Switcher Saturday: 2017-Mar-18

LIRR action...............

Looks great @SIRT!  Reminds me of my childhood home - Oyster Bay area and taking lots of LIRR trips, and then commuting for almost 5 yrs after college, thanks for sharing them...Rich

Yay SWSat is on!

Rich I love those little Porters. I wonder where the mold ended up after the (much mourned by me) death of K-line because I would love to get some more. You inspired me to pull my Astoria Light, Heating and Power Porter out for some pics this week. I love these little guys  

Hey @Silver Lake Andy, I really like this porter and I think the first time I ever saw one online was yours in your "Easter Egg" layout, so a big "thank you" to you too for introducing me to them.  Have a great Saturday and I hope you had fun in NY on St. Patrick's day.  We used to march before we moved down here and I just found out that my brother's kids marched yesterday and even made it on TV for a few minutes.  

I wonder if we can find any neat pictures of switchers in Ireland, google here I come!

Best...Rich

In 1937, with the steam-to-diesel transition era beginning in the US, railroad labor unions, trying to preserve the jobs of firemen that were not needed on diesels, negotiated the “90,000 Pound Rule,” stipulating that locomotives above that weight (45 tons) must have a two-man crew – engineer and fireman. To skirt this rule and control labor costs on the railroads, General Electric introduced its 44 ton diesel switcher locomotive in 1940, which could legally be operated by just an engineer.

GE produced 386 44 ton diesel switcher locomotives between 1940 and 1956. They were used on at least 26 Class 1 railroads and by many industrial operators. Most 44 tonners were powered by two Caterpillar D17000 V8 diesel engines, each developing 180 horsepower. An electric traction motor was mounted on each axle of the two-axle trucks.

The MTH Premier scale model of the GE 44 ton diesel switcher was announced in the 2015 Volume 1 catalog at a list price of $449.95 and reached the market in October 2016. As a fan of the New Haven Railroad, I purchased two examples (Item 20-20470) with road numbers 807 and 815. They are perfect for my small 10-by-5 model railroad. These die-cast models seem very heavy for such a small locomotive, have great engine sounds, and run smoothly at low speeds under conventional control. I use them to pull short freight trains with two or three boxcars and a caboose. Unable to resist, I also have a Boston & Maine version on pre-order.

MELGAR

Here's an Irish Rail class 121 diesel locomotive - photo curtesy of google search...

Hey @MELGAR - wow, really looks great!

Happy SWSat and Happy St. Patrick's Day to all fellow SWSat friends. Nice touch Rich, going past McSorleys.

In between coats of spackle this week I was able to get into the engine shop to work on my new PRR #8506 0-4-0 switcher. I upgraded the light in the tender to LED and re-wired it so it only operates in reverse. It will need to go back to the shop for some additional work but here she is spotting a couple of box cars. She's a real smooth runner, just needed a good cleaning and lubrication.

Rich and Andy- neat little switchers you have.

@SIRT- Great LIRR equipment. Very nice collection. I miss the old diesel fleet. Was always a surprise to see what was going to be pulling the next train. Today its nothing but M-7's and the occasional Dual-mode diesel.

@MELGAR- nice engine. I've been on the fence about getting one. The Lionel 44's look kind of plain. May have to place an order with MTH soon

Enjoy the weekend everyone- more painting for me.....

Arriving today from the Morton Salt plant in Rittman, ABC Railway 1502 delivers two hoppers of salt to the Cleveland Terminal & Valley's interchange track at Akron. These are very important loads for residents of the Valley. Even so, paperwork will keep the cars tied up here until early next week when they will be moved to Everett.

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The K-Line porters look fantastic. Congrats on the acquisition, Rich.

MELGAR, it sounds like you have a switcher addiction! No worries, you are among friends. I always enjoy seeing pictures from this spot on your layout.

RSJB18, It's always fun to see your layout and the colorful Chessie power hanging out in the yard.

Happy SWSAT everyone!

This week's pics feature none of my own equipment.  Last Sunday my train club took a road trip to the NJ High Railers in Patterson, NJ.  Here are some different switchers I spotted while there.

Okay, some of these aren't switcher-centric, just things that were cool to me.

No. 730 spent time in the shop last week getting a traction tire replaced. I needed to buy a set of nut drivers and bend a paper clip, but with these tools changing the tire wasn’t a problem. The original lasted nine years and 2630 scale miles. Terrific photos being shared again this week.

Hot dang it's Saturday!

here's some from the Union RR

#130 at Hall,Pa in '47

builder's photo of # 165

#167 at Mifflin Jct,Pa  missing it's headlight

#168 date and location unknown

Good morning fellow switcher fans!!! SWSAT has arrived!! I appreciate all the treasure trove of great photos and information this thread always provides!!!   Rich - I love your new Porter!  Having one on my Mountain Division will look awesome especially pulling B&O coal cars.  I still see them at train shows pretty frequently but have not been inspired until seeing yours and Andy's!  Lets see .... the next train show is when??  Oh yes Arbutus next Saturday!  

Today on the Free State Junction Railway we have a Kennecott Copper switcher pushing a KC gondola.  I incorporated these two pieces into my railroad because my uncle was once the traffic manager for the Kennecott Copper plant located along the port of Baltimore.   He managed all the modes of transportation in bound and out.  Of course he did lots of business with many railroads, in particular the B&O which served the plant.  He has lots of great stories and at 90 years young he's still sharp and can tell them all!   He came over to view the layout a few weeks ago and was happy to see the Kennecott gondola which in real life 20 of these gons were shuttled back and forth between his KC plant and the pier which served ships from many nations.  Upon the seeing the Kennecott equipment on my layout the stories started to flow.  

I don't think Kennecott ever owned a locomotive in with their name on it.  They did own the Nevada Northern Railroad though.  A B&O GP 7 or 9 would do all the switching duties at the Kennecott Plant here in the Baltimore area.  As a young little guy of around 9 or 10, my uncle took me to the plant and brought me aboard the GP locomotive.... WOW what a treat!!! 

Have a wonderful weekend and a fun and creative week everyone!!!

Steamer posted:

Hot dang it's Saturday!

here's some from the Union RR

 

#167 at Mifflin Jct,Pa  missing it's headlight

#168 date and location unknown

Hi Dave (and all), I like examining some of these vintage photos...besides the headlight missing on #167, it is missing its bell, some rods between the second and third driver and some apparatus above the cylinders and and halfway up the boiler.

Also, there is an unusual arrangement of steps for the front pilot almost like they took it off of a caboose or some other piece of equipment. 

Tom 

Happy Switcher Saturday! Rich got me thinking about Irish steam engines, so I found this little gal. 

Tom 

Silver Lake posted:

Yay SWSat is on!

Rich I love those little Porters. I wonder where the mold ended up after the (much mourned by me) death of K-line because I would love to get some more. You inspired me to pull my Astoria Light, Heating and Power Porter out for some pics this week. I love these little guys  

Yes, what happened to that mold? Also K-Line's Plymouth. Someone is missing out on a good seller. 

Dave Warburton posted: 

Yes, what happened to that mold? Also K-Line's Plymouth. Someone is missing out on a good seller. 

My guess:  Chan Yang at Korea Brass has the tooling. 

Lou N

Here is a local switcher & caboose in action off of Webster Street in Dayton, Ohio.  There is a market there with a nice parking lot to watch CSX & NS in action.

Phil in Ohio

I never noticed those steps Tom...they look good.Looks like the Union used that style on their locomotives.

Back in July 2008, I visited the East Anglian Railway Museum  (http://www.earm.co.uk/), which is in Colchester, Essex, UK. I took these photos of their switchers.

EARM No. 2068 - 1933 Robert Avonside 0-6-0 ST 'Robert'

EARM No. 2039 - 1943 Peckett and Sons 0-4-0 Saddle Tank 'Jeffrey' and
EARM No. 437781 - British Rail HKV Ironstone Hopper Wagon

EARM No. 11249 - British Rail Class 04 0-6-0DM D2279 (Diesel)

Added command control to my favorite Railking FM 10-44, so it has had a lot of exercise this past week. 

Fortunately, the Legacy components from an F7B transferred with relative ease into the high hood FM. 

Bruce

Here is a treat for those B&O fans here. A  functional B&O dwarf signal set to demonstrate various aspects of this complicated signals. Donated to the club by B&O from thier SI operation.