IT's SWITCHER SATURDAY May 4, 2024 Edition

Lehigh & New England Railroad RS-3 #658 (MTH Railking 30-21185-1) is a special run model made for Beth Marshall at Public Delivery Track. I received it on April 26, 2024. It had no manufacturing defects and has been running smoothly on my 10’-by-5’ layout. According to the online L&NE Diesel Roster, #658 was built in 1949 and actually was an Alco RS-2, not an RS-3. The major difference between the two types was horsepower – 1500 for the RS-2 and 1600 for the RS-3.

#658 is my only L&NE locomotive. I purchased it because the road name included “New England,” which is the locale of the scenery and trains on my two model railroads, but it’s unlikely that any L&NE locomotives ran in New England.

As early as 1868, predecessors of the Lehigh & New England Railroad sought to transport anthracite coal from Pennsylvania into New England and Boston via a proposed bridge across the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York. The bridge was completed in 1889 and the L&NE was incorporated in 1895. It connected with the Central New England Railway, and later the New Haven Railroad, at Campbell Hall, New York. The L&NE was profitable but a rapid decline in demand for coal during the 1950s caused its abandonment in 1961.

I don’t have hopper cars to run behind #658, so photos and video show it pulling two New Haven boxcars and an unlettered caboose.

MELGAR

Happy SWSAT

Thanks, Pat, for another great launch of Switcher Saturday! Great variations of your B&O stable.

I showed this last Week with pictures and Video of Ken testing my engine. Here it is working on my layout. Once again, I want to thank Ken "The Train Guy" for assembling and painting this engine for me.

Some unabashed "toy train" action from me today as ALCo 0-6-0 saddle tank X-8688, her crew, and the milkman handle a morning milk delivery:

I really like this Carnation-Union Refrigerator Transit operating milk car. I got it essentially NIB on clearance from Forum sponsor Trainz and I've quickly found it's a lot of fun to run in a "dairy-themed" reefer consist with this reliable little switcher. The platform is also my first scenery item. Also, thanks to Patrick for inspiring me to get the Ellicott & Sons Ice Cream reefer. Now I want some...

Happy Switcher Saturday!  We’re out of town at a wedding so here are some box cab switcher videos from the archives -

Happy SWSAT fellows, we're off to a nice start.

@pennsyfan is that the steeple cab kit ScaleRail had made up several years ago?

@Bill Swatos your milk car seems to be operating smoothly.  I remember posts about people having trouble with that milk man not doing a very good job of delivering the milk cans.

@Bill Swatos posted:

Some unabashed "toy train" action from me today as ALCo 0-6-0 saddle tank X-8688, her crew, and the milkman handle a morning milk delivery:

I really like this Carnation-Union Refrigerator Transit operating milk car. I got it essentially NIB on clearance from Forum sponsor Trainz and I've quickly found it's a lot of fun to run in a "dairy-themed" reefer consist with this reliable little switcher. The platform is also my first scenery item. Also, thanks to Patrick for inspiring me to get the Ellicott & Sons Ice Cream reefer. Now I want some...

Looking good Bill smooth action That table keeps getting loaded with some fine looking rolling stock and motor power. Mark

My NYO&W Mogul bringing milk and passengers down a branch line to the O&W main…..

Have a great and safe week, everyone!
Peter

Happy Switcher Saturday & May the Fourth be with you!

MTH Canadian 44 ton switcher moving a few cars into the siding.

Happy SWSat!

It's also the SWSat debut for my L&NE RS3. Mel hit the details so I won't repeat here. I did have to do a factory reset on mine to get it to run. Also a minor repair to one of the side frames. One of the mounting holes was a bit small and the mounting screw actually threaded into the hole preventing the frame from sitting flush against the truck. I reamed it with a small drill bit and took care of the problem.

I was building my S2 with a L&NE shell when PDT announced the custom run. Figured it needed company. They are both PS3 so a lashup is in order.

My road number is 663 which is also listed as an RS2, built in Dec. 1949, and eventually sold to a Mexican railroad sometime after 1969. Here's a photo of the prototype.

There's not a lot of rolling stock on the market but I did find a Weaver hopper with load last year. The hunt is on for more. Lionel and MTH both have made center cupola steel cabooses so the hunt will continue.

Here's some shots of both engines in action. I shot a video but I'm not happy with how it came out so it will remain in the private archive.....

Have a great weekend.

Bob

Good morning SwSat folks!  Patrick, thanks for cracking the throttle; Bob, love that steeplecab!

Last Saturday I posted my oldest switcher by date of acquisition.  Today, I’m going to the archives to post my oldest switcher by chronological age, American Flyer 0-6-0 no. 429.  No. 429 dates back to 1938, but, as you’ll see, she runs like a youngster!

John

@RSJB18, I spy with my little eye that new Great South Bay reefer following up the fish reefer.  The red frame on your S2, while not prototypical is striking and makes for a very addition to the L&NE livery.

@coach joe posted:

Happy SWSAT fellows, we're off to a nice start.

@pennsyfan is that the steeple cab kit ScaleRail had made up several years ago?

@Bill Swatos your milk car seems to be operating smoothly.  I remember posts about people having trouble with that milk man not doing a very good job of delivering the milk cans.

Coach Joe, I’m not sure. All I remember is that his name was Don and he is in Hawaii. Ken might chime in, he knew him, when we first discussed the project.

@Bill Swatos posted:

Some unabashed "toy train" action from me today as ALCo 0-6-0 saddle tank X-8688, her crew, and the milkman handle a morning milk delivery:

I really like this Carnation-Union Refrigerator Transit operating milk car. I got it essentially NIB on clearance from Forum sponsor Trainz and I've quickly found it's a lot of fun to run in a "dairy-themed" reefer consist with this reliable little switcher. The platform is also my first scenery item. Also, thanks to Patrick for inspiring me to get the Ellicott & Sons Ice Cream reefer. Now I want some...

Bill,

Towards the end of your video, I saw that the inside of your track oval is filled with engines and cars - and thought to myself that you should get some "scenery items." The milk platform has gotten you started and the milk car operates really well. The one I had during the 1950s never worked that well.

MELGAR

@coach joe posted:

@RSJB18, I spy with my little eye that new Great South Bay reefer following up the fish reefer.  The red frame on your S2, while not prototypical is striking and makes for a very addition to the L&NE livery.

When life (well Cabin Fever Auctions) gives you a SOO red frame, you find a logo with a red dot.........

Sure beats repainting.......

@coach joe posted:

@pennsyfan is that the steeple cab kit ScaleRail had made up several years ago?

@pennsyfan did give me a ScaleRail ES-2 Steeplecab kit to build, but after noticing that the kit had warped over time (an unfortunate downside of early PLA type materials), I decided that it would be just as much work to design my own version of the kit in modern UV-cured resin. Here's a view of Bob's ES-2 when I was test fitting things before painting.

In terms of switchers, how about some 1:1 scale narrow gauge models that I saw on my trip to Maine last month? These are from the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway.

Here's some modern 1:1 scale switching action from the industrial park that I work in. I thought I took some closeups of this GE type locomotive a few weeks ago, I have to track them down.

Nice looking switcher action all, enjoy your weekend God Bless America. PW Lionel Erie switcher moving some freight.

Good morning SWSAT crew!

AC&Y H16-44 #202 has a short train in tow:

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tom

Happy Switcher Saturday!

A Lionel 0-4-0 Steam Switcher on the layout.

Take Care, Ray

Here is one of my favorites, the Marx type 1998 Alco S-3 switcher.  This one in maroon / yellow from 1955.

Here she is moving a train of Marx "deluxe" freight cars down the main.

Best wishes

Don

Just circling back and seeing all the fantastic posts by everyone!! BRAVO!!!  keep them coming everyone!!

RJSB - Bob congratulations on finally receiving your new L&NE RS3 - looks great!!  I know you had to jump through hoops, and leap small buildings in a single bound  to chase down that FEDEX truck!  Glad you caught up with him

Here are a couple videos.  The bottom one is of my new FM H 10 44 B&O switcher pulling a cut of cars.  The  top one is a night time video of a Western Maryland BL2 with a road freight and a pair of B&O GP 9 with another road freight.  

I don't know hardly anything about real trains, and in particular, that and RS-3 is a switcher.

Here's an MTH Railking lashup of mine.

walt

Railking - a dummy, and like it’s powered brother (#1294), it lacked any numberboard decals from the factory. A very unusual QC slip up from MTH.

Latest addition to the roster: Lionel PW 1957 Lehigh Valley #625 Red/Black. Much harder to find than the common #627 all-red version. Arrived yesterday from Trainz.

@Tom Densel posted:

Good morning SWSAT crew!

AC&Y H16-44 #202 has a short train in tow:

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tom

Hi Tom,  You do MTH made sone 2-bay ACY hoppers?

Mr, Mufin may still have some.

Ron

Lots of great switchers, everyone!

Here is an MTH P&WV 0-6-0 spotting a car at the Sanky Wanky Coffee Company after sunset.  The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is running a night train in the background, pulled by an MTH B&O F3 on loan to the WMSR.

@PRRronbh posted:

Hi Tom,  You do MTH made sone 2-bay ACY hoppers?

Mr, Mufin may still have some.

Ron

Hi Ron,

I do have an Atlas O 2-bay hopper in AC&Y.  I thought about the MTH cars, but I'm running out of room so I have become somewhat selective in what I purchase.

Tom

From Melgar’s post above:

As early as 1868, predecessors of the Lehigh & New England Railroad sought to transport anthracite coal from Pennsylvania into New England and Boston via a proposed bridge across the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York. The bridge was completed in 1889 and the L&NE was incorporated in 1895. It connected with the Central New England Railway, and later the New Haven Railroad, at Campbell Hall, New York. The L&NE was profitable but a rapid decline in demand for coal during the 1950s caused its abandonment in 1961.

This video is from 03/28/24, and was taken in my friend’s backyard, in Campbell Hall.

Still running the RSD that Beth was so kind to make a run of Utah Railway! I found some gons from Pola lettered for Utah for it to haul, just had to add 3 rail trucks to them.

Been busy today, so here are some oldies but goodies of a PRR ES6.  The Pennsy had 85 of these purchased between 1942 and 1950.

This EMD Switcher 600 hp is an MTH Railking Scale EMD SW-1.

@Mark Boyce posted:

Lots of great switchers, everyone!

Here is an MTH P&WV 0-6-0 spotting a car at the Sanky Wanky Coffee Company after sunset.  The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is running a night train in the background, pulled by an MTH B&O F3 on loan to the WMSR.

Can't help it Mark but I'm imagining gliding along on a classy dinner excursion on the WMSR with filet mignon, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, potatoes au gratin and seven-layer chocolate cake for dessert!

@Don McErlean posted:

Here is one of my favorites, the Marx type 1998 Alco S-3 switcher.  This one in maroon / yellow from 1955.

Here she is moving a train of Marx "deluxe" freight cars down the main.

Best wishes

Don

Nice switcher, Don. It seems to me that the tooling for the Marx shell somehow found its way to RMT/Aristocraft in their "BANG" S4 which is ALCo's S4. Though the stacks are different, everything else looks the same, right down to the rivet counts I can see.

@MELGAR posted:

Bill,

Towards the end of your video, I saw that the inside of your track oval is filled with engines and cars - and thought to myself that you should get some "scenery items." The milk platform has gotten you started and the milk car operates really well. The one I had during the 1950s never worked that well.

MELGAR

Thanks, Mel, for the compliment on my milk car operation and encouragement on scenery. I think a station will be next since I can place it trackside like the delivery platform. Thanks, too, to @Sitka and @coach joe for their kind words on my milk car operation.

The milk car is a 1987 late-MPC era reproduction of the PW version, right down to the staple-end trucks and plate and lever coupler releases. There were a couple of things I did with the car to get it to work largely trouble-free. The first was to "pop the hood" and sparingly grease all of the metal-to-metal pivot points and sliding areas of the mechanism. I also applied a couple of drops of Pjur Basic 100% Silicone Personal (!) Lubricant to the solenoid piston where it slides into the delrin (nylon?) solenoid liner. This lubrication process got the milkman to emerge fully at 11.5 V instead of 14 V initially. He also moves just a bit more slowly at the lower voltage so he doesn't knock over the cans he's already placed on the platform.

Second, I discovered that the metal base of the milk can is just pressed into the plastic top, so I was able to separate the base from the plastic top and "shim" each can with the washer shown below so that they are all 1/64" taller than stock:

This keeps the cans aligned properly in the chute so they won't get "sideways" and jam yet allows them to roll freely in the chute. The washer shown fits very tightly onto the metal base, so I had to be careful to ensure that it was fully-seated on the base before reassembly. When I reinserted the metal base fitted with the washer into the plastic part of the can, I had to use a tiny drop of CA adhesive, applied with a hat pin, to hold the can, washer and base together.

I hope this helps everyone to get their operating milk cars back as one of their roster favorites for switching operations 'cuz it's a blast, especially when you don't have to worry about holding the cell phone to record the action!

Current project is a temperamental early PS1.

Back with a better video that I shot last night. I don't have a TIU, just a remote commander, but since both engines are a match electronics-wise, they will run together without problem. I just can't control them so that electro-couplers and sounds can be run separately.

Bob

AND....we all missed it yesterday.....

MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU!

Bob

PS- Happy Cinco de Mayo.....Margaritas at 5......

@walt rapp posted:

I don't know hardly anything about real trains, and in particular, that and RS-3 is a switcher.

Here's an MTH Railking lashup of mine.

walt

Both are still alive and well in my collection Walt despite their prone to failure 5volt boards…”kennywood” and “pirates” !!!

Great stuff, everyone!

Peter

Peter, I agree about great stuff, the posts seem to get better every week!  It’s really fun to see the great variety of trains and creative layout scenes posted by our fellow StSatDayers.  It’s also nice to see new faces in the crowd!

John

Starting to get back into my trains after a long hiatus... Most of what I have has been New York Central, but I've been on a Pennsy kick as of late and made some new acquisitions. Picked up a Lionel Legacy 0-6-0 at a really remarkable price from Trainz. I know it's reputation, but so far it hasn't disappointed. And I love the swinging bell - a fair trade off for lack of marker lamps.

Another cool addition is a Lionel Legacy GP-20. Grabbed this on sale with a discount from Trainworld, along with a matching PC caboose. Being a former MTH product, I was a little wary of the detail. I think Lionel could have reworked the tooling to add decent MU drop downs and bi-color class lights. All in all, not a bad runner. Love the fact I can select different horns/bells.