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A PA for my CZ

markermarkerOGR Forum Member
Okay, so the CZ cars were too much to pass up. I don't ever know if I'll ever see satisfactory Santa Fe cars, so I bought the CZ cars and decided to use the "Joint Line" as a basis for my layout.

So now, I need power. I have an old Lionel Alco PA much like the one Erik has heading his train, but certainly not the exquisite Key model he owns.



Now the reason for the post. I've had the engine packed away for at least 12 years. I thought it would be a good candidate for the CZ. It originally came with upgraded Lionel 16" PW styled cars that were a joke with a scale sized PA. Anyway, I always liked this paint scheme the best of the D&RGW PA schemes.

The engine was pre-TMCC with ancient railsounds of I don't know what. There is a EMD sounding diesel that was put in all Lionel pre-TMCC engines. The engine was also of MTH-Lionel heritage. When MTH and Lionel dissolved their early partnership, MTH ended up coming out with a PA that had some similarities but many differences. One similarity was that the pilot would fit the front truck of either engine.

So after taking the picture above, I decided to start surgery to bring the engine up to command control standards. Years ago I converted the MTH Alco PA to TMCC, it had been conventional. The picture of the engine immediately bothered me because of the glare coming from the cab.

I guess the point without going into what will happen to this engine is that what I can live with has changed greatly. If you look at the picture, you can see that I couldn't photograph it with a Lionel coupler. The rear ladders are attached to the rear truck. The pilot needs to be fixed, couplers changed, command control and Alco sounds (one of the better RS4 sound sets) installed. I already mounted an Evan designs mini LED for the cab lighting and the interior will need some improvement. The engine came with an Korean dressed train engineer in each A unit with no fireman.

The engine is a dinosaur by today's standards.

I just had to comment.
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markermarkerOGR Forum Member
quote:
A PA for your CZ sounds OK

I also ordered the 3rd Rail E7 and have the lead Atlas WP F3. I hope to come up with the B units, everything shows up with time. I may also pop for the CB&Q Atlas F3. I enjoy the history of it all and like examples.

rdunniii's critique make the E's sound very good. I've already ordered number boards from P&D. I hope they work.
Number 90Number 90OGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER
I think it's a great idea to have an engine for each of the three roads for your CZ. Keep us updated on the progress you make with your Rio Grande Alcos. Straighten out any visitors who call it the Ree-o Geand-e. The D&RGW boys always pronounced it Ry-o Grand. If I had not worked for Santa Fe, I'd just as soon have worked for the Rio Grande as a second choice.

In 1961,I was fortunate to have watched the D&RGW trade off the train to the WP in Salt Lake City. It arrived with an FTA-FTB-F3B-F3A and departed with an FP7-F3B-F7B. Later that week, we visited my aunt and uncle in Steamboat Springs, and the westward "Yampa Valley Mail" arrived with a single PA1, but in the single black stripe. Even though it only had 4 cars, it was upgrade westbound and the Engineer had the Alco in Run-8, with thick black smoke boiling out of the stack when the train departed. Those Rio Grande Engineers were generally very good. Shortly after the Mail departed, 4 FT's came through eastward with a solid train of black D&RGW stock cars from Craig, where they were moving sheep.
HW Hot WaterOGR Forum Member
quote:
Originally posted by bob2:
My impression is that,of the inexpensive PAs, the MTH is the most accurate. Hope Lionel fixed the nose taper.

Well that, plus the D&RGW couldn't get reliable service out of their PA units, so they quickly went with EMD F units on the Cal Z. Erik has posted some photos of a smaller D&RGW passenger train with one PA and one EMD F unit, in order to make sure the train got there!
Erik C LindgrenErik C LindgrenOGR Forum Member
quote:
Originally posted by SB..:
I gotta ask.... What is the deal with the orange vs the yellow on the D&RGW 4-stripes. I imagine both are correct, but why? The orange looks SO much better.


Early on the color for the Grande Gold was as they say a white with a whisper of golden/yellow. Roughly this is the color EMC applied to the FT's back in the early 40's. Later on as the Grande adjusted the color scheme they tinted it more orange/gold than the whisper white/yellow.

The heavyweight car in the photo is a creative approach to the baggage mail cars used and some arguments exist that these were painted the yellow first then later changed to color applied to the lightweight Pullman Standard cars as you see.

Technically your right and wrong and so is the owner of that car. I think I would rather it match but this is what we got. Wink
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