Switcher Saturday: 2015-Dec-26

Ooo-La-La, Soo Line:

Schiller Park, Illinois circa 1973.

Rusty

Merry Christmas to you and your family, Rich...and to all OGR Forum members!  And thanks again for starting up this much-anticipated thread every week!

My contribution this week is a K-Line Jersey Central ALCo RS3 that I picked up second hand recently.  It is in like-new condition, and is equipped with Lionel TMCC & RailSounds.  It even has a smoke unit, which is pretty much required for an old ALCo!

She won't look quite right, however, until she makes a trip through the "weathering shop" sometime this winter.  The CNJ was certainly not known for keeping its locomotives very clean, especially in the later years before Conrail!!

Here are a couple quick shots of the model, and two pictures of the prototype as well...

Since the 1960s, the New York City Transit Authority has relied on a sizeable fleet of diesel locomotives in the 45 to 50 ton range for a variety of non-revenue services around the subway system including powering work trains and movements on the subsidiary South Brooklyn Railway. The units were built primarily by General Electric with additional examples provided by Republic Locomotive Works in the 1990s along with the newest generation delivered by Motive Power Industries during the last few years. The locomotives are configured so they can operate within the confined loading gauge to which the former Interborough Rapid Transit "A" Division lines were constructed. They therefore feature a rather low profile by North American standards.

Below are some of my pictures of NYCTA locomotives in work train service along the IRT West Side Line where it runs on an elevated above Broadway in the Bronx and Tenth Avenue In Manhattan. The 52 is an R-37 built in 1965, the 60 is an R-43 delivered in '71 and the 887 is an R-77 dating from '83. Note the authority assigned its locomotives "R" series designations according to contract number in the same manner as subway cars.

Bob

RMT Bang S4 Lackawanna switcher heading up a work train on the Christmas layout. 

Happy Switcher Saturday. I love the B6 Hallmark ornament from a few years ago...Rich, thanks for posting the picture.

Nice video with your daughters!

Here is one of the lowest numbered Pennsy locomotives I've ever seen a picture for. Here is B6 #3.

Tom 

Tom:

Well done in producing a photo of a B6 numbered that low!

Bob

great pics guys, Merry Christmas.

I thought I posted some pics, but maybe I did something wrong. My son Don got me this Lionel EMD switcher for Christmas. 

Merry Christmas to you Rich and all the gang at Switcher Saturday.  I just spent a couple hours taking photos and videos of my layout .... and particular switchers at work.  As promised last week, here are new and fresh photos.  Enjoy!

Here hopefully is a video or two.  I had no success in uploading ( and or deleting ) from my previous post.  I haven't quite got the hang of the upgraded OGR website just yet

Santa's 0-6-0 sleigh substitute

Congrats Rich - looks like you pulled off that double - a present AND coal. Sweet!!

Thanks all!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and "see you next week"!

Rich,

 You mean "Next Year!"

Tom

right, wow, next year!  :-)

Yay the last SwSat of the year!

I am a bit late because I had a big day visiting with my family in NJ. I did receive a surprise switcher as gift this year and at the moment don't have a place to run it. 

It is a NOS K-line EMD MP15. In Kennecott Copper Co paint it was made for members of the K-line Collector Club which shares those initials. K.C.C. was one of the Original owners of MP15s and rostered 4 units. 

Receiving this gift promoted me to do a bit of research. 

The MP15 was made from the late 1970's to the early 1980's and replaced the SW1500. They shared 1500 horsepower ratings. They ran on Blomberg trucks. There where three major variations the AC/DC and T. Between the AC and the DC the main spotting difference is the air intake vents in the front on the DC the air intake is in the front of the long Hood and the AC units have air intakes in the lower front sides of the long hood. The K-line unit has the vent in the front so it represents the MP15DC.

 My unit will become a detail or paint project. Maybe it will become a New York and Atlantic or a Seaboard System unit ( or maybe even gasp an RF&P SW1500).

Here are some images of my gift as well as some prototypes.

The forum keeps crashing on this post. So another post for images. Frustrating.

Ahh. This is still crashing on me so one more try.

Everyone as usual has posted great pictures so far. I look forward to this every week. 

I hope posting is easier next week it took me almost an hour to get this post up and it is in three parts because the forum hardware was being a pain to my iPad this week. With many frustrating crashes that caused me to redo my whole post.

Silver Lake posted:

Ahh. This is still crashing on me so one more try.

Everyone as usual has posted great pictures so far. I look forward to this every week. 

I hope posting is easier next week it took me almost an hour to get this post up and it is in three parts because the forum hardware was being a pain to my iPad this week. With many frustrating crashes that caused me to redo my whole post.

I had troubles throughout the day where my tablet was freezing up as I tried to post comments and/or pictures... I thought it was just me.

Tom

it's the anti diesel filter that was installed in the recent forum update........

Good morning switcher saturday fans...

My two cents...I'm a techno dinosaur...and i thought this may have been all my fault...but now it  doesnt sound like im alone...

since the upgrade...my iPhone and iPad don't seem to like the change either...so I may have to seek professional help...and try to get around the "diesel filter"... :-)

Howard...

Howard, 

  You might want to mention that on the Forum Upgrade thread, so Rich is aware.

Tom 

Bob (CNJ 3676) thank you. I knew the MP15T had some distinguishing feature but it is hard to research online because of the fact that the name is similar to a gun's. These units have been so modified over the last 30 years or so that it is hard to tell what was original spec. 

joeyA posted:

Merry Christmas to you and your family, Rich...and to all OGR Forum members!  And thanks again for starting up this much-anticipated thread every week!

My contribution this week is a K-Line Jersey Central ALCo RS3 that I picked up second hand recently.  It is in like-new condition, and is equipped with Lionel TMCC & RailSounds.  It even has a smoke unit, which is pretty much required for an old ALCo!

She won't look quite right, however, until she makes a trip through the "weathering shop" sometime this winter.  The CNJ was certainly not known for keeping its locomotives very clean, especially in the later years before Conrail!!

Here are a couple quick shots of the model, and two pictures of the prototype as well...

Joey - I love your choice of switcher and your choice of color scheme the switcher is dressed in.  Outstandingly appropriate for this festive time of the year!!

Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year!

I used to think that RS1s and RS3s were the ugliest of the ugly, but over time, I have grown to like them a lot.

WB47 -  I get where you are coming from.  Sometimes a particular locomotive grows on us over time.  

I've always had a strong liking for the RS1 and RS 3 styling for as long as I can remember.  The JC livery as Joey posted is a great looking livery which allows the locomotive to look most attractive.  The Delaware and Hudson livery on these locos is also very attractive ... as is Southern Railway.  I least liked these locos in the liveries of Western Maryland and Pennsylvania.... however still strongly like the styling of these locos.   

I used to own an Atlas RS 1 in Washington Terminal livery ( blue with white lettering) I used to see these engines almost daily as I passed the Ivy City Engine Terminal ( for Washington's Union Station ) on New York Ave  on my way to gigs in Washington DC.  WT owned and operated several RS 1s  and perhaps RS 3 as well.   My atlas model just could not ever run right ... it went back to Atlas 4 times ... after the last time, I asked the retailer for a store credit and they happily complied.... that's when I bought the Aero Train set.  

After seeing Joey's JC RS 3,  my appetite is strongly increasing for acquiring another RS locomotive.... and when I do you all will see it on SWSAT.

wb47 posted:

I used to think that RS1s and RS3s were the ugliest of the ugly, but over time, I have grown to like them a lot.

I couldn't agree more!  Quick story...

As a young kid, I lived a few hundred feet from a former-CNJ branch line that by this time was being operated by the Lehigh Valley.  It saw a daily local round-trip freight typically powered by either an ALCo "RS" series engine, or an EMD "SW".  

I can still remember waiting with much anticipation as I heard the train approaching in the distance, hoping to see an "SW" series switcher...I thought those were the coolest-looking engines at that time.

I can also remember how disappointed I would be if that day's power was one of those "ugly-looking" ALCo "RS" engines!

Fast forward to today and I absolutely LOVE the ALCo RS's!  From their shape to their sound, I think they are awesome...  and I have no real explanation as to how, when or why my feelings toward them changed.

trumptrain posted:

WB47 -  I get where you are coming from.  Sometimes a particular locomotive grows on us over time.  

I've always had a strong liking for the RS1 and RS 3 styling for as long as I can remember.  The JC livery as Joey posted is a great looking livery which allows the locomotive to look most attractive.  The Delaware and Hudson livery on these locos is also very attractive ... as is Southern Railway.

Trump, I've developed a strong affinity for ALCo "RS"-series engines, especially over the last few years.  And I agree regarding how nice the D&H paint scheme looks on them...even when weather-beaten and dirty!

Beautiful!  But you forgot the center rail - how could you do that? Or is it a photo of the real thing . . .

bob2 posted:

Beautiful!  But you forgot the center rail - how could you do that? Or is it a photo of the real thing . . .

Thanks!  AG (Andre) keeps telling me I'm going to end up a 2-railer at some point, so I figured why not start practicing the "look" with this diorama.

I had an RS in HO that was one of my favorites, but for the life of me, I can't remember the road. It may have been JC, as it was blue. I can remember the JC switchers when I was growing up in Wilkes-Barre, not too far from Joey A.  I love Joe's diorama, and the yard I use for my photography is two rail also. I need to find a nice background photo.

Don

I think switchers are the ideal loco for small layouts.  A close to scale locomotive that can even run on O-27 curves and switches

Would a BL2, GP7 or GP9 count?  Like the RS2 and 3, they are road SWITCHERS?  What is the cut off point?

This post is for fun, so road switchers are fine.

I went over the line one week and posted a GP30 doing switching work, no big deal.

The original intent and spirit of these weekly posts was to give folks a place to post fun pictures of both switcher toys/models and real world switchers,  keyword in sentence is FUN.  I don't want to muck it up with "rules" and "guidelines", keep it simple and fun.

Best...Rich

Dominic Mazoch posted:

I think switchers are the ideal loco for small layouts.  A close to scale locomotive that can even run on O-27 curves and switches

OK, "switcher" here is something which fits the outline of a "critter", or  of a NW2, MP15 ,S2, or any of the modern like body diesels.

Steam:  Any 0-4-2, 0-6-0, 0-8-0.

These can run on a small layout without overpowering it.  And they do have a "cute" factor.

Silver Lake posted:

Yay the last SwSat of the year!

I am a bit late because I had a big day visiting with my family in NJ. I did receive a surprise switcher as gift this year and at the moment don't have a place to run it. 

It is a NOS K-line EMD MP15. In Kennecott Copper Co paint it was made for members of the K-line Collector Club which shares those initials. K.C.C. was one of the Original owners of MP15s and rostered 4 units. 

Receiving this gift promoted me to do a bit of research. 

The MP15 was made from the late 1970's to the early 1980's and replaced the SW1500. They shared 1500 horsepower ratings. They ran on Blomberg trucks. There where three major variations the AC/DC and T. Between the AC and the DC the main spotting difference is the air intake vents in the front on the DC the air intake is in the front of the long Hood and the AC units have air intakes in the lower front sides of the long hood. The K-line unit has the vent in the front so it represents the MP15DC.

 My unit will become a detail or paint project. Maybe it will become a New York and Atlantic or a Seaboard System unit ( or maybe even gasp an RF&P SW1500).

Here are some images of my gift as well as some prototypes.

 

I have a pair of the K-line Kennecott MP 15switchers.  One has a small white safety award marking on both cab sides.  I also have 2 K-line CSX MP 15s.  The bodies were molded in blue plastic, with the lower hood and cab sides painted in gray with the CSX logo.  If I were to do a repaint, it would most likely be the CSX MP-15s, probably in a fantasy B & O paint scheme.  I'd strip off the CSX gray and logo; then would paint the shell in either B&O Royal or C&O Enchantment Blue.

Blue,

Each week I post a link to the previous week, so if you click through a couple weeks you'll get the gist.  

I normally post pics of switchers on my roster doing something on one of my small layouts.  Some folks post historic pictures of switchers, others do rail-spotting pics or pics of switchers in museums, whatever really, just keep it lite.

I really enjoy when folks make up short stories for their switcher pictures, we've had a few really good ones over time, good stuff.