Front End Friday

My contribution today is this pic of my Western Pacific GP9 Lionel prototype remake:

For more on it's history go here: Recreation of a Post War Lionel Prototype - How I made it (warrenvillerailroad.com)

@Don McErlean posted:

@Strap Hanger- Love your subway pictures but your text piqued my curiosity...what is a "Low-V" ?

Thanks Don

Hi Don. Love your Pics as well.  The name "Low-V" or Lo-V" was used to describe a type of NYC subway car that entered service in the 1910s/20s.  They were in service through the 1960s.  Here is a decent writeup from the MTH website -

As the IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit) subway expanded in New York City, the need for additional equipment prompted the ordering of 600 low voltage type motor cars. One hundred of these cars came from Pullman in 1916 and 1917, while the remaining 500 were purchased from American Car and Foundry in 1924. An additional 510 non-powered trailer cars entered service between 1916 and 1922. Typical of subway equipment of their day, the steel-sided cars featured rattan seating and rather dim overhead lighting.

The LO-V cars, as the low voltage equipment came to be known, used a low voltage controller, or throttle, to control the high voltage that actually powered the car. This marked a dramatic improvement in safety for the motorman, who in previous HI-V cars had his hand on a controller directly connected to 600 volts of direct current on the third rail. The LO-V cars incorporated a master controller powered by a 32-volt battery, enabling the motorman to control the 600 volts passing through the DC group switches located under the car without fear of electrocution. The LO-V cars served for nearly four decades before being replaced by new cars with plush seating and bright fluorescent lighting.

@Strap Hanger-thank you for the explanation of the term “low V”  I rode the subways all the way through the period 1955-1962 I might have even rode on one of these cars. Thanks again for the information

Don

FEF, a work in progress. A Std Gauge Glenn FA diesel being repainted and decaled for SP bloody nose scheme. The rough casting and heavy molded in details make it challenging.

Happy FeF, everyone. With all the smoke here in NEPA it seems like we're living next to the engine shop. K-Line PRR A5 913 is in for a check-up. There's a lot of head scratching going on with the crew so it may be stuck here for a while.

Bob

FeF Southern Pacific 1102 SW8 hauling a couple of boxcars from an industrial line to a siding off the mainline for pickup. A bunch of kids playing hoops in the background while the train slowly passes by at the track speed limit of 10 mph. I'm gonna steal a line from Patrick (@trumptrain), "Just another day on the railroad"! Cheers Patrick!

Happy Friday everyone, and have a great weekend!

Hmmm, this photo reminds me I need to plant some bushes around the base of that flood light base.

A late FEF entry, my new CR "safety themed" K-Line MP15/SW1500:

K-Line apparently produced "safety themed" locos and rolling stock exclusively for CR starting in the early 2000's after most of CR's trackage was sold off to NS and CSX and what was left began operation as Conrail Shared Assets Operations or CSAO. More to come on SWSAT...

@Sitka posted:

Have a good FEF all!  Front end PW Lionel 2018 seeing some tail ends. God and Country!

Nice 2018 Mark! I've got 2037 with the 243W tender. Is yours also a 243W?

Happy FEF and weekend all! Nothing much new this week but here’s my submission for today, day job has me in a vacuum lately but hoping to get back to the layout soon.

John

Just came in last weekend so I finally get to post the pictures. The tip of the spear as arrived.

@Strap Hanger posted:

Great yard shots @SIRT , Choo Choo Mike, and @RSJB18 .  Sirt, I particularly like that WNEW sign on the bus - great memories! I’m still on vacation, but had the chance to take a few great front end shots a few days ago on our visit to the NY Aquarium in Coney Island -

Hope you got coupla dogs and fries at Nathan’s across the street!

@Bill Swatos posted:

Nice 2018 Mark! I've got 2037 with the 243W tender. Is yours also a 243W?

Hey Bill it is a 6026W that has some good sound.

@Trainwreck nate- Beautiful PA Nate...I was a Navy Dept Aero Engineer and worked with a lot of Marines as we developed and improved their helicopters and the V-22.  Super people, great patriots, and fun to work with.

Don

Might as well get double duty out of this guy - MTH RK NH GP9

Good evening everyone, there’s a lot of beautiful pictures and videos on this uniquely fun to read thread. I’m late, but here’s a few pictures for your review. Happy Railroading Everyone

Have a good FeF Prewar Lionel 225E moving freight, Have a good weekend.

Happy FEF!

Good morning OGR Forum members, it’s a beautiful Friday and for today, I’m showing another one of the famous “ Harmonyards “creations, re-doing a Lionel Berkshire that had Zinc Pest with an MTH Boiler painted perfectly to match the tender… Pat does amazing work, he’s a perfectionist…Here’s to you Pat… Happy Railroading Everyone     ( this was special made for my friend Rich Hane, Madisonville, Ky.)

Well today its my first look at a new acquisition, arrived late yesterday.  Its a Marx 666 loco from 1955.  This one is a little unique in that its a "double reduction" locomotive designed to work better at slow speeds, have not evaluated that yet but will likely do that over the weekend.  It has (normal) smoke - some 666 locos had cylinder smoke.  Its condition for being 68 years old is excellent, does not appear to have run all that often.  The bell on the boiler front platform, the illuminated number plate at the center of the boiler front , and the brass add on whistle, are some of the neat details.

Hope you have a great weekend.  Its likely to be HOT here in central Texas, headed for 100+ this afternoon

Best Wishes

Don

I have a picture off the web that shows a crane car with the caption stating it is in the lead because there were no by run-around tracks near the accident.  So, in the case, this is the front end as it is being pushed to the accident site.

Better late than never. Happy FeF!

Better late than not at all. 😳😉  Two 3 rail beauties for the price of one 😬    Left MTH SP with fixed pilot, right 3rd Rail Cotton Belt  

Cheers 😜

Happy FeF!  Here is the front end of an R-33 Worlds Fair train passing the station along with other assorted subway front ends.  Here's to a great weekend!

Happy FEF!

Lot's of talk this week about Menard's latest beta engine. This is a Beta 1.

(Honorable mention to the 2 ALCO's up on the shelf too)

Bob

Here are my ends of the front kind for this fine Friday!  

Head end brakeman Pip Feldman rides the front deck of B&O SW9 as it pushes  a block of cars ( not shown )

Good afternoon, FEFers.  Here are my fronts ends for today:

Okay, these are technically the 'A' end of these freight cars (no hand brakes which are on the 'B' end).  Just a little expansion of the definition of "front".

This is the front end of New York Central P-2b electric motor #223 which hauled commuter trains between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and Croton-Harmon along the Hudson River. The model is by MTH Premier with PS1.

MELGAR

@Strap Hanger- I know this isn't strictly "railroad" stuff, but your posting of the "Worlds Fair Train" brought back some very pleasant memories for me.  My future wife (of 57 years) and I took that train when we were just 18 (1962 or 63) into the NY worlds fair.  It was a big deal at the time, perhaps our first real un-escorted trip any distance from our home and parents in NJ.  In fact in those days the drinking age in NY was 18 so I think we might have even had a drink at lunch!! It was a memory that stayed with us the rest of our lives.

Well today, I have brought out one of my older diesels, the Marx NH E-7  offered for quite a bit of time, 1960-1974.  Mine is an AB set, although I have only pictured the A unit today.  Sort of targeting those waning days of the end of passenger runs, this powerful diesel only has to pull one coach today just filling out the schedule.

Here is the classic F.E.F. perspective.  Handsome as these E7 plastic diesels were in general, they really didn't have much detail added to the basic casting.  I realized after I took the picture that I really have to do something with that terrible screw head to disguise it better.  These were single motor with the power going to the rear trucks but they pulled quite well.

Another "front end" picture showing a little more of the rest of the locomotive.

Finally here is the side view so you can see the entire A unit.  Again, cast in details are pretty good and reasonably authentic.  IAW the Trains "Guide to North American Diesel Locomotives", pg 67 the position of the vents seems accurate and the side mounted number boards would be correct for E-7's built before 1947.  Unfortunately, IAW the same book, the New Haven was an ALCO road and EMD played only a small part in their line up and alas they had no EMD cab units.

So there you are F.E.F. fans, a diesel by Marx that would have been very handsome but IRL it didn't exist.

Best Wishes

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

@Strap Hanger- I know this isn't strictly "railroad" stuff, but your posting of the "Worlds Fair Train" brought back some very pleasant memories for me.  My future wife (of 57 years) and I took that train when we were just 18 (1962 or 63) into the NY worlds fair.  It was a big deal at the time, perhaps our first real un-escorted trip any distance from our home and parents in NJ.  In fact in those days the drinking age in NY was 18 so I think we might have even had a drink at lunch!! It was a memory that stayed with us the rest of our lives.

Nice pics and pretty cool story, Don.  You should pick up a set of those MTH Worlds Fair subway cars.  They also have a two car non powered add-on set that would look great by itself on a shelf.  Both can be found on various auction sites or at a forum sponsor. Go for it!

Have a good FEF All!!

@Strap Hanger- I am most definitely  going to take your advice.  My personal connection just demands it! Thank you for your comment.

@Sitka -  Ha!! I bet you didn't proof read your post above.  It reads..."have a goof FEF.. which I believe is a splendid idea. Its trending towards 100 deg here in central Texas and so that is what I am going to do...goof off!  Thank you for your advice.

Sincerely

Don

Here's a couple of front ends. Looks like the fire department is getting a jump on the 4th of July!

Bob, I know one of those AlCos is LIRR, is the other Santa Fe?  It looks like the ATSF cigar band nose herald.

Mel, weren't the P2s from CUT?

Ron. I started out as an environmental engineer in 1984.  One of the sewage treatment plants I worked on still used gaseous chlorine delivered in those cylinders for final disinfection.  They came in by ruck not by rail.

Don that's a sharp looking product by Marx.

@coach joe- Thank you for the compliment on my Marx Diesel.  They only used it in 6 sets, all freight.  Never made a set of "scale" passenger cars for it as they did for the Santa Fe, NYC, and WP.  Maybe Kline made something suitable?

Don

Early (1995) MTH GG1, traditional size, conventional runner, made in Korea, indestructible.

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Early (1995) MTH GG1, traditional size, conventional runner, made in Korea, indestructible.

Great looking model Mark .          Have you ever considered an upgrade ps2/3  ?

@Don McErlean posted:

@Strap Hanger- I am most definitely  going to take your advice.  My personal connection just demands it! Thank you for your comment.

@Sitka -  Ha!! I bet you didn't proof read your post above.  It reads..."have a goof FEF.. which I believe is a splendid idea. Its trending towards 100 deg here in central Texas and so that is what I am going to do...goof off!  Thank you for your advice.

Sincerely

Don

Good eyes Don glad you got to goof off

@WesternPacific, Scott, I love that Southern Pacific switcher, the fellows on the front look happy, very nice scene, Happy FEF fellows, oh yes, on the recent page, RSJB18 Bob, the Menards Sante Fe F unit looks beautiful and right at home, Happy Railroading Everyone

@coach joe posted:

Mel, weren't the P2s from CUT?

Joe,

The P-1a electric motors operated under catenary at Cleveland Union Terminal beginning in 1929. Electric operation was eliminated by dieselization of CUT during the 1950s. Twenty P-1a motors were converted to 660-volt DC third-rail power and designated P-2b for operation between Grand Central Terminal and Croton-Harmon in 1955.

MELGAR