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Welcome to Switcher Saturday!! 10/5/24  

IMG_0663 Celebrating the little engines that do BIG things!  

If you love those do all do anything locomotives that are the backbone of a railroad, you have clicked on THE thread that celebrates all things switching locomotives!   If you are new to this thread please consider posting a photo of your favorite switcher from your layout.  We'd love to see what you have!

A vast majority of us who frequent this thread love those small ( and not so small ) locomotives that can perform all the tasks given by any railroad.   Yep!  Switchers do it all ... switching in yards, at the point of way freights, industrial switching, switching at larger passenger stations, heading a MOW train ... including pushing snow plows, switching tight curvature on city streets & harbor areas, at the point of both commuter passenger trains and long distance passenger trains.  

Switcher Saturday  (SwSat)  welcomes  your photos, videos, and information/discussion  regarding switching  locomotives, steam, diesel, and electric  of all gauges and scales from Z - G  ... and even real life 1:1 scale too!  We'd be honored to have you join us by posting pics and videos of your switchers.  We'd also love reading any information regarding toy, model, or prototypical switchers.  

Please keep in mind:  

* Post only photos that you have personally have taken.  If you post someone else's  photo be sure you have express written permission by the photo's owner to post their photo.  Posting someone else's photo without their permission is a violation of copyright law and the poster can/will be held legally accountable.  

* Refer to and comply with the OGR Forum TOS.  Click on Terms of Service ( TOS ) found at the top of this page.

** Let's keep in our thoughts and prayers all the folks who have tragically lost so much in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.  If you haven't done so, please consider donating to the relief effort. **

I hope everyone has a splendid and safe weekend!!!  York week is fast approaching and I'm eagerly anticipating its' arrival!!   I plan to be there Friday October 18 all day.  I hope to see many of you there!  

This week I'm showing a photo and video of my Weaver brass B&O 0-6-0 switcher as she earns her keep on the Free State Junction Railway.   This 0-6-0 is the newest addition to the FSJR switching roster.  Purchased from TRAINZ this locomotive has been returned to TRAINZ twice for repair to correct some issues.  Both times TRAINZ  offered an apology  for the malfunction and  for any frustration on my part.   They offered no hassle options and offered to make the repairs ... immediately sending me a return authorization for Fedex.  The engine was repaired quickly and returned quickly both times.  It now runs like clockwork!   For this reason I  trust buying from TRAINZ and look forward  to continuing purchasing from them in the future.  I've had nothing but great experiences with this company and have bought several items from them.    Just thought I'd share my experience here with ya'll since TRAINZ seems to always have an abundance of switchers to choose from.   I do appreciate that TRAINZ supports our OGR Forum and ... no I'm not paid by TRAINZ to write this review of my experience.  There are many other great model train retailers who support our forum as well!

Brakemen Curt Baker and Waddy Watson are working the local switch job with engineer Willy Joe Jones at the throttle of B&O 0-6-0 number 350.

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Engineer Willy Joe Jones at the throttle of his 0-6-0 hustles an express mail train back to the yard.  He shows off some fast running for the crew of the B&O Hudson that just terminated the run, having handed off the cars to the 0-6-0.    Ol' Willy Joe is quite the showman with his 0-6-0 .... just look how shined up he keeps it!   Willy can be seen after hours at the round house just polishing every square inch of that locomotive.  I think they fell in love at first whistle blast!  

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My switcher for today is Rutland Railroad #500 - a General Electric 70-Ton locomotive. The model was made by Williams-by-Bachmann (23504). It’s scale-sized, well detailed, neatly assembled, listed for O-27 curves, and runs smoothly even though it doesn’t have command control.

Rutland #500 was built in 1951 and replaced 0-6-0 steam locomotive #106 for switching the Rutland yard. It was powered by a 600-horsepower engine and developed 23,600 pounds of tractive effort with a maximum speed of 55 miles-per-hour. After a strike in September 1961, the Rutland Railroad was abandoned in 1962 and #500 was sold to the Clarendon & Pittsford Railroad of Vermont.

Milk was a major commodity for the Rutland Railroad. Photos show Rutland #500 at various locations on my 10’-by-5’ layout. Video shows it pulling three milk cars and Rutland wood caboose #36 through the tunnel on the north end.

MELGAR

MELGAR_2024_0929_02_RUTLAND_500_10X5_DOWNTOWNMELGAR_2024_0929_08_RUTLAND_500_10X5_EAST_PORTALMELGAR_2024_0929_09_RUTLAND_500_10X5_SS71MELGAR_2024_0929_16_RUTLAND_500_10X5_BRIDGE_CLOSEMELGAR_2024_0929_29_RUTLAND_500_10X5_SOUTHMELGAR_2024_0929_41_RUTLAND_500_10X5_JCTMELGAR_2024_0929_43_RUTLAND_500_10X5_BRIDGEPORT_METALSMELGAR_2024_0929_48_RUTLAND_500_10X5_SOUTH_PORTALMELGAR_2024_0929_55_RUTLAND_500_10X5_TRESTLE

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  • MELGAR_2024_0929_02_RUTLAND_500_10X5_DOWNTOWN
  • MELGAR_2024_0929_08_RUTLAND_500_10X5_EAST_PORTAL
  • MELGAR_2024_0929_09_RUTLAND_500_10X5_SS71
  • MELGAR_2024_0929_16_RUTLAND_500_10X5_BRIDGE_CLOSE
  • MELGAR_2024_0929_29_RUTLAND_500_10X5_SOUTH
  • MELGAR_2024_0929_41_RUTLAND_500_10X5_JCT
  • MELGAR_2024_0929_43_RUTLAND_500_10X5_BRIDGEPORT_METALS
  • MELGAR_2024_0929_48_RUTLAND_500_10X5_SOUTH_PORTAL
  • MELGAR_2024_0929_55_RUTLAND_500_10X5_TRESTLE
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MELGAR_2024_0929_59V_RUTLAND_500_10X5_BRIDGE_TUNNEL_21S
Last edited by MELGAR

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