Switcher Saturday 2-4-23

Don McErland, I remember seeing the combat caboose with a radioactive canister on it as seen in your photo. Do you know it it blinked such as the postwar radioactive waste flat car? I have always wondered about that. Thx.

@Leroof -  no the radiative container  combat caboose on the LASER set never blinked    There is no power pick up.
Don

@Steam Crazy posted:

Mel, I'm pleased I didn't disappoint you!

I have previously posted my MTH GP no. 1555, which was originally PS1 and probably about the same vintage as your 1563.  Thanks to your inspiration, I've already prepared a video of 1555 for next Saturday.  Sorry, you have to wait again!

John

Preparing photos and videos in advance for Switcher Saturdays has become one of my weekly assignments too. I usually start it on Mondays. Gives me something to do.

MELGAR

Good evening fellow switcher fans!!  Thanks so much JHZ563 for getting us rolling today  I'm sure that track mobile earns its' keep at your plant.

Today I attended the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium, Md.  This is my first show since February of 2020.  The show was very well attended!  It had an okay representation of O gauge trains. Lots of club layouts running and nice looking club layouts too!   I bought two freight cars for a good prices.  I almost pulled the trigger on a Weaver B6 which seemed to be going for a good price.  I decided to sleep on it though. The switcher was still there at closing time.  If I wake up in the morning and am feeling a strong yearning for a B6 I will make a bee-line to the show so I can be there when the doors open tomorrow morning.   Do any of you fellow switcher fans have experience with Weaver steam switchers?  I don't own any Weaver locomotives.  I'd appreciate your feed back.

This thread gets better each week!!  Lots of awesome posts here  This week Spanky Lang the company photographer has been out snapping switchers all over the property.  He's working on a photo project for the PR dept.  The project is to portray the FSJR as a "customer first" railroad.  Since switchers are the first and last locomotives to handle a load for customers, the PR dept thought it a good idea to show the FSJR switching fleet in action.

Docksider 97 is pulling loads of anthracite coal from a mine in the Randolphian Mountains.  The little engine was dispatched to the mine, to pick up a few cars for delivery to a small  power plant,  long after the regular mine run had departed with 176 loaded cars.

Another shot of Docksider 97 making its' way across the Bollman bridge on the Mountain Division.

A GE 44 tonner awaits its' next assignment.  It just set out this MOW light car which in addition to providing light for night time derailments, helps illuminate the team track for the night shift unloading/loading crews.

C&O 75, an 0-8-0 has been called to shuttle cars at a brewery.  Its' crew likes this last minute assignment because they usually are gifted a 6 pack each by the brewery's operation manager, after their work is done.

Number 75 passes Washington Terminal RS1 number 63 with a way freight in tow.

Happy Switcher Saturday!
I have mentioned in a couple of posts how my first train was a Lionel 0-4-0 switcher, #1615. As a result, I have always loved switchers.
Here is my son’s 1909 Porter 0-4-0 T switcher. It was built for Santa Cruz Portland Cement company which was located at Davenport. CA.
Pictures taken about 8 years ago at Roaring Camp RR at Felton, CA (near Santa Cruz).

Wow Gang!  Another amazing Switcher Saturday.

Everything is so amazing I felt compelled to add some archive footage.

Here is a Wheeling and Lake Erie usra 0-6-0 spotting a transformer on the Filing Cabinet Central.

An older shot of the Halloween layout with a Porter and a short train.

One of my favorite videos of my daughter when she was (much) younger.   Hmmm, this maybe when she got into Dad's hobbies!!

Well JH........nice little Eries 0-6-0 switcher.

Very creative on that tunnel portal for the Halloween train.

Don't know when your daughter was playing with the Pittsburgh Steeler train but i hope it might mean a better year coming up in 2023.

Nice reply .

Don, here's the F6.  If memory serves it is a Revell 1:48 kit.  I bought it because it had the folding wings and was intended as a flat car load but like the 1:48 Huey I built it was too big for for Lionel traditional flat cars and my styro-foam tunnel. The wings are held in place by that wax used to keep candles straight so I can unfold them and lock them in place if it needs to leave the flight deck.

As for the L.A.S.E.R. set, I picked up pieces of a set for my son at a train show.  The engine a flat car, no load and the caboose sans anti-aircraft gun.  Didn't know I would need a DC transformer but luckily my brother models HO and had numerous starter set transformers.  I swiped the caboose shell because I had plans to make boxcab out of a K-line SP S2 switcher. However I would have to lengthen and widen the shell.  The S2 finally got new life as a USAF switcher.

@coach joe posted:

Don, here's the F6.

Joe,

Always interested to see a Grumman airplane - especially the iconic F6F H***cat. I worked there early in my career on the F-14 Tomcat, A-6 Intruder, Gulfstream II business jet and X-29 Forward-Swept-Wing technology demonstrator. At the time, they were also building wings for the Space Shuttle and the Lunar Excursion Modules. The top speed of the F6F is listed as 380 mph - with 2000 horsepower. Thanks for posting.

MELGAR

Mel, as an engineer for Nassau County I was on the Grumman property in Bethpage a few times.  The last time it was Northrop Grumman and the Navy was looking to unload it's property in the Grumman compound, including the iconic Building 5, with the blue ball on the roof.  The Navy owned the building but Grumman owned the property.  I was amazed by the testing floor they had set-up in that building.  They had an A-6 and a separated wing strapped to points on the floor and could simulate the flight stresses on the air frame and wing without the plane ever moving.  When I asked the Grumman employee we were with why Grumman wouldn't just buy the building from the Navy just because of that testing lab he told me Grumman would just build a new test lab in another facility. That building now houses film studios.

@MELGAR posted:

Joe,

Always interested to see a Grumman airplane - especially the iconic F6F H***cat. I worked there early in my career on the F-14 Tomcat, A-6 Intruder, Gulfstream II business jet and X-29 Forward-Swept-Wing technology demonstrator. At the time, they were also building wings for the Space Shuttle and the Lunar Excursion Modules. The top speed of the F6F is listed as 380 mph - with 2000 horsepower. Thanks for posting.

MELGAR

Mel- years ago I worked for a theater lighting and staging company. We did the roll-out ceremony for the X29 at Calverton.

George HW Bush, VP at the time, did the honors to christen the plane.

The test pilots said the plane was so unstable that if any of the 3 guidance computers failed, the plane would disintegrate in mid air.

Grumman did some amazing work.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Mel- years ago I worked for a theater lighting and staging company. We did the roll-out ceremony for the X29 at Calverton.

George HW Bush, VP at the time, did the honors to christen the plane.

The test pilots said the plane was so unstable that if any of the 3 guidance computers failed, the plane would disintegrate in mid air.

Grumman did some amazing work.

Bob

Bob - It wasn't quite that bad. I worked on the aerodynamics and the flight control system. Part of my job was to run the flight simulation to see if any combination of pilot inputs could cause the airplane to depart from controlled flight. I won't go into more detail - but Grumman knew a lot about airplanes - including that one. I often wonder what happened to my co-workers on Long Island.

MELGAR

@coach joe posted:

Don, here's the F6. 

Love the Hellcat model.  It's a small world after all.  My Grandfather built Hellcats at Grumman during WW2.  Before he passed we got a book with an exploded view of a Hellcat and asked him what area he worked.  It was somewhere near the cockpit.   I couldn't tell if he was pointing to the seat pan or the instrument cluster.   He definitely perked up talking about that time of his life.  He mentioned that he and his two friends were referred to as "the unholy trio".   They referred to the factory  as Grumman University.

@coach joe Thanks for the view of your F-6 model.  What a plane, after introduction in 1943 the Navy ruled the sky's over the Pacific.  It had a 13:1 kill ration against the zero  and along with the Marine usage a 19:1 overall kill ratio in the war years.  It was nicknamed the "American Ace Maker" .  75% of all Navy aircraft victories are credited to the F-6 and 56% of all Navy & Marine Corps victories (Marines often flew the F-4U Corsair).  @MELGAR  and @jhz563 - Wow interesting heritage fellows.  I worked in Engineering for Naval Air Systems Command (Melgar you might know this as "BuAir") and visited Grumman many times especially on the A-6 and F-14.  Even though I was an Aero Engineer, my work involved those "strapped down" pieces that Coach Joe saw as I was deeply involved in structural fatigue damage assessment based on operational use of the aircraft.  Navy pilots loved Grumman aircraft, not because their performance was always the best (although it was good) but because they were TOUGH!  You had to have a tough airframe to withstand the rigors of carrier launch and arrestment.  Of course that toughness carried over into combat and helped their aircraft protect the pilot and crew.  We used to call the Beth Paige Grumman facility the "Grumman Iron Works"!  But all joking aside they built great aircraft.

Well back to railroads

Don

One more post about Grumman. Growing up in the 60's-70's on Long Island, Grumman was the gold standard in the aerospace and aircraft industry. A lot of local pride in being the home of the EA6 Prowler,  F14, and the Lunar Lander.

So before we get in trouble for violating the TOS....

"Anytime Baby"

@Don McErlean posted:

I worked in Engineering for Naval Air Systems Command (Melgar you might know this as "BuAir") and visited Grumman many times especially on the A-6 and F-14.  Even though I was an Aero Engineer, my work involved those "strapped down" pieces that Coach Joe saw as I was deeply involved in structural fatigue damage assessment based on operational use of the aircraft.

Well back to railroads

Don

Very interesting Don.

Grumman was a place where you could see airplanes and a railroad. The main line of the Long Island Rail Road ran through the Grumman property. There were plants on both sides of the tracks.

MELGAR

I wish I had picked up one of these when NLOE had them made.

@coach joe posted:

I wish I had picked up one of these when NLOE had them made.

I bought this one from a forum member several years ago. It's a great car.

Still waiting for my NLOE LIRR Bobber caboose........