It's SWITCHER SATURDAY!!! July 13, 2024 Edition

OK, I've been waiting to have some good stuff to share on this thread.  Here are a few members of my Weirton Steel Alco S-2 switcher fleet.  This scene is an afternoon shift at Weirton Steel.

It's not easy to see, but we have #203, #207, and #208 all in this shot.

Here's #203 in front of the Strip Steel mill mock-up.

#208 comes off the wye at the bottom of the Weirton Steel Yard.

And here's #208 in action.

George

Superlative weathering, Pat. Beautiful finish, and the spilled coal is the icing on the cake.

Photos and video show my just-delivered Railking Imperial model (30-1866-1) of Raritan River Rail Road #20, a custom-run USRA 0-6-0 steam switcher from Forum sponsor Public Delivery Track with PS3 at $479.95. The model had no cosmetic or mechanical defects and ran smoothly right out of the box.

Although it’s a Railking product, the model has several features found on Premier steam locomotives including a real tender coal load, engineer and fireman figures in the cab, chains on the tender trucks, and – on the boiler – a bell, whistle and relief valve that appear to be made of brass. At first glance, it looks like a Premier model, although more details are cast-in rather than separately-applied. But the Railking model looks quite good in my opinion.

The Raritan River Rail Road was a 12.3 mile short line that operated in Central New Jersey between New Brunswick and South Amboy beginning in 1888. It became part of Conrail in 1980.

The RRRR bought 7 U.S. Army surplus USRA 0-6-0 steam switcher locomotives – numbers 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 – in 1947 and ’48. They were built by Lima in 1944 and scrapped in 1954. My model – Raritan River #20 – was previously U.S. Army #4055.

Photographs on the website of the Raritan River Rail Road Historical Society do not show builder’s plates on these locomotives and, true to prototype, the model also has none.

MELGAR

@trumpettrain posted:

.....

Last week MELGAR gave a terrific detailed account ( thank you Mel ) of the N&W 244 and 0-8-0 switchers in general here on SwSat!  If you want a refresher on Mels' details check out his post from 7/6/24 edition of SwSat.  

Here are before and after photos of the N&W 244.  

BEFORE : Here is 244 as it appeared brand new right out of the box all nice and shiny!  

AFTER:   This photo taken yesterday.  I used an extra bright light focused on the drive wheels to capture the details of both the running gear and drive wheels.  The crew seems to be happy campers!

Another view taken yesterday in natural light.  

Nice weathering job, Patrick!

To reiterate my Switcher Saturday post of July 6, 2024:

Norfolk & Western #244 was the first Railking model of a USRA 0-8-0 steam engine made by MTH – product number 30-1111-1, delivered in 1997.

The USRA 0-8-0 steam engine was one of 12 locomotive types designed by the United States Railroad Administration during World War 1 when it controlled American railroads between 1917 and 1920. USRA 0-8-0s became the most widely-used design for heavy steam switchers. 175 were built during the period of USRA control and some 1200 more were constructed afterward. The loco and tender had a combined weight of 364,000 pounds and tractive effort was about 51,000 pounds.

Norfolk & Western #244 was the last reciprocating steam locomotive built in the United States for an American Class 1 railroad and also the last steamer built by the N&W at its shops in Roanoke, Virginia. It was completed in December 1953.

MELGAR

Thanks so much Mel for your compliment ...  and for reposting your N&W 244 and general information on the 0-8-0 switchers from last weeks SwSat!!  Much appreciated!!

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Superlative weathering, Pat. Beautiful finish, and the spilled coal is the icing on the cake.

Mark - thank you so very much!!

My NYO&W Mogul moving milk, freight and passengers on a branch line in the Catskills.....

Have a great and safe weekend, folks!

Peter

Good morning, SwSat Nation!  Today I will present the fourth and last switcher of my Western switcher series; I think you’ll agree this brute provides a fitting finale.

Southern Pacific no. 8951 is a Fairbanks Morse H-24-66 Trainmaster road switcher.  It’s a Lionel MPC era model circa 1979, but the mechanical bits are pure postwar Lionel dating back to at least 1940.  This postwar heritage inspired me to test its pulling power, like I did with my Lionel postwar 2035 and 736 steam engines on the last two STEAMday Sunday threads.

Here we go with twenty modern era boxcars in tow!  The 8951 handled the twenty cars with ease, so I briefly tested it with twenty four.  It had no problem with that consist, either, but the load proved to be too much for the couplers on some of the boxcars, resulting in a broken train.  The name “Trainmaster” is no joke!

John

Williams NW2 locomotive with matching N5c caboose. A new purchase frome Trainz.com

Question for Switcher folks:  Are the TMCC and Legacy Alco S-2 shells interchangeable on those chassis?

Thanks,

George

Lots of action at Eola Yard but none near the Metra storage Yard. The track on the right gets traffic from Eola to Batavia but not today. Main line freight also comes through on the tracks not being used by Metra,

This video shows an MTH Premier New York Ontario & Western 44 ton center cab diesel switcher hauling boxcars through My Little Town:

My first diesel was this Lionel Postwar Baltimore & Ohio 44 ton center cab switcher (which still runs well), purchased by my father from Telly Electric Hardware Store in Mt. Vernon, NY around 1963:

Arnold

Happy switcher Saturday!  Here’s an NW2 switcher down in the subway -

Great stuff so far, everyone. @trumpettrain -  I love the weathering job on that steamer. I may work up the courage to do the same on my B6 after seeing your fantastic results.

@trumpettrain Pat, the weathering is spot on, especially the detail around the drive rods, excellent results! As far as having coal on the apron, it wouldn’t work for me, I’d be that fireman with the OCD.😊

Gene

Happy SWSat!

@trumpettrain- The 0-8-0 looks great Pat. I'll have to go back to your WW post for the details.

This forum never disappoints. This week I learned that Lehigh and New England # 611, an ALCO S2, has been in storage for several years and is about to be restored. #611 is the only fully intact locomotive remaining from the L&NE and was purchased by the Railroad and Industrial Preservation Society last year. The article and video tell the rest of the story.

Here's my S2 #612 which recently was brought back to life with a PS3/2 stacker kit.

Have a great weekend!

Bob

@G3750 posted:

Question for Switcher folks:  Are the TMCC and Legacy Alco S-2 shells interchangeable on those chassis?

Thanks,

George

I'd guess that they are George. Lionel may have added details to the Legacy model but the base shell and mounting holes would likely be the same.

Bob

Another Great start and Great looking switcher trumpettrain, some PW  Lionel switchers double heading

The financially poor and badly managed Leonardtown and Savannah RR has finally decided it needs to move from steam to diesel locomotives especially in small confined yards and neighborhoods like those near the Savannah wharf.  It has contracted with EMD to provide one of its demonstrator switcher diesels to try out in operation.  #8770 (a Lionel MPC NW-2 from 1977-1978) is their response.  Will the RR purchase this loco?  They are likely to try and get it for many $$ off as its "used"!!

Here she is leaving the yard with a small consist and headed down to the wharf.

Hope your weekend goes well, Best Wishes

Don

@RSJB18 posted:

Happy SWSat!

This forum never disappoints. This week I learned that Lehigh and New England # 611, an ALCO S2, has been in storage for several years and is about to be restored. #611 is the only fully intact locomotive remaining from the L&NE and was purchased by the Railroad and Industrial Preservation Society last year. The article and video tell the rest of the story.

Here's my S2 #612 which recently was brought back to life with a PS3/2 stacker kit.

Have a great weekend!

Bob

Bob, thanks for posting this. It seems the Lionel #611 is a popular locomotive. When I purchased mine, Mr. Muffin’s was sold out and Trainworld had only 4 left. Could it be because of its history?🤔

Gene

@trumpettrainin, Wow Patrick, verging interesting lead off for todays switcher Saturday.. Wow, your layout is amazing.

This is still my all time favorite little switcher - without a doubt the cutest small locomotive on my layout! A Lionel Lionchief Plus - I am looking forward to being able to run it with my Legacy controller in a couple of weeks when my Base 3 should (hopefully) arrive:

Happy Switcher Saturday!  Hope all is well.

Today I'm showing my early Railking B&M RS-3 ( 30-2207-1) 2.0.

Take Care.

Ray

Another great SWSAT.  Thank you all for posting.

Bravo Patrick!  The weathering effort hit it's mark.

George that's a nice trio serving your steel mill

Mel, the Raritan River?  Now that is different.  Looks right at home on your layout.

Peter the original meaning of "milk run"

John that Traimaster wasn't just pulling those 20 boxcar it was really hauling the mail if you know what I mean.

Bob that accidental red frame with the white handrails really make that S2 pop.  The L&NE should have gone for that as part of their original scheme.

Today the duties fall to my RMT Bang S-4 in Santa Fe colors and the newly arrived on the doorstep today K-Line MP 15 in the beautiful green Kennecott copper paint scheme.

One can never tell what will work or what will not until power is applied to the rails.  My contribution for today is a RailKing RS-1 switcher (scale proportions) with a South Shore Caboose and RPO car in tow ( Weaver I think) .  The latter are 2 rail and I will keep them that way.  I must have done a better job at track laying this time around as these navigate the Atlas rails and switches with no issues.

While continuity checked OK in the loop, there are power issues - probably track that needs a good scrub.

I wish I had the artistic and nuanced skill you (and others) have to so realistically weather your locos and rolling stock, Patrick. I'm posting at the other end of the model railroading "spectrum" with some "toy train" action again for this SWSAT on Sunday:

I've featured this little 8902 2-4-0 in ACL livery on SWSAT before but she's so much fun to run, I figured I'd show her off again in a slightly different operating setting. I got her to stand still here:

She's based on Lionel's first plastic shell steamer, the "Scout" #1001 2-4-2 first issued in 1948. The drive, however, was completely updated for the reissue and is essentially the same horizontally-mounted Mabuchi can motor spur-gear setup as that used in Lionel's (and K-Line's) "all-wheel-drive" diesels of the time without the rectifier boards. I believe this loco headed up all the low-cost MPC-era "Flyer" and promotional starter sets of the time. I've replaced (and saved) her original "slider" collectors with roller versions purchased from Trainz so she runs much more smoothly.

Though she's hauling a few cars more in the video above, this little gal came as part of a "Town House TV and Appliances" promotional starter set from 1986 that included one 9040-series boxcar:

and a caboose in ACL dress:

She's intended to run on the little DC "power pack" that came with the set but it's much more fun to run her on my 1976 vintage MRC Throttlepack:

So, thanks Patrick for another great SWSAT and let's all have fun with trains, however we love them, all week long!

Pete

@Norton posted:

Pete

I really envy you guys with the skills necessary to do things like that to these models.

@Darrell posted:

Today the duties fall to my RMT Bang S-4 in Santa Fe colors and the newly arrived on the doorstep today K-Line MP 15 in the beautiful green Kennecott copper paint scheme.

That kennecott looks awfully familiar! Enjoy her, it's a great switcher!

Yep, can't wait to command control her!

Thanks again!

@trumpettrain posted:

From  another location on the layout, I captured these photos of 244 in the afternoon's all natural light coming in through the west window of my train room.  

Patrick,

This is your best ever weathering job!  Not like I'm some kind of expert, but the steam trails and sanding show the reality of a working loco.  Reminds me of John Allen's handywork.

Lou N

@Lou N posted:

Patrick,

This is your best ever weathering job!  Not like I'm some kind of expert, but the steam trails and sanding show the reality of a working loco.  Reminds me of John Allen's handywork.

Lou N

Wow!!!  Lou, coming from you that is mighty high praise!  Your words humble me to no end. Thank you!