Good morning fellow SWSAT friends!!! Got to love those post war C&O 0-4-0 switchers Rich and Tom Mike CT - great job putting the end cab switcher back together! Andy - I love that CNR O-6-0 ... very unique design
This week I received from fellow forumite Don Jones, this beautiful Atlas O RS1 ( with TMCC ) in Washington Terminal livery number 63. Don even included a photo of the prototype locomotive 63 working in the Ivy City coach yard in Washington DC. This model has great sound! Nothing like hearing the distinct sound of an ALCO diesel! The horn and bell sounds great! AND ... it smokes too! It doesn't spew smoke like the prototype ALCOs but I will take what I can get (after all its a Lionel smoke unit ).
About 8 years ago I purchased a new ATLAS O WT RS 1 number 46 from MB Klien in Cockeysville, Md. For some reason this loco turned out to be a "lemon" ( Klien's word ). After sending it back to Atlas 4 times for warranty repairs ( during the first 3 months of ownership ) to no avail, Klein offered to give me my money back or a store credit. This is when I purchased my Pennsy Aerotrain with the store credit. I was, however, very bummed that ATLAS O could not get my WT engine to function correctly ( but hey ... I'll bet even Rolls Royce has an occasional lemon ) and have since had a deep yearning for a WT RS1 in my fleet. Atlas only made a limited amount of WT RS 1s and they are hard to come by. When I saw Don's post I immediately jumped on it ... and am so glad to have this engine on my roster.
I used to see, almost daily, the WT fleet of RS1s, end cabs, and GP7 on the service track and switching the AMTRAK fleet during the late 1970s ( there were still some GG1s around back then too... and the engine terminal also included a roundhouse for WT locos ... later to be demolished by AMTRAK ) ,1980s and 90s as I'd drive into DC on New York Ave, I always hoped the traffic would be backed up when I got to Ivy City so I would have time to check out the switcher action over at the engine terminal and coach yard. I was probably the only person on NY Ave praying for the traffic to become worse than it already was. ( Btw - Traffic in and around DC at rush hour, or any hour for that matter, absolutely sucks! ) I still like to catch a glimpse of the AMTRAK locomotive fleet as I drive by the same location at Ivy City, however, with the absence of the Washington Terminal Company's switcher fleet, it just isn't the same.... for it's now sort of like drinking a flat Coca Cola ( at least to me ). The fizz is gone!
I've also included some side by side photos of the WT RS1 with my B&O GP9 for it really was ALCO's RS series of locomotives that inspired the creation of EMD's GP series. The rest as they say is history.
This week marks the return of the FIZZ here on the Free State Junction Railway in Patsburg, Md., where he fall season is unfolding nicely. Have a fun and creative weekend everyone!!