It's SWITCHER SATURDAY August 17, 2024 Edition!!

New York Central #9110 is an MTH Railking model (30-21010-1 with PS3) of a Fairbanks Morse H10-44 diesel switcher. The manufacturing quality and operation are flawless.

Fairbanks Morse planned to begin production of switcher locomotives in 1940 but the U.S. Government requisitioned the supply of its opposed-piston diesel engines for use in submarines during World War 2, so the first H10-44 was not produced until 1944. The locomotive had a distinctive high hood due to the height of its unique engine design which had two pistons in each cylinder and two crankshafts – one below the cylinders and one above.

New York Central #9110, one of eleven NYC Class DES-14 locomotives, was built in 1950 and retired in 1967. Its 6-cylinder engine developed 1000 horsepower at 800 RPM. Starting tractive effort was 72,000 pounds with a continuous rating of 34,600 pounds at 8.3 miles-per-hour and a maximum speed of 60 miles-per-hour. 195 units were built between 1944 and 1950.

Photos and videos show the model on my 12’-by-8’ layout running under conventional control.

MELGAR

Happy SWSAT

Thanks for setting the switchers in motion Patrick.
Here is a WBB PRR 44Tonner moving a pump and tank car to the shops.

Here is an MTH AS-616 METCA exclusive Erie Lackawanna moving a mixed freight across town.

@trumpettrain  Patrick,  fun story and great photos.

It is late 1949 and a couple of steamers that have been around since the 1920s are working the yard with a 4 year old diesel.  The 90 C1 0-8-0 switchers will be gone in three years, while many of the 47 A5 0-4-0 will soldier on for another six years.  The BS-10 diesel was one of 8 purchased by the PRR during and shortly after WWII and was demonstrating to management how much more efficient and reliable diesels are. The Pennsy decided to purchase another 136 BS10a engines, an upgraded version of the BS10.

A5 is MTH, C1 is Weaver, and the VO-1000 is MTH.

@MELGAR posted:

New York Central #9110 is an MTH Railking model (30-21010-1 with PS3) of a Fairbanks Morse H10-44 diesel switcher. The manufacturing quality and operation are flawless.

MELGAR - Terrific post as always!   ...  I'm in total agreement with you.  The MTH RailKing PS3 version of the FM H10-44 is of flawless quality and operation.   I have the B&O version and absolutely love it!  I find the sound of prime mover to be like no other MTH diesel I own.  The sound is superb IMHO!  

The Great Northeastern Railway's (GNR) dockside switcher and its bobber caboose are hooked to the two GNR hoppers and the GNR road caboose to take them to their train that is being assembled on Mt. Carrol Yard's staging track for their eventual journey out of state to their destination for unloading and return to Mt. Carroll.

My New York Central electric from this week’s run sessions…..

Have a great and safe week, folks!

Peter

Happy Switcher Saturday! Here is my RS3 and RS1 playing nice together from a couple of years ago -

Happy SWSat!

Can't believe summer is almost over.......

It an RS3 meet up. My new L&NE (MTH PS3) from Beth at Public Delivery Track, and my recently upgraded New York, New Haven, and Hartford (Weaver/ Lionchief).

The L&NE crew is parked on the warehouse siding while NYNH&H running light passes on the main.

Have a great weekend.

Bob

Patrick, another great start to SwSat. with your descriptive scenes.👍

Lionel Alco S2 getting the job done. Oh, and there had to be a B&O steamer in the background, just couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

Gene

Greetings, SwSat Nation!  Great kickoff, as usual, Patrick, followed by the quality history lesson we’ve come to expect from MELGAR.  I have this vision of MELGAR sitting by his computer, perhaps with a cup of coffee in hand, just waiting for Patrick’s post in the wee hours of Saturday morning.   Is that accurate (LOL)?

The president of Steam Crazy Lines has declared a Central Railroad of New Jersey weekend.  His posts today and tomorrow on StDaySun will feature this popular road.

Today’s switcher is CNJ EMD GP7 no. 1524, an MTH Premier model.  No. 1524 originally came equipped with a PS2 operating system, but now has a PS3 system due to an error by the SC Lines shop crew (pinched wire, blown board).  I believe the prototype no. 1524 is still in existence at a NJ museum, but I couldn’t find it for this post.

John

A Southern GP7 is pushing a set of hatch top boxcars up and back down.  I enjoy watching them because it brings back memories of my grandfather who was an engineer for Southern when these were common on Southern routes.

Nice to have finally worked out the switch issues that allow full runs on both the top and bottom loops of the layout.

@Steam Crazy posted:

Greetings, SwSat Nation!  Great kickoff, as usual, Patrick, followed by the quality history lesson we’ve come to expect from MELGAR.  I have this vision of MELGAR sitting by his computer, perhaps with a cup of coffee in hand, just waiting for Patrick’s post in the wee hours of Saturday morning.   Is that accurate (LOL)?

.....

John

@Steam Crazy,

John - In response to your comment, the first thing I did was to make sure that my computer camera was off. I've been hunched over computer terminals and computers for sixty years. The coffee comment is also accurate. Patrick posted Switcher Saturday early last night (about 9:30 PM) so I didn't stay up past midnight - as I usually do.

Picture shows what I was working on last night.

MELGAR

Great start, as usual, thanks to Patrick.

My contribution is the video below showing an MTH PS3 NY Central RS3 hauling Lionel NY Central Madison Heavyweights around Yankee Stadium, which has a nice addition:

That addition, the Department 56 Yankee Stadium facade, is thanks to my dear Forum friend, Randy Harrison. I am thrilled with it.

Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Great start, as usual, thanks to Patrick.

My contribution is the video below showing an MTH PS3 NY Central RS3 hauling Lionel NY Central Madison Heavyweights around Yankee Stadium, which has a nice addition:

That addition, the Department 56 Yankee Stadium facade, is thanks to my dear Forum friend, Randy Harrison. I am thrilled with it.

Arnold

Arnold, what a difference, that’s a great looking addition!

Gene

Thee addition looks great Arnold.  I hope you kept your original entrance and have it on a shelf somewhere.

@Steam Crazy John- to pull the curtain back a little more. When I'm starting SWSat I prepare my post usually on Friday at some point. Then after midnight, in my recliner watching nothing on TV, I hit send from my phone.

Glamorous right??????

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Great start, as usual, thanks to Patrick.

My contribution is the video below showing an MTH PS3 NY Central RS3 hauling Lionel NY Central Madison Heavyweights around Yankee Stadium, which has a nice addition:

That addition, the Department 56 Yankee Stadium facade, is thanks to my dear Forum friend, Randy Harrison. I am thrilled with it.

Arnold

The new stadium facade looks great Arnold.

And that RS3 must think its a steamer.....

Bob

Guys, just having some fun with you because I’m not a night owl.  I take my photos and videos during the week, but I’m usually not inspired to write until Saturday and Sunday morning.

MELGAR, will look forward to seeing your B&A no. 403 tomorrow.  I think you know I have it too; I love unusual steamers like tank engines and Camelbacks (hint for tomorrow’s post).

Arnold, your new Yankee Stadium looks great!

John

Well first I have to support @Steam Crazy's CNJ weekend, so John here is an extra box car for you!  Sorry I don't have any locos.

Next, I want to thank @trumpettrain and @MELGAR for their great posts.  Partick a great story and Mel a great amount of historical information, thank you both.

Now to my story for today.  The US Army is moving a boxcar that has just arrived at the port of Savannah and headed for the local Army airfield.  The town fathers really like the Army to move their boxcars off the wharf quickly because in the past they have had the unfortunate experience (as Elon Musk says sometimes about Space X rockets) of an "unanticipated rapid disassembly".  So today the Lionel #41 gas turbine switcher from 1955-1957 takes charge of the payload and moves it off the wharf to Hunter Army Airfield.   The Military Police (MP's) in the Jeep provide escort.

Best Wishes, hope you have a great weekend.

Don

Don, thank you, I’ll take support any way I can get it!  I also love your reference to “unanticipated rapid disassembly”.  I just learned what that meant a couple of weeks ago; it’s actually a NASA term, not just a Musk phrase!

John

Thanks, Pat. When’s your novel being published?😁😁😁 Railking

K-Line MP-15, painted for the Terminal Railway, Alabama State Docks, fixed pilots (styrene) and modified handrails here and there. Cut bars. added. All yellow stripes are masking and brush painting.  Fuel tank appearance improved.

Over-done weathering. I can do better now. Recent photos, but this was done 20 years ago. Stock K-Line motors, etc. Runs OK. Their shell was really pretty good.

Most, or perhaps all, of the ASD MP-15's have been converted to gensets, and are unrecognizable (and green in both ways) except for the Blombergs.

Funny - the state-owned switching road is the Terminal Railway, but the locos were lettered for the Terminal Railroad. I guess EMD misunderstood.

Another fine start trumpettrain Hope all switcher fans had a good day. God Speed!

Happy Switcher Saturday! Most of my favorite engines tend to be switchers. Perhaps that’s because my first train (Christmas 1956) was my Lionel 0-4-0 switcher 1615. Today’s photo is of a Southern Pacific 0-6-0 switcher on a whisker track at the SP roundhouse.

Thanks for starting us off with the small steamer theme Patrick! My late small steamer entry features a NYC work train with ALCo 0-6-0 saddle tank X-8688 on the point:

The Lionel 0-6-0 is the conventional version from 2004 and still runs pretty well, but nothing like the new Lionchief 2.0 versions a few of you have. The crane and tender are MTH RK from 1999 and 1996, respectively. The gondola is PW Lionel from 1949.

Bill

Oops! Forgot about @Steam Crazy's CNJ weekend! METCA exclusive CNJ H-15-44 from Lionel:

For some reason, my cell phone camera goes "yellow" when photographing beautiful dark-blue hues like this loco has but here she is anyway!

Doubleheaded Alaska switchers - postwar and MPC versions.

A pair of customized Marx S3 switchers.  Dominicks switcher is a K Line shell on a Marx mechanism.

@cbq9911a posted:

A pair of customized Marx S3 switchers.  Dominicks switcher is a K Line shell on a Marx mechanism.

My parents almost always shopped at the River Forest Dominick's on North Avenue. Dad would get mad about meat quality every once in awhile, but overall it was a great food store. Thanks for sharing! Your Dominick's S-2 brings back fond memories of my youth in suburban Chicago.

Another fabulous Switcher Saturday thanks to all of you folks who posted!!!  A huge shout out to all our regular posters ...  and a big round of applause to all who occasionally contribute  As I've said several times before; It's all of you who make  SwSat such an outstanding thread!   Thank you for your contributions!!!

Please keep posting if you feel the urge.  Switcher Saturday is open to posting any day of the week!  

FYI Mark Spadaro - In answer to you question " When is your novel being published?" ..   I don't know about writing a novel, however, I've begun to compile some fun stories/vignettes with accompanying photos of tails from the rails.

Coming in a near future SwSat will be a weathering job of B&0 Boxcab ( K line by Lionel ) shown below.  

Wishing everyone a fabulous week!!

@trumpettrain posted:

Coming in a near future SwSat will be a weathering job of B&0 Boxcab ( K line by Lionel ) shown below.  

Wishing everyone a fabulous week!!

@trumpettrain

Pat:

"Coming in a near future SwSat will be a weathering job of B&0 Boxcab ( K line by Lionel)".  ...and also, I hope, to Weathering Wednesday?

@trumpettrain posted:

Another fabulous Switcher Saturday

FYI Mark Spadaro - In answer to you question " When is your novel being published?" ..   I don't know about writing a novel, however, I've begun to compile some fun stories/vignettes with accompanying photos of tails from the rails.

This sounds great Patrick !                                                        I've waited sooo long to hear this news.   So many great stories and beautiful photos will be much appreciated.                                                                                     Just from my relatively limited amount of time following your posts , I would have to think that even just a partial composition would merit several volumes showcasing your creative spirit.

Thank you for sharing sir.                                                                        Godspeed