Southern RR Fans- PHOTOS

Among my Southern Railway favorites are the three GP40X units built for the road in 1978. Here are all three together working a train in multiple:

Bob 

clinchfield bill posted:

A friend of mine had a periodical that a gentleman wrote about the old Weed Line that ran from Alexandria Va to Harrisonburg Va.  The man worked the Weed Line and in his own words talked about his experiences.   I forget how many years he worked but it was some very interesting reading about working for the Southern Railroad.  My friend has misplaced his copy and I was wondering if anybody might have information as to where another copy could be found. 

http://www.amazon.com/Southern...Hepler/dp/1883089638

Southern Ten-Wheeler, taken in or near Mobile, 1930's. These were used between Mobile and Selma. They were green and gold. Very shiny and snazzed-up, too, apparently.

Lionlman posted:

Williams custom painted U33C with high hood added



Williams custom painted SD-45 with high hood added



MTH custom painted GP-30 with high hood added



I have had the U33C and GP-30 converted to TMCC with Railsounds.

Neal Jeter

Just came across these. Great job! How hard was it to build the high hood? I want to do something similar to my Lionel SD40-2's.

I used a zona saw to remove the roof of the low hood.  I tried to use a Dremel cut off wheel but all it did was melt the plastic.  I built the high sides and nose with sheet styrene.  I then used super glue to attach the styrene to the roof and sides.  I then used auto body putty to fill in any gaps.  I then spray painted the entire engine flat black.  I used Microscale O scale Southern Railway decals.  After this I sprayed the entire engine with dullcote.  

Neal Jeter 

The firecracker antenna, and bell and bracket are O scale detail parts.  I don't remember if they were Keil, CalScale, or Precision Scale.  The ladder rungs are staples I bent and cut to size.  The headlights and number boards I saved from the engines and reused them.  

Neal Jeter 

Hello All!, Here is my latest addition to my layout!  MTH-Premier Southern PS-3 E-8 Diesel Engine #6900. I have a video and some pictures of my latest engine.................Rogerw.

Roger:

Thanks for sharing.

Neal Jeter

Roger,

Congrats on your new E8.  Did MTH update the trucks to the modern 3 axle arrangement with the blind axle in the middle instead of the inner most axle?  In other words, flange-blind-flange instead of B-F-F.  The older E8s I have are the latter and they derail constantly in switches.

Cheers,

Bryan 

Hello Bryan, The trucks are the same as previous editions of MTH-Premier E-8 Engines..............Rogerw.

Man,  that's  a really nice train Roger!

RidgeRunner posted:

Roger,

Congrats on your new E8.  Did MTH update the trucks to the modern 3 axle arrangement with the blind axle in the middle instead of the inner most axle?  In other words, flange-blind-flange instead of B-F-F.  The older E8s I have are the latter and they derail constantly in switches.

Cheers,

Bryan 

Hi Bryan,

Although this arrangement is not prototypical, it is functional in that long frame diesels can negotiate O-31.

I do not recall hearing of this problem so am curious.  What brand (manufacturer) of switch(s) and track is involve?  What diameter curves/switch(s)?  Are the switches and connected track the same brand?  What (by MTH item number) is/are the engine(s) involved?

As said just curious since hace not seen this type of problem and have several MTH engines with this arrangement.

Ron

PRRronbh posted:

RidgeRunner posted:

Roger,

Congrats on your new E8.  Did MTH update the trucks to the modern 3 axle arrangement with the blind axle in the middle instead of the inner most axle?  In other words, flange-blind-flange instead of B-F-F.  The older E8s I have are the latter and they derail constantly in switches.

Cheers,

Bryan 

Hi Bryan,

Although this arrangement is not prototypical, it is functional in that long frame diesels can negotiate O-31.

I do not recall hearing of this problem so am curious.  What brand (manufacturer) of switch(s) and track is involve?  What diameter curves/switch(s)?  Are the switches and connected track the same brand?  What (by MTH item number) is/are the engine(s) involved?

As said just curious since hace not seen this type of problem and have several MTH engines with this arrangement.

Ron

Hi Ron,

Yep, I already recognize and agree as to the O-31 functionality.  To your question, O-72 MTH Realtrax and Lionel Fastback turnouts.

Previous detailed discussion is here where others reported the same issue I've had in ABA configuration.  It's nice MTH sells the A units singly now and without the tether.  It's sad to have to leave the old BA units in the box because they don't play nice together with the lead A. 

https://ogrforum.com/t...63#36484918432457163

Bryan

c.sam posted:

Man,  that's  a really nice train Roger!

Thanks c.sam!

That is a nice engine.

That new train inspired me to post something from my family history.  This is from my Mother's collection.  My Grandfather worked for Southern out of Chattanooga as a fireman. As they transitioned from steam to diesel,  this was the only training he got on the new technology.  An instruction manual for his new assignment,  the EMC FTA #6100.  One day I would like to get a model of that train. 

 

Yep, I already recognize and agree as to the O-31 functionality.  To your question, O-72 MTH Realtrax and Lionel Fastback turnouts.

Previous detailed discussion is here where others reported the same issue I've had in ABA configuration.  It's nice MTH sells the A units singly now and without the tether.  It's sad to have to leave the old BA units in the box because they don't play nice together with the lead A. 

https://ogrforum.com/t...63#36484918432457163

Bryan

Hi Bryan,

Just got to ask how did/do you mate the two dissimilar track types and get a smooth transition?  Especially since the FasTrack rail ends are NOT even?

Ron

PRRronbh posted:

 

Yep, I already recognize and agree as to the O-31 functionality.  To your question, O-72 MTH Realtrax and Lionel Fastback turnouts.

Previous detailed discussion is here where others reported the same issue I've had in ABA configuration.  It's nice MTH sells the A units singly now and without the tether.  It's sad to have to leave the old BA units in the box because they don't play nice together with the lead A. 

https://ogrforum.com/t...63#36484918432457163

Bryan

Hi Bryan,

Just got to ask how did/do you mate the two dissimilar track types and get a smooth transition?  Especially since the FasTrack rail ends are NOT even?

Ron

Ron,

I don't mix track.  I have Realtrax (for now).  Friends have Fastrack.  The problem occurs on both O-72 switch types.  Thanks for the discussion but I don't want to hijack the thread away from Roger's posting of his SR E8 acquisition.  He was kind enough to answer my question.

All the best,

Bryan

Hello All, These photos are for clarification on the MTH-Premier Southern E-8 Diesel engine. The engines from left to right are:

MTH-Premier Southern E-8 (2002) Left

MTH-Premier Southern E-8 (2010) Middle

MTH-Premier Southern E-8 (2016) Right

There is also 2 pictures showing Southern E-8 Engine# 6900 with ditch lights....................RogerW.

Those Southern's have a beautiful paint scheme. They're a great looking diesel.

I must resist!

Contemporary survivors!

Ron

Roger, does the 2002 model have a MARS light?

Nice line-up!   (Notice I didn't say lash-up )

Hey C.Sam, the engine on the left side of my picture above is the 1st release of the Southern ABA PS-2 (5 volt battery) diesel engine set. It has the Mars light and a headlight...............rogerw.

Great work folks. 

I received an invoice from Brian at Legacy Station today.  The Lionel Southern StationSounds diner and the Lionel Legacy Southern GP9s are shipping.

Neal Jeter 

Southern Railway StationSounds dining car.  It has announcements for the Southerner.

Neal Jeter

Lionel Legacy Southern Railway GP9s.

Neal Jeter 

Nice photos Neal.  Can you share a video of the sounds of the Station sounds car?  

May take a couple of days, but I will try to post a video of the sounds. 

Neal Jeter

This video is a little over seven minutes long.  Some of the sounds are out of sequence but you get the idea of what sounds the dining car has.  Also to keep the car in the video I had to move the camera so it is shaky in some spots. 

Neal, thanks for sharing the video.  The sound and dialog on station sounds car sound great!  

What would you think of a Vanderbilt tender behind the Southern 4-8-2 #1491:

Just kidding, don't shoot!!!

I'm in the process of converting this Lionel engine to a Seaboard Mountain with Vandy tender.  Still have a loooong way to go and then I have to rework some of the boiler accoutrements (sand dome, part of the running board, bell)!!!

I think it looks great, did Southern ever have any Vanderbilt tenders???

In 1942 Southern acquired from the Erie seven 2-8-2s that had Vanderbilt tenders.  They were numbered 6630-6636 and were rebuilt at the Finlay Shops.  This information comes from the Southern Steam Power book by Harold Ranks and Shelby Lowe.

Neal Jeter

Lionel's Southern Railway Alco PAs and 21" passenger cars.

In the TMCC section of the forum, I'm upgrading my 4501 Mikado made by Lionel 24 years ago. It's not done yet, but just enough that I could get this shot outdoors.

I guess there are some perks of not having a permanent layout. And it's cool what you can do with a little PhotoShopping.

BTW, look closely, and you'll see that I've painted the cowcatcher rim and the edges of the pilot to make the engine look much more like the prototype was when it was painted green.

Thanks Neal!  I forgot I had Prince's book on the Southern, there's a photo of ex-Erie 6630 on page 112.

Bob

The Erie engines with the Vanderbilt tenders that Neal noted were assigned to the Alabama Great Southern for oil train duty when German submarines literally shut down the Gulf and East Coast wartime tanker shipping from the Gulf ports to Northeastern ports. TIES had an article noting the difficulty Southern engineers had initially in getting use to the surges in long tanker train consists. Eventually experience and better tanker baffles eased the problem and the flow of fuel for factories and folks continued for the wartime economy, earning Southern an "E" for efficiency award from the U.S. government.

Trivia Dept

I don't think anyone has posted photos of the LionChief Plus Southern 4501.

Thanks Dewey!  I guess that was a lot of fuel sloshing around behind the engine

I wish we had more offerings with Vanderbilt tenders, give a bit of character to otherwise slab-sided tenders.

Seaboard used them quite a bit, I wonder why some RRs didn't consider them?

The Lion chief 4501 makes me think of "Southern 6910" which had an excursion career of one trip in 1966. Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see 6910. http://hawkinsrails.net/steam/program/program.htm

Received the Lionel Southern "630" from Brian at Legacy Station today.  Here are a few pictures.  Many thanks to Lionel for changing the tender from the one that was pictured in the catalog.