IT's SWITCHER SATURDAY April 20, 2024 Edition

Here is a bit of a hybrid...a Hornby M0 tank shell, re-powered with a Marx mechanism to make it electric.  Here she is pulling a string of AF pre - war passenger / baggage  cars.  Just a little 0-4-0 moving a short local passenger train to the next village.

Best Wishes

Don

Happy Switch Sat!

Today's pics are from Essex Steam train and Riverboat, Essex, CT. I lived close by and would stop to watch.

Take Care, Ray

WOW!!! You all have some great content up so far today!!! JHZ 563 - John thanks for the tour of your plant operations and the PPL locomotive looks fabulous!!!  Bill Swatos - your model of John's company's  locomotive also looks fabulous ... as does John's on his FCC!!!   I love all the FM H 10- 44 posts in several different liveries ... and of course Mel's detailed information on this locomotive  ...fabulous!!  Don - your hybrid Hornby plus switcher is quite interesting!  RayKay - beautiful red and black 44 tonner in 1:1 scale!!   Sitka's 0-4-0 Pennsy is gitner done!!  Tom Densel I love that Atlas O SW8 in Penn Central livery!  Ron great video of your B6 doing its thing .. fabulous!  Arnold I'm so happy that we got to meet in person!  I love that GP7/9 of the Maryland Midland variety ... and a lovely string of boxcars it's pulling too!  Peter - It was great seeing you yesterday AND your post today  wins the Rare Find Prize!  Can't wait to see your Penn Central steam switcher in action next week!  Pennsyfan - Bob I too regret that  our paths didn't cross while at York yesterday.  I would have loved to have met you in person and am happy that your son helped you to make the trip!   Got to love a VO1000!  I sure hope Percy and Jasper love that locomotive too!

Here are some videos I took in the Orange Hall yesterday.  Although not a switcher the first video is a short of the new Atlas O  2-8-0 Consolidation that's now in the new Atlas O catalogue.   It's a fine looker IMHO!!  I'm sure at some point there were many 2-8-0 locomotives who served as switchers in yards, and on local freight jobs.  

The second and third videos are on Brain Inche's  display layout.  Brian is a custom layout builder.  I think you'll love this Coor's Beer switcher pulling a cut of reefers through exquisite scenery and over a wooden trestle.  Enjoy!!

SWITCHERS GALORE!!!   ... Here are photos of switcher I took yesterday at York's Orange Hall.  Mr. Muffin had no shortage of switchers ... huge variety of road names and switcher types.  The top 15 photos are all from Mr. Muffin's booth. My apology for not snapping pics of steam switchers.  They were represented thoughout the Orange Hall, however, for some reason it didn't occur to me to snap photos ... duh!  Next time!  Hope you enjoy these.

I don't remember where I snapped this pic of the ALLSTATE loco but I thought the this guy looks pretty cool!

Ford Motor Co center cab.

I took this phots at a vintage European train booth.  Check out the switcher on the right top shelf.

A couple of Lionel 0-6-0 tank engines that have been outfitted with sound

I snapped this one of the Wine Train 44 tonner while I was at the TRAINZ booth.

Patrick,

I've never been to York before, not sure I'd I ever will. What were your impressions...was it more crowded or less crowded compared to other shows, etc.?

Thanks for posting pictures.

Tom

@Steam Crazy posted:

Good morning, SwSat nation!  I’m happy to hear so many of you had a good time at York and I wish I was there to hear Arnold’s and Shawn’s performance!  If it was recorded and you have a link, please post it so we all can enjoy it.

John

I'm not aware of any recording made of our performance yesterday, but Bob Bueller, TCA Chairman, has invited us to perform music at the upcoming TCA Convention. Specifically, my wife and I will be singing my model railroad song, Who Am I (Rollin' By), train-related songs including my favorite, City of New Orleans, and others at the Welcoming Party on Wedesday evening June 19th, and the Banquet on Saturday evening June 22nd, both to be held at the Commonwealth Ballroom of the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square Hotel.

Arnold

Here's a photo of my newest switcher bought at York yesterday. Chessie System NW2 #5063. This is a RailKing Scale diesel and can run on O27 curves. Brand new with zero miles on it. I have it with a new Weaver Maryland Midland hopper.

Charlie

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I'm not aware of any recording made of our performance yesterday, but Bob Bueller, TCA Chairman, has invited us to perform music at the upcoming TCA Convention. Specifically, my wife and I will be singing my model railroad song, Who Am I (Rollin' By), train-related songs including my favorite, City of New Orleans, and others at the Welcoming Party on Wedesday evening June 19th, and the Banquet on Saturday evening June 22nd, both to be held at the Commonwealth Ballroom of the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square Hotel.

Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari

Arnold:

That is GREAT!!! I can see a national tour of train shows in your future.

Also, it was a pleasure finally meeting you and your beautiful wife in person in the lobby of the Orange Hall in York this past Friday.

@trumpettrain posted:

Here are some videos I took in the Orange Hall yesterday.  Although not a switcher the first video is a short of the new Atlas O  2-8-0 Consolidation that's now in the new Atlas O catalogue.   It's a fine looker IMHO!!  I'm sure at some point there were many 2-8-0 locomotives who served as switchers in yards, and on local freight jobs.  

@trumpettrain Patrick,

Thanks for the mention (and Bob too @pennsyfan ).  Many 2-8-0 steamers became road switchers or even just switchers late in their careers.  So it being here is just fine.

The Atlas 2-8-0 looks great and thanks for the video.  My main concern is it has 3 chuffs/rev.  I know this is not a big deal for most, but kind of odd.  Hopefully their production engine has four.

Ron - if it has PS3 electronics, the chuff rate will be adjustable from 1 to 4

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I'm not aware of any recording made of our performance yesterday, but Bob Bueller, TCA Chairman, has invited us to perform music at the upcoming TCA Convention. Specifically, my wife and I will be singing my model railroad song, Who Am I (Rollin' By), train-related songs including my favorite, City of New Orleans, and others at the Welcoming Party on Wedesday evening June 19th, and the Banquet on Saturday evening June 22nd, both to be held at the Commonwealth Ballroom of the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square Hotel.

Arnold

I enjoyed talking to you and your wife yesterday morning, on the elevator ride up at the hotel.  I did get to heat your show a little when my son let me escape from his table in the blue hall.  Thank you both.

@CAPPilot posted:

@trumpettrain Patrick,

I know this is not a big deal for most, but kind of odd.  Hopefully their production engine has four.

I studied that model for 5 minutes and didn’t notice that.  Tells you how observant I am…

@PRR8976 posted:

Patrick,

I've never been to York before, not sure I'd I ever will. What were your impressions...was it more crowded or less crowded compared to other shows, etc.?

Thanks for posting pictures.

Tom

Tom - As I was only in the Orange Hall all day ( 10:30 a.m. - 6 pm and not visiting any dealer halls ) yesterday, I thought the crowd there was good sized.  At times "some"  ( not all ) of the isles were so full of folks that it was a challenge to navigate a path through.  As for the Orange Hall I thought it was well attended and was on par with the crowds that I've experienced over the years since my first York in the fall of 2010.  I've usually attended on Fridays over the years and yesterday of course being a  Friday was no exception.  Again, I spent all my time in the OH yesterday so I'm not able to speak for attendance at the overall show.

It was easy to get a parking spot right in front of the Orange Hall.  Over the years I've had to park on the grass a good distance from the OH.  As a matter of fact I've been able to park in front of the OH for the last few York meets now that I think about it.  Also, I did notice a great reduction in the amount of RVs parked on the fair grounds.  There was a sparse representation of RVs compared to several years ago.  

On a personal note, I found this particular York experience to be my most enjoyable since my first time attending back in 2010 , which for me was mind blowing!!   I usually only attend York one day only.  Whenever I attended York in the past I've felt the need to see all the halls in that single day.  That mindset  created angst because I just didn't slow down enough to fully take in any one hall.  Yesterday, allowing myself to slow down and just immerse myself into the energy of the OH, taking my time and thouroughly looking at products, chatting with friends, watching demos, and fully listening to what vendors had to say was deeply enjoyable.    As a side note, at the end of the day I found myself having more energy than ever before after attending a day at York. ( Plus I got little sleep Thursday night )   Usually after a day at York, visiting all the halls, I feel exhausted/totally spent ... but not this time.  As a matter of fact I came home, walked my dog, fixed and ate dinner, downloaded some music for today's gig, practiced my trumpet, then prepared SwSat all before midnight and still had plenty of energy ( only 1 cup of bad coffee yesterday morning too .. lol! ).  I got up at 7:30 am this morning, walked the dog, took a quick shower, ate breakfast, got dressed for the gig, warmed up on my trumpet, then took off for the gig.

As I drove home last night, I did find myself regretting not visiting any of the dealer halls.  Simultaneously I had a sense of joy and deep satisfaction with my York experience.  I'm currently pondering the idea of getting a hotel room for Wednesday and Thursday night for this coming fall's York meet.  This way I can be at the York fair grounds when the train show opens on Thursday and have all day Friday to attend.  I think doing this will allow me to take my time and see more halls without angst.

If you are ever able to make it to York, I whole heartedly encourage you to go.  Many folks who've been a member of TCA and who've been in attendance for decades, say the show is not what it used to be.  And yes, as I've been going for 14 years and York is not what it used to be when I began going, however, it's still a wonderful place to go and be engaged in model/toy trains.  The folks who attend all share the love of model/toy trains and those folks really co-create a wonderful atmospheric energy in which to enjoy our terrific hobby.  I always keep in mind the adage: " The only constant in life is change."  I apologize if my response was too lengthy.

I attached this  clip of my new MTH B&O H -10-44 in action to keep this post switcher related.    

@Sitka posted:

Morning SWITCHER SATURDAY fans. Lionel 0-4-0 moving some empty hoppers.

I see Mom's hard at work puttin' everything where it belongs, Mark, like moms always do!

Hey Patrick,

   Thanks for the very detailed summary of your York experiences. It was all good to know.

Tom

@trumpettrain Patrick, I really enjoyed your many photos in OH and your reply to Tom regarding your general impressions at York. It helped me feel a bit like I had attended and strengthened my resolve to do so in the future.

@jhz563 posted:

And since the crew was headed to break when I walked out to the job, here's some other shots I thought you'd like.

Here's a Sunny Side shot of 2102:

Horns horns horns!  I suggested more Horns and some remote operation side lights to Pat when he commissioned this custom run, but no luck.  He did however make some paint changes from the original concept sketches and we got a really nice model!

Those "little cats" parked in the corner are D10 dozers.  Honestly they're huge up close.

View thru the dumper

Republic locomotive unit staged in the thaw shed

View inside the thaw shed.

Controls for the dumper and all the belts.  (that shed controls in the same room, not pictured)

A little video action:

And the reason I'm at work this morning: A fifteen year overhaul on a 2 stage axial fan.  8000 hp at leisurely 720 rpm.

Regulating end hydraulic cylinder alignment

Nice tour, John! I'm getting a bit "off track" here, but is this the fan that regulates the boiler combustion chamber draft to keep the "fireball" in the right place? It's amazing to see what many of us take for granted when we turn on a light. That must be a different experience for you...

@Bill Swatos posted:

Nice tour, John! I'm getting a bit "off track" here, but is this the fan that regulates the boiler combustion chamber draft to keep the "fireball" in the right place? It's amazing to see what many of us take for granted when we turn on a light. That must be a different experience for you...

Yup, making electricity is easy, just flip that little switch on the wall! 

Yes this is a dual purpose fan.  It's primary job is as the induced draft fan, which moves combustion gas out of the boiler and maintains the furnace pressure at negative pressure.   This particular fan is also sized to push the gas through the wet scrubber. 

This unit is small to midsized in power generation terms, about 390 MW.  There are 4 fans total, 2 forced draft, 1 hot gas recirculation fan, and this ID fan.  This fan is part of a large retrofit executed around 2008. 

I found pictures from original construction showing many of the large components coming in by rail.  There's some nice shots a Pennsy GP unit with a cut of Switcher breakers on flatcars.

@jhz563 posted:

Horns horns horns!  I suggested more Horns and some remote operation side lights to Pat when he commissioned this custom run, but no luck.  He did however make some paint changes from the original concept sketches and we got a really nice model!

John, you wouldn't happen to have a link to hear this beauty sounding off, would you? The PS-3 sound file in the MTH model is PRR with the single chime Leslie A-200 that was ubiquitous on PRR locos. Looks like you've got a dual chime AND a five chime horn up there.

@PRR8976

Tom,

After a hiatus of about 3 years I attended this York only because my son drove me and walked with me. We ended up in the Blue hall about 3 1/2 hours. I was dismayed at the number of empty tables.