SWItCHER SATURDAY 1/13/24 Edition

Rutland Railroad #500 was a General Electric 70-Ton locomotive and the only engine of its type on the railroad. The model was made by Williams-by-Bachmann (23504) and its street price is much less than the MSRP of $429.95. It is scale-sized, well detailed, neatly assembled, and listed for O-27 curves. Although it lacks command control, it runs smoothly. It’s also the only model of a Rutland locomotive that I own. Since I bought it, I’ve been looking for cars to make a Rutland train, and I now have Rutland wood caboose #36 and wood boxcar #8086, both recent models by MTH.

Milk was a major commodity carried on the Rutland Railroad from northern New York State and Vermont to Chatham, New York - from which the New York Central took it to New York City.

Rutland #500 was built in 1951 and replaced 0-6-0 steam locomotive #106 for switching the Rutland yard. It was powered by a 600-horsepower engine and developed 23,600 pounds of tractive effort with a maximum speed of 55 miles-per-hour. After a strike in September 1961, the Rutland Railroad was abandoned in 1962 and #500 was sold to the Clarendon & Pittsford Railroad of Vermont.

Photos and videos show Rutland #500 running at about 24 scale miles-per-hour on my 10’-by-5’ layout.

MELGAR

Very nice photos and videos, Melgar and Patrick.

Here is my contribution for this Switcherq Saturday: the short video below showing an LC Plus Delaware & Hudson diesel switcher hauling heavy freight:

Love the look of that D&H livery. Arnold

Lionel

Happy SWSat!

Nothing new this week to share. My son is home from school and has taken over the corner of the basement where my layout and his gaming lair are co-located. He goes back next weekend!

I often take inspiration from what other's post so I can actually go 4 for 4 today from Pat, Mel, Arnold, and Mark's posts. Guess I have too many switchers......

An honorable mention to my Rutland #36 caboose too.....

Williams RS3 and Lionel RS11(w/TMCC/Odyssey)

WM GP7 #23 Lionel w/TMCC

Hope that those going to Trainstock have a great time. A special shout out to @Arnold D. Cribari who will be performing this afternoon. I hope there are videos posted.

Bob

Great start trumptrain some Lionel working the rails have a SWItCHER of a Saturday.

Good morning, SwSat Nation!  This is a particularly good SwSat because I have a new switcher to show you!  Even better, it’s a Fairbanks Morse diesel, which I needed to fill a hole in my collection.

Southern Pacific FM Trainmaster no. 8951 was an unexpected gift from one of my oldest friends and train buddies, Dick.  This engine is “making the rounds”, because it was gifted to Dick by another best friend, Ed.  Both of them know it has a good home now!

8951 came without a box or instructions, so I don’t know much about it.  I do know it was “BLT 1-79, Lionel” and it’s equipped with two of Lionel’s sturdy Pullmor motors.  It isn’t equipped with a horn, which I find strange for a scale engine which probably wasn’t on the low end of Lionel’s lineup.  If any of you fans can provide more info about this model, I’d like to hear it.

A little oil and lube has this engine running well.  I didn’t realize what a “brute” it is until I placed it on my layout.  It looks capable of pulling anything you could couple to it!

Continuing my good fortune, I found a nice K-line SP bay window caboose at Trainz to complement the engine.  They make a nice looking pair.

John

This is a static display on our 21x47' modular display by my modular group colleague and OFR Forum member jec.

Earlier this week, one of my other colleagues was having recognition issues with his older PS-2 engine. So, I used my "five fingered crane" to move the S2 into position; I was able to load and fire it up; and, it came to the rescue.....

Have a great week, folks!

Peter

Happy Switcher Saturday! Really nice photos, everyone.  Nothing new for me as well.  Our new Dash 8 remains working on the mainline, driven by his newly installed engineers-

@Strap Hanger posted:

Happy Switcher Saturday! Really nice photos, everyone.  Nothing new for me as well.  Our new Dash 8 remains working on the mainline, driven by his newly installed engineers-

Reminds me of the CSX trains running down Main St in La Grainge Ky.

@RSJB18 posted:

Happy SWSat!

Nothing new this week to share. My son is home from school and has taken over the corner of the basement where my layout and his gaming lair are co-located. He goes back next weekend!

I often take inspiration from what other's post so I can actually go 4 for 4 today from Pat, Mel, Arnold, and Mark's posts. Guess I have too many switchers......

An honorable mention to my Rutland #36 caboose too.....

Williams RS3 and Lionel RS11(w/TMCC/Odyssey)

WM GP7 #23 Lionel w/TMCC

Bob

@RSJB18,

Bob,

It's not physically possible to have too many switchers - but it may be monetarily possible. You don't appear to have approached the monetary limit just yet... 4 nice engines though.

MELGAR

FM H10-44 working a short consist and waiting on a repaint(Too cold for that in the near future).

Have a great Switcher Saturday!

@MELGAR posted:

@RSJB18,

Bob,

It's not physically possible to have too many switchers - but it may be monetarily possible. You don't appear to have approached the monetary limit just yet... 4 nice engines though.

MELGAR

It is kinda Mel......when you run out of shelf space......

As for the money...just don't show my wife the credit card bills.......

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Reminds me of the CSX trains running down Main St in La Grainge Ky.

Very cool link. Love the fact that you can scroll back in time and go right to the train crossings.  

@Strap Hanger posted:

Very cool link. Love the fact that you can scroll back in time and go right to the train crossings.  

One of my favorite YouTube channels. Yes- you can rewind 12 hours from the current time.

Bob and Mel, my shelf space reached “critical mass” a couple of years ago.  The donor of my FM, Dick, built me some new shelves a year ago, which I mostly filled with trains that were boxed and not displayed.

My friends and I often say we don’t “need” anything.  I’m sure that applies to you guys, too, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to be tempted to buy the next nice switcher we see!

John

@Steam Crazy posted:

Bob and Mel, my shelf space reached “critical mass” a couple of years ago.  The donor of my FM, Dick, built me some new shelves a year ago, which I mostly filled with trains that were boxed and not displayed.

My friends and I often say we don’t “need” anything.  I’m sure that applies to you guys, too, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to be tempted to buy the next nice switcher we see!

John

I’m long past Critical Mass.  All shelf space is occupied and no room for more shelves.  My short term solution is to buy a portable double shelf rack for engines. That should enable me to continue to feed the beast for a bit.   However, I’m so addicted that I’m seriously considering tearing down the wall to the adjacent empty bedroom and expanding into there.  The only thing holding me back right now is this little thing known as the institution of marriage.  

Good morning SWSAT crew!

One from the archives this week.  Penn Central GP9 7180 (Atlas O) leads the local down the Killbridge secondary:

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tom

@Strap Hanger posted:

I’m long past Critical Mass.  All shelf space is occupied and no room for more shelves.  My short term solution is to buy a portable double shelf rack for engines. That should enable me to continue to feed the beast for a bit.   However, I’m so addicted that I’m seriously considering tearing down the wall to the adjacent empty bedroom and expanding into there.  The only thing holding me back right now is this little thing known as the institution of marriage.  

My "solution" was to buy a folding table which is now filled with passenger cars.

MELGAR

Happy SWSat to all.
icing reefers is a tedious process in Farmingdale. There is only room for two cars on the ice station siding; and with that only one car can be iced at a time. The crew of the NY - St Louis express was ordered to pickup two reefers left behind by an earlier train. They dropped the train just outside the station and pulled ahead to give the switcher room. The crew of Erie #56 was assigned to the dock this morning. Getting the green to go out on the main, they moved in and proceeded to pull the two reefers off the dock track onto the main. Once clear of the switch they spotted the reefers at the head of the passenger train and cleared the main.  
https://youtu.be/ykrIuJtpMSc?si=vEmRVA9JeKY4Grbc

Just to get back to the subject of switchers, here is a bit more about Rutland #500.

MELGAR

Giving the little guys more love on this frigid snowy day. Here's my recently acquired RMT Alaskan Beep pulling some K-line freight. Stay warm and safe!

Thank you, Pat, for starting us out.  Interesting discussion about whether one can have too many switchers. 

Surprisingly, I have been on a roll buying new-to-me switchers.  I purchased an old stock, new in box CSX MP-15.  Though I usually run DCS or Lionel in TMCC mode, this conventional switcher was well worth it to me at the very reasonable price.  Yes, the CSX paint scheme is new for the era of the rest of the equipment I have, but since we see them here in this region, I grabbed it up.  I posted the acquisition on my Blackwater Canyon Line thread earlier this week which brought in some discussion with most of the input from Bob @RSJB18 who we all know is well up on switchers.

It is interesting that the CSX MP-15 and a NS MP-15 were in a Conrail set, but since Conrail was split between the two I guess it makes sense.

I never saw this before, but Bob was quite familiar.

Here it is running in the Series position.

Well I thought I might post a little Marx this morning.  This is what I call my "Allstate Tank Train" with the Marx 400 / Allstate slope back tender pulling a train full of ONLY Allstate tank cars, followed up with an Allstate caboose.  As many of you already know, "Allstate" was the private brand of Sears Roebuck Company and under it they sold Lionel, American Flyer, and Marx O & S gauge trains both pre and post war for decades.  The trains illustrated below are mostly from the period of the 1950's through the 1960's although some of the lightweight 4 wheel cars (blue tanker) extended nearly to the end of the original Marx line (1972).  

Best Wishes

Don

OK, Mel and Bob, I’m taking the bait.  From the archives, here’s Rutland no. 500 hauling a milk train.

John

WOW!! Great content everyone!  Keep it coming   AND yes one can never own too many switchers

Another take on shelf space: maybe we can justify buying switchers because they don't take as much space as a Big Boy?

John

@RSJB18 posted:

Happy SWSat!

Nothing new this week to share. My son is home from school and has taken over the corner of the basement where my layout and his gaming lair are co-located. He goes back next weekend!

I often take inspiration from what other's post so I can actually go 4 for 4 today from Pat, Mel, Arnold, and Mark's posts. Guess I have too many switchers......

WM GP7 #23 Lionel w/TMCC

Hope that those going to Trainstock have a great time. A special shout out to @Arnold D. Cribari who will be performing this afternoon. I hope there are videos posted.

Bob

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Lionel

I thought I needed to make sure the Western Maryland GP7s are better represented.  Here is a Legacy hauling coal down from the mountain mines.

We spent the morning today at the beautiful Descanso Gardens in LaCanada-Flintridge, CA outside L.A. with our son Matt and grandson, George. Highlight was their riding the one-foot gauge “Enchanted Railroad” through the woods. And piloted by a miniature diesel switcher, no less!  Big fun.

@Steam Crazy posted:

Good morning, SwSat Nation!  This is a particularly good SwSat because I have a new switcher to show you!  Even better, it’s a Fairbanks Morse diesel, which I needed to fill a hole in my collection.

Southern Pacific FM Trainmaster no. 8951 was an unexpected gift from one of my oldest friends and train buddies, Dick.  This engine is “making the rounds”, because it was gifted to Dick by another best friend, Ed.  Both of them know it has a good home now!

8951 came without a box or instructions, so I don’t know much about it.  I do know it was “BLT 1-79, Lionel” and it’s equipped with two of Lionel’s sturdy Pullmor motors.  It isn’t equipped with a horn, which I find strange for a scale engine which probably wasn’t on the low end of Lionel’s lineup.  If any of you fans can provide more info about this model, I’d like to hear it.

A little oil and lube has this engine running well.  I didn’t realize what a “brute” it is until I placed it on my layout.  It looks capable of pulling anything you could couple to it!

Continuing my good fortune, I found a nice K-line SP bay window caboose at Trainz to complement the engine.  They make a nice looking pair.

John

Well, Lionel wasn’t putting horns in their diesels during the 1970s period of production. Another factoid is that this SP Black Widow scheme was mocked up for possible production on a Trainmaster by postwar Lionel but not made at that time. I believe there was a Reading Trainmaster model created then, too, but also not produced. That one was created and released in (I think) the 1990s?

Happy Switcher Saturday,

I am showing older photos of my Railking B&M 0-8-0 in PS 2.0

Have a great weekend,

Ray

@Steam Crazy posted:

Good morning, SwSat Nation!  This is a particularly good SwSat because I have a new switcher to show you!  Even better, it’s a Fairbanks Morse diesel, which I needed to fill a hole in my collection.

Southern Pacific FM Trainmaster no. 8951 was an unexpected gift from one of my oldest friends and train buddies, Dick.  This engine is “making the rounds”, because it was gifted to Dick by another best friend, Ed.  Both of them know it has a good home now!

8951 came without a box or instructions, so I don’t know much about it.  I do know it was “BLT 1-79, Lionel” and it’s equipped with two of Lionel’s sturdy Pullmor motors.  It isn’t equipped with a horn, which I find strange for a scale engine which probably wasn’t on the low end of Lionel’s lineup.  If any of you fans can provide more info about this model, I’d like to hear it.

A little oil and lube has this engine running well.  I didn’t realize what a “brute” it is until I placed it on my layout.  It looks capable of pulling anything you could couple to it!

Continuing my good fortune, I found a nice K-line SP bay window caboose at Trainz to complement the engine.  They make a nice looking pair.

John

Hi John, that Lionel FM Train Master H24-66 is some switcher at 2400 horsepower!!  LoL Great looking Black Widow paint as well. That K-Line #1670 SP caboose was exclusive to The Western Depot in Yuba City, CA. I have one too, and it also comes as #1650 as well. Great looking together.

Here's a YouTube video of you TrainMaster being disassembled and serviced.

https://youtu.be/hTSj6X4BzSo?si=xDW1QPIdF-c9YXe6

Lot's of great switchers this week. Keep it going.

One more storage story. My in-laws got a new, bigger TV before the Holidays. They had a small shelf above the old one that had to come down. We were over there the other day and my MiL asked my wife if we could use the shelf, to which she said, and I quote "I'm sure Bobby can use it to put more trains on". A few minutes later, I was asked if I wanted it, to which I responded "can I put trains on it?" We had a good laugh.... Haven't put it up yet....

@Mark Boyce- That MP-15 looks right at home. Runs nice and smooth too. WM # 21 looks sharp!
@Dave Warburton- Great looking 70 tonner. I need one in my back yard.

Bob

Atlas O Trainman conventional ALCO RS3 that I detailed and weathered.  Some of the items added were: drop steps, grab irons, m.u. & brake hoses and coupler cut levers installed on the pilots.  Class lights added to the long-hood end.  The horn was moved to the proper location (with a custom-built mounting bracket) to match the prototype.  And of course a broom so the local D&H switcher crew can keep the walkways and switch points clean.  Their engine is in dire need of a bath however!

Dave, thanks for the info on my FM.  Scott, thanks for your feedback and the link to the video.  Very Interesting!

John

@pennsyfan posted:

Happy SWSat to all.
icing reefers is a tedious process in Farmingdale. There is only room for two cars on the ice station siding; and with that only one car can be iced at a time. The crew of the NY - St Louis express was ordered to pickup two reefers left behind by an earlier train. They dropped the train just outside the station and pulled ahead to give the switcher room. The crew of Erie #56 was assigned to the dock this morning. Getting the green to go out on the main, they moved in and proceeded to pull the two reefers off the dock track onto the main. Once clear of the switch they spotted the reefers at the head of the passenger train and cleared the main.  
https://youtu.be/ykrIuJtpMSc?si=vEmRVA9JeKY4Grbc

Bob- FYI, you can drop Youtube videos right into the post. Just use the filmstrip icon (next to the smiley emoji).
Click on that and paste your video link into the box.

Bob

Joe, GREAT job weathering and detailing the RS3. The broom is a nice touch.

My entry for Switcher Saturday, thanks Patrick for starting the thread!!! Western Roads here, Southern Pacific SW8 #1102 pulling a couple of SP boxcars in to a siding.

@RSJB18 posted:

Bob- FYI, you can drop Youtube videos right into the post. Just use the filmstrip icon (next to the smiley emoji).
Click on that and paste your video link into the box.

Bob

Thanks I’ll give it a try