Skip to main content

Hello switcher fans!!  Welcome to Switcher Saturday!!!  Switcher Saturday ( SwSat)  is THE thread which celebrates by discussion, photos, and videos all things related to switching locomotives both in model  and in real forms.      It doesn't matter what gauge you model in, for SwSat welcomes your photos/videos and/or information for  all gauges from Z- G and real 1:1 gauge as well!  

We ask that you abide by OGR Forum Terms of Service found by clicking on TOS at the top of this page.  As a reminder please post only photos/videos  you have taken.  If you post someone else's photo/video/information be sure to have their express written permission.  Posting copyrighted photos/ videos/ material is a violation of copyright law and violators are legally liable.  

As always, I'm excited to see what you all post!  We greatly learn from one another and you all have so much to share from rehab and upgrade projects, historical and technical information of both model and real switchers and switching railroads, to terrific photos of the latest high tech switchers, post and prewar switchers.  AND of course we as a community learn from all the content you provide.  So please feel free to post your photos and/or information!

I'm super excited about attending the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium, Maryland which takes place Saturday & Sunday Feb. 1&2 at the Maryland State Fair Grounds.  I'll be there on Sunday for sure!   Always a great show ... the February GSMTS tends to be the best of the lot offered GSMTS .. IMHO ... a considerable amount of O gauge/scale, lots of great train club layouts in several gauges, how to clinics, trains of all gauges, scenery items, art, books, tools, and videos ... plus chatting and catching up with train friends.  Who knows what I may find ... perhaps a switcher I can't live without???

This week I'm showing my Patapsco and Back Rivers VO1000 switcher No. 146 shuffling cars at Butler Junction in Patsburg.   This is a MTH RailKing Scale model with PS2 equipped with a BCR.  

As a bit of backstory as to how I acquired this locomotive: This engine came up on E bay ( back in 2016 ).  Bidding was closing the night I had a recording session at a studio in DC.  I "really wanted" this engine in order to complete the short line/switching railroad dimension of my collection!  At the time PB&R engines rarely came up for auction and were rare as hens teeth.   During the recording session I placed my cell phone on my music stand so I could follow the bidding and place a last second bid if needed ... which I didn't have to do.  Needless to say I won the bid.  Number 146 has been a good runner and problem free all these years!    

The Patapsco and Back Rivers Railroad ( PB&R ) is one of four short lines/switching railroads I model.  The real PB&R was one of several railroads owned by the Bethlehem Steel Corp.   The PB&R served the once massively sprawling Bethlehem Steel Plant and Shipyard complex located in Sparrows Point, Maryland, just outside Baltimore City.   In addition to serving Bethlehem Steel, the railroad also served about a dozen or so other customers/industries in the immediate vicinity of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation complex at Sparrows Point. The PB&R owned and operated a large fleet of switchers ( usually 2 person crews ) to handle slag & hot metal/bottle cars .. work the yard ... and service on line customers.  The PB&R interchanged with the 3 major railroads of Baltimore ... B&O, Western Maryland, and the Pennsy.  

PBR employees affectionately referred to the PB&R as the "Bush Bump and Ram".

Have a FUN- TASTIC and safe weekend everyone!!  Happy Ground Hogs Day ( Feb 2 )!! Keep those switches aligned, attend to your switch lists, and green signals to all!!!  See ya next week right here at Switcher Saturday!!

About to drop off a B&O Wagon top boxcar, number 146 pulls through a switch.

IMG_2001

146 has dropped off the B&O boxcar on Team Track One.  IMG_2003IMG_1979

Crossing the grade at Patsburg Ave., folks on the ground have this view of 146. IMG_1983

Brakeman Issac Moody rides the front deck of 146.  He's thinking to himself "It's going to be a good day of switching!"  IMG_1988

Attachments

Images (5)
  • IMG_2001
  • IMG_2003
  • IMG_1979
  • IMG_1983
  • IMG_1988
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

I purchased a model of New Haven Railroad USRA 0-8-0 Steam Locomotive #3409 at the Amherst Railway Society’s Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield, MA on January 26, 2025. I came across it 15 minutes before the show closed. It looked like I was going to escape the show without buying any trains but, alas, that was not the case.

It’s an MTH Railking Imperial model (30-1611-1 like new) with PS3 delivered in 2015. I have a similar MTH Premier model of New Haven #3400 with scale wheels that needs O72 turnouts, so I can run it only on my O72 outer loop. The Railking model will run on the O54 loops of my 12’-by-8’ and 10’-by-5’ layouts.

Last Saturday, forum member @Steam Crazy said he was heading to the Springfield show and would be looking to buy a switcher. I wonder what he came up with. I think he would have liked this one.

The New Haven received ten class Y-3 USRA 0-8-0 heavy switchers, road numbers 3400 to 3409, from Alco in September 1920. A total of thirty-five were acquired by 1923. They had 51-inch drivers, were superheated, and ran at 175 pounds-per-square-inch steam pressure – later increased to 190. All were retired by March 1952.

Photos and video show #3409 on my 10’-by-5’ layout with O54 curves.

MELGAR

MELGAR_2025_0127_03_NH_3409_10X5MELGAR_2025_0127_12_NH_3409_10X5_JENKINSMELGAR_2025_0127_16B_NH_3409_10X5_SOUTH_PORTALMELGAR_2025_0127_72_NH_3409_10X5_BRIDGEPORT_METALSMELGAR_2025_0127_87_NH_3409_10X5_TRESTLE

Attachments

Images (5)
  • MELGAR_2025_0127_03_NH_3409_10X5
  • MELGAR_2025_0127_12_NH_3409_10X5_JENKINS
  • MELGAR_2025_0127_16B_NH_3409_10X5_SOUTH_PORTAL
  • MELGAR_2025_0127_72_NH_3409_10X5_BRIDGEPORT_METALS
  • MELGAR_2025_0127_87_NH_3409_10X5_TRESTLE
Videos (1)
MELGAR_2025_0129_04V_NH_3409_10X5_BRIDGE_TUNNEL_26S

Here is one of my best road switchers, an MTH PS1 Jersey Central FM Trainmaster:

IMG_3377

IMG_3378

It is an excellent puller, has great smoke and sounds and has run beautifully on my layout ever since I bought it for about $300 in the late 1990s.
This video shows it hauling oil tankers through my little town:

I hope to one day run this Jersey Central road switcher on the future new layout of the New Jersey HiRailers after its constructed. Arnold

Attachments

Images (2)
  • IMG_3377
  • IMG_3378
Videos (1)
IMG_3380
Last edited by Arnold D. Cribari

Yesterday I renovated a (1970’s) David O. King boxcab switcher that was a decoration of sorts on my railmarine endeavors back in 2004.  After a lot of dismantling, cleaning and some lube it became worthy of operation! I’ve had it for twenty + years it never ran.
(Details of the renovation can be found in “what’s on the workbench at the moment” topic.)

Movie: the inaugural test run on my rail float.

A bit funky but will load and unload rolling stock on the railfloat.

A very happy February first and happy switcher Saturday to all.

Attachments

Videos (1)
IMG_1969
Last edited by Leroof

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×