Switcher Saturday: 2015-Aug-08

What an awesome #SwitcherSaturday!  Thanks to everyone for participating.

And of course, the price of my B6 - same price as you paid Bruce (brwebster), so I guess I'm not alone on getting the great deal.  I thought it was a steal at that price, it really is a fantastic switcher, likely going to be one of my favorites!

I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!  The weather here in Maryland has been fantastic, we spent tons of time outside yesterday, hope to do again today!

Best...Rich

I have three MTH switchers, and they are a lot of fun with DCS.

Here my new Railking Western Maryland 0-8-0 leads a mixed with

my Railking B&O B6 shoving.

Hi Joe!

I full well realize I am very blessed to be able to do something that's been in my blood since before I can remember, and get paid very good money to do so. 

The biggest challenge for all of us is surviving the summers here in the Sunbelt. 

Tomorrow's forecast is calling for 103 degrees with a heat index of 107. However, that's down from the heat index of 110 we dealt with last week.  Worst summer was a couple of years ago when we had record breaking heat. Here in Ft. Smith we set an all-time record high of 115 degrees... Lord only knows what the heat index was. That was a tough summer. I was very concerned for the ground crews during that summer.

However, overall, I enjoy the job.  Few places left in the US where you can be sitting in the hole on a chugging Alco while waiting for a meet with an all-Alco powered train...

Then at the other end of the heat spectrum is winter. However, with winter, as long as I've got a good heater in the cab (feet nice n' toasty warm/etc) and a full thermos of HOT coffee (black, thank you)... I'm good to go. Plus, the ground crewman can come up to the cab and warm up when needed before hitting it again. I really enjoy my job once the cooler weather is here.  Hard to believe, but we DO get snow in the Sunbelt!

As for recording the sounds: 

The "Electronic Device" rules are so restrictive now, I'm afraid that's not possible. Plus, the noises in the cab are not like the noises trackside. In otherwords, you don't really hear the exhaust as clearly as you do the relays snapping/popping, traction motors humming, etc, that you hear inside the cab. 

There are some very good videos of Alco's on YouTube that give good sounds.

Speaking of YouTube, here's a clip of yours truly leaving Van Buren, AR with a short excursion train. The clip was shot by some enthusiast and someone linked it to me way back when. Anyway, in this clip, we're headed for the mountains to eventually run-around and return to Van Buren/Ft. Smith. Pretty much an all day-er for the passengers. (Note: Skip to about the 3:30 mark for action. The previous portion is just sitting as the passenger/food loading takes place.)

Have fun!

Late entry !!!

Picked this up at the Greenberg Edison show today.

MTH CNJ RS3 power and dummy.

Laming, thank you for taking the time to give such a thorough reply.  Very insightful...and I really enjoyed the video, too!  Enjoy those wonderful ALCo's!! 

Bob:

Very nice. Even the road number is correct as the 1705 was one of the units to wear that version of the red scheme as seen in this John Garnecky photo from www.rr-fallenflags.org.

Enjoy your new acquisition.

Bob