is GP7 #1563 - also one of Mike's - which I have posted here many times. I will have more to say on B&M SW9s next week....

Have a good weekend and stay warm.

MELGAR

Bob, thx I know! Wrapped pipes and trickle water flow in faucets. So far so good.
have never have had it this cold in the basement in 22 years of ownership.
let it be known that my couple of postwar locos (switcher and road engine ) on the layout just laugh at this! Electricity flows and grease not hardened yet! Lol. I ran trains for ten minutes appropriately dressed! Then made a retreat to warmer environment.

Pierre, if it's that cold in the basement I do not want to know what the outdoor thermometer is reading.  Stay comfy my friend.

Skip those are some nice switchers and a mighty handsome string of MDT reefers.

Sitka I started out with that Alaska GP from a set break-up and it now looks like this:

IMG_1900IMG_1901IMG_1902This was my second attempt at using an air brush.  After practicing on a model of a Grumman F-6 which came out fairly well I masked off this guy and went to town.  I used Lackawana Yellow.  I added a winterization hatch, a snow plow and used a silver Sharpie on the trucks.  Hey wait a second, no snow plow and black trucks, what gives?  Well years later I found a "Titanic" set GP9 from a set break-up.  Unknowingly when I bought it, it would become a chassis donor to my ARR GP7.  Note the yellow handrails, frame and diamond tread pattern on mine.  It is now also equipped with the rudimentary Railsounds package that the "Titanic" GP9 came with.  Here's the donor sporting the silver Sharpie trucks and snow plow.

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A little while back I realized my 1802 never got a nose herald so it's been on my list of projects for a nose job and truck tints.  But after taking it off the shelf for these pictures I realize that some how the fuel tank has become separated from the frame.  No obvious cause or fix with a quick glance.  I may have to post on the workbench thread or start a new thread asking for help with this.

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Mel, I'm pleased I didn't disappoint you!  You're right about the MTH model # and the silver trucks on the website.  My engine came with black trucks; you can tell they've never been repainted.  I also looked at photos of the prototype no. 1230 on Railroad Picture Archives.net; it was equipped with black trucks, but it could have started life with silver.

I have previously posted my MTH GP no. 1555, which was originally PS1 and probably about the same vintage as your 1563.  Thanks to your inspiration, I've already prepared a video of 1555 for next Saturday.  Sorry, you have to wait again!

John

@coach joe posted:

Pierre, if it's that cold in the basement I do not want to know what the outdoor thermometer is reading.  Stay comfy my friend.

Skip those are some nice switchers and a mighty handsome string of MDT reefers.

Sitka I started out with that Alaska GP from a set break-up and it now looks like this:

IMG_1900IMG_1901IMG_1902This was my second attempt at using an air brush.  After practicing on a model of a Grumman F-6 which came out fairly well I masked off this guy and went to town.  I used Lackawana Yellow.  I added a winterization hatch, a snow plow and used a silver Sharpie on the trucks.  Hey wait a second, no snow plow and black trucks, what gives?  Well years later I found a "Titanic" set GP9 from a set break-up.  Unknowingly when I bought it, it would become a chassis donor to my ARR GP7.  Note the yellow handrails, frame and diamond tread pattern on mine.  It is now also equipped with the rudimentary Railsounds package that the "Titanic" GP9 came with.  Here's the donor sporting the silver Sharpie trucks and snow plow.

IMG_1904IMG_1905

A little while back I realized my 1802 never got a nose herald so it's been on my list of projects for a nose job and truck tints.  But after taking it off the shelf for these pictures I realize that some how the fuel tank has become separated from the frame.  No obvious cause or fix with a quick glance.  I may have to post on the workbench thread or start a new thread asking for help with this.

Joe.

Really nice work. 🤝

Johan

Also, want to thank Melgar, Silver lake, Strap hanger, RSJB18, Steam Crazy, Fendermain , and all of the participants for making my day a special one.

here is my MEC #11 basking in the winter sunlight.
and the white stuff is probably a dusting of snow….
More like perhaps I should take a soft brush to it! Lol

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Hey Coach Joe...Let's see the F-6 !! (I am ex-Dept of Navy engineer) and the GP-7 looks great!.  If today's Lionel is the era of super detail and prototypical appearance, my offering today is from Lionel's "fantasy" era the 1980's.  This is the 1981-82 L.A.S.E.R.  (Land and Space Early Reaction) military train set.  Nothing about this set makes any real sense.  The engine and caboose are "Chrome"...now who would go into combat against enemy air with a chrome engine?  It has a flat car mounted ALCM (Air Launched Cruise Missile) - a program I worked on for a number of years, which is fairly realistic in appearance but its "Air Launched" so how do I get a flatcar in the air?? Then its got a radar car with a man sitting in the breeze and a "combat caboose" with an anti-aircraft gun.  I can't really show it running as its from Lionel's DC era on their low end trains and I can't run DC.

Here is the set box, showing the full train.

Lionel Lasr Train box

Here is the Lionel # 8161 L.A.S.E.R. switcher (DC powered )

Lionel Laser Train 8161 chrome switcher

Here is the USAF ALCM (Air Launched Cruise Missile) on a flat car. Note this paint scheme is reasonably accurate for the flight test missiles, the bulls eye is used to track orientation in flight by visual means, but operational missiles are grey.

Lionel Laser Train - ALCM on flat car

Here is the combat caboose and the radar car with the operator exposed to the wind/rain/snow etc.

Lionel Laser Train - full train from reare

Well that's it for me today.  This set, which I bought new because it had the ALCM on which I  worked, but nothing else makes much sense

Don

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  • Lionel Lasr Train box
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Here is the combat caboose and the radar car with the operator exposed to the wind/rain/snow etc.

Lionel Laser Train - full train from reare

Well that's it for me today.  This set, which I bought new because it had the ALCM on which I  worked, but nothing else makes much sense

Don

The caboose body looks vaguely familiar.....

Motive Power - Motorized Units - 520 Boxcab Electric - Lionel Trains Library

Despite the fantasy aspects of the set, it's still cool.

Bob

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