Switcher Saturday: 2016-Mar-05

Looks can be deceiving department. 

A heavier thing in a smaller package.  GE 44 tonner (left) vs. GE 45 tonner (right)

Rusty

While I applaud you return your to O gauge, and am somewhat envious of your proximity to mth, I am going the other way.  These are quite as nice as I wanted, but it will be several weeks until i can post on a Sat morning again so here we go.  Below are several of the locomotives used to switch cars at the power plant I work at.

We have two center cabs in the limestone yard, at least one of which still works, some older diesels I haven't had time to identify yet, one of two industrial machines that are only about 4 years old (the yellow switcher) and one brand new one that was just shipped in from a plant in Montana that closed down.  The new one has a really nice PPL paint job with a rocky mountain theme.  By now though the generation assets of ppl are part of Talen Energy so it will probably have the paint modified soon.

All the loco's are rigged for remote control, which is what the 4 lights on the side of the cab are for. I hope you like them

Southern -0-8-0 Switcher assigned to AGS Division. Moving some "Wartime Gondolas".[fuzzy pics-sorry],

Yay! SW Sat is on!

Great pics so far everybody.

It deeply saddens me to have to capitulate to a self appointed forum patrolman. Especially one who does not contribute at all to this community that we have made here. In my childs preschool class they were taught the idea of "Don't yuck my yum", I think that applies here perfectly.

I don't complain bitterly to the gods when 3 rail scalers post here on the High Rail, O-27 and Traditional Forum or post avatar images with more that one person in the image so you cannot tell who is posting. I view this weekly topic as inclusive and diverse in subject,  only limited by the switcher aspect in the title.

I am currently "between layouts" so my enjoyment of hobby is at the research and planning stage. I'm happy to share my research here but I'm also happy to keep it to myself.

So that aside instead of engine pictures I am posting images this week of the switching practice of Poling.

Steamers and pre GP30 diesels had poling pockets as did train cars. These look like little bowls on the corners.

These pockets were used with large wooden poles to switch cars spotted in tricky positions or on adjacent tracks. A trainman would hold a long wooden pole in the cars pocket and the engine would slowly pull up and the pole would be positioned in the engines pocket. Then the engine would push the car with the pole and the trainman had to quickly leave. This practice was very dangerous and many of the people holding the pole were injured or killed doing it. This is probably why the practice stopped (or is at least discouraged).

On steam switcher tenders and some early diesels there are pole hangers to store them for ease of retrival. This is on the CNJ 1000 at the B&O museum.

Here is a video of a NYC steamer poling a caboose.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CUb8PeeT2WI

Some railroads like Pennsy and Long Island had specialized poling cars. These looked like transfer cabooses with poles that were attached to the sides could be swung out like mail car arms and could pole cars in a nominally safer way without a man on the ground.

Have a great weekend and don't let the haters bring this down.

Great photos and commentary everyone!  Will post some photos of my 0-8-0 being serviced when I get home from work tonight.

Best wishes for a great weekend to everyone!

Hey Andy, thank you for sharing about the "poling", I had no idea this happened much less that there were actual "cups" installed on the trains for this, very cool.  That video was neat, and YouTube played the following video for me automatically which showed some freight cars getting kicked around a yard, very cool: https://youtu.be/zEWE3df6Q2s.  

BTW, I'm not going to worry about the whole "which category" thing, just going to ignore it.

To everyone else who has posted so far, GREAT pictures!  Thanks for sharing them!

Best...Rich

Silver Lake,

  Excellent info on the subject of poling. I would agree that it was quite dangerous as the wooden poles would slip out of position and the would could easily splinter and become like spears of sharp wood. Notice the slope-back tender in the last photo, too. Very Pennsy!

 Tom 

I found this image of a model of a poling car with the pole fully extended providing excellent perspective on how this equipment functioned. Note the neat steam era headlight on the platform!

Bob

the cp plow waits snow and orders

My model of the 1942 GE 50 ton switching locomotive that we have at work posed in front of the real one.  We occasionally run it on our trains when one of the steam locomotives decides it doesn't want to behave for us.  

It was built as a 45 ton locomotive from GE, but steel weights were welded to the frame to bring it up to 50 tons when the U.S. Navy owned it.

Here's my contribution; more Birmingham Southern power.

Don

Date: 1/5/2012	Location: Birmingham, AL   Map	Views: 622	Collection Of:   Matt G.
Locomotives: BS 629(SD9) BS 304(Yard Slug) BS 213(SW1000) BS 820(SD-M) BS 305(Yard Slug) BS 303(Yard Slug)			Author:  Matt G.

In case you missed it on the "What did you do" thread, I picked up a nice little Pennsy 8471 last weekend:

Since this didn't come with a horn, I added one, complete with MarmelTech(tm) Dixie Cup resonator:

The switcher now beepeth cheerfully! 

Mitch

SOU GP35#2674 switching gondola car with junk load.

just to cover all bases....

I have two of these, but I figured posting one was enough.  Besides, the picture of both together was terrible.

Dennis

I like that!

Murnane posted:

It's #SwitcherSaturday time!!!!

Lots of us out there love switchers (shifters, docksiders, yard goats, critters, etc.), so lets keep #SwitcherSaturday (a.k.a. SWSAT) rolling!

Last week was awesome! I had tons of fun doing all the "research" with you guys on those pictures.
There were lots of other good pictures and videos too, if you haven't see the tread go take a look here:
https://ogrforum.com/t...saturday-2016-feb-27

My pictures today are a little different, I'm bringing it back to O-Gauge this week (so we don't get in trouble for posting in this category!).
This week I stopped by the MTH headquarters building in Columbia Maryland and while I didn't get an official tour or anything the receptionist did let me in to peek at the layout.
Here are some of the switchers they have on the display shelves, mostly behind glass so the pictures aren't that great. They had a couple others, but these ended up being the best pictures I took.  

By the way, in a strange twist of fate, I now work about a ten minute walk away from the MTH HQ building, so I'll likely be heading back once in a while!

MTH RailKing B&O #97 docksider 30-1339-0 (circa 2004)

MTH RailKing NYC #8109 Alco Rs-1 30-2626-1 (circa 2005)

MTH Premier PRR #7641 0-6-0 USRA Steam Engine 20-3280-1 (circa 2007)

MTH Premier NYC #9108 Fairbanks-Morse H10-44 designed Raymond Lowey 20-2079-0 (circa 1995)

MTH RailKing NY Rescue #2 NW-2 Switcher from R-T-R Train Set 30-4075-1 (circa 2002)

Please enjoy your weekend and take good care of yourself, if you get a chance post some pictures or videos of your favorite switchers!

Best...Rich Murnane

p.s. Miss the post on Saturday? NO BIG DEAL, just keep posting pictures of your favorites until the next #SwitcherSaturday
p.s.s. check out this panoramic picture I took of their layout room!

 

 

Nice photos Rich!  I live about a 10 minute drive from MTH headquarters and have never ventured to go inside.  I've driven by many times.  I've always wanted to call ahead and schedule a time to see the layout in action.  Your post is great incentive to do just that.  Thanks!!  

I love the Raymond Lowey designed Fairbanks Morse unit.  Very cool!  Thanks for showing us the photos.  

CNJ 3676 posted:

In September of 1982, I had an opportunity to visit Norfolk Southern's coal loading facilities at Lamberts Point in Norfolk, VA. This was among the most impressive yard operations I've ever seen first hand as Lambert's Point's Pier 6 is the largest coal loading station in the Northern Hemisphere. The NS merger had been consummated just a few months before my visit so the railroad's appearance and operations were very much pre-merger Norfolk & Western. At that time, the yard was worked primarily by multiple tandems each consisting of an ALCo C630 and slug created by cutting down an F-M Train Master. The activity was non-stop as the prime movers of the Centuries erupted, sending up plumes of that characteristic ALCo exhausted as the units worked hard to shove heavy cuts of loaded hoppers up to the dumper. This was very much traditional railroading, right down to the Brakemen riding the tops of the cars to relay hand signals to the Engineers.

I don't presently have any of my own slides scanned in so here are some images I found on other sites, including RailPictures, similar to my shots which convey my experiences from that visit. These were sights and sounds not easily forgotten.

Bob

AWESOME photos Bob!!!  Thanks!!!

jhz563 posted:

While I applaud you return your to O gauge, and am somewhat envious of your proximity to mth, I am going the other way.  These are quite as nice as I wanted, but it will be several weeks until i can post on a Sat morning again so here we go.  Below are several of the locomotives used to switch cars at the power plant I work at.

We have two center cabs in the limestone yard, at least one of which still works, some older diesels I haven't had time to identify yet, one of two industrial machines that are only about 4 years old (the yellow switcher) and one brand new one that was just shipped in from a plant in Montana that closed down.  The new one has a really nice PPL paint job with a rocky mountain theme.  By now though the generation assets of ppl are part of Talen Energy so it will probably have the paint modified soon.

All the loco's are rigged for remote control, which is what the 4 lights on the side of the cab are for. I hope you like them

Jhz563 -  I really like the photos!  Where is the power plant located?  AND thanks for posting these photos.

Uncoupling from her caboose #75 pulls up to the coal tower.

Topping off the coalTaking on sand

She's had a fresh coat of paint.  She needs a new headlight bulb.  Service crew will take care of that.

Let there be light!  The new bulb works great!

The service crew works in total sync just like number 75.

Lots to do to keep her up to par.

Happy Switcher Saturday Everyone!!!!

Trumptrain, 

I work for Brunner Island, a 1500 MW station roughly halfway between York and Harrisburg PA 

Bob - Thanks for all the photos of the Fairbanks Morse!! WOW!!!  I just might have to buy that B&O model at York next month.  Its officially on my list

Silver Lake posted the great drawing and pictures of the poling car and Bob posted the neat model...what about the pole? I found this on a Union Pacific website. Note that it mentions using straight grained fir. 

 Tom

I liked the poling stuff as well.  The tourist rr I used to work for had a H K Porter that had poling pockets on the front beam.  The engine was converted from an 0-4-0 saddle tanker to  2-4-0 and tender.  I was never sure exactly where the tender came other than "out of some museum in Ohio".  The tender though did have a pole hanging off of at least one side, can't remember if there was a second one on the other side. We never used it,  but it did come up at least once.

Trumptrain I like that RF&P boxcar on your layout. Those have always been a favorite of mine, they really stand out.

To me one of the big spotting features of the FM switchers indicating Lowry design input was the Half moon cab windows. Over time as production went on they along with other things were eliminated. 

Here are is a rare survivor the former UP FM H20-44 at the Pacific Southwest Museum at Campo CA. I do like the look of the smaller switchers with the cab roof extension that these big ones lack. In the 1980's this engine was operable and pulled much of the museums stock to thier new location.

Fantastic week this week guys!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and "see" you next week!

Silver Lake posted:

Trumptrain I like that RF&P boxcar on your layout. Those have always been a favorite of mine, they really stand out.

To me one of the big spotting features of the FM switchers indicating Lowry design input was the Half moon cab windows. Over time as production went on they along with other things were eliminated. 

Here are is a rare survivor the former UP FM H20-44 at the Pacific Southwest Museum at Campo CA. I do like the look of the smaller switchers with the cab roof extension that these big ones lack. In the 1980's this engine was operable and pulled much of the museums stock to thier new location.

Thanks Silver Lake for the photo post of these FM switchers!  Now that you mention it those half moon cab windows add added a lot of style to those switchers.  I think Lowey also used that same sort of cab windowing styling on some of the Pennsylvania steam locomotives that he had a hand in designing. 

I also like the extended cab roof on the smaller switchers.  The extended roof really adds interest.

The RF&P boxcar: I agree, they do stand out.   I went through a RF&P rolling stock craving a few years ago.   I found two, Weavers,  like the one in the photo on the Bay.  Since the Bay seller was a retailer who is located about 15 miles from me, I made arrangements to pick them up and forgo the shipping fee.  When I arrived to pick up the two boxcars, he showed me three more brand new MTH premier RFP boxcars ( one was outside braced ) that he just bought from an estate collection.  He offered them at a really terrific price so I bought them all along with a MTH Premier N&W woodside caboose.  Its always nice to stumble into a great deal!

Also thanks for the poling car information!  Its would be pretty cool to model poling operations as part of a switching operations on a layout .... however might prove to be challenging to do so.  I wonder if anyone has ever done or seen this kind of operation on a layout?

Bob CNJ3676

Thats so great! You really brought me back. I was born and grew up in Alexandria VA so Potomac Yard was a real draw to me. These pics are even from my era the late 80's and early 90's. All you need is a rebuilt S2 slug to finish it off. Great pictures. 

Trumptrain wow I can't imagine. What a great deal. I could never turn down RF&P stuff in the rare times I see it. Congratulations. 

CNJ 3676 posted:

Silver Lake posted:

Trumptrain I like that RF&P boxcar on your layout. Those have always been a favorite of mine, they really stand out.

I liked the RF&P also. It was a classy railroad. The RF&P scheme suited its switchers well. 

Photos courtesy of Mr. George Elwood's site: http://rr-fallenflags.org/

 

Bob

CNJ - Thanks for these photos !   Right you are about those RF&P switchers ... very classy livery design!!   I would see these switchers working Potomoc Yard in Alexandria, Va.  I think 4 switchers worked around the clock in Pot Yard back in the day.  It was a massive yard! 

My MTH Baltimore & Ohio C-16 Docksider pulling mixed B&O freight on the Lionel Railroad Club of Milwaukee.

A Williams, not by Bachmann, NW-2 looking for empties to push around.

Baltimore MTA light rail using an MTA 44 tonner to clear the snow after our 38 inch blizzard a few weeks ago.

Put a pantograph on that sucker!