Switcher Saturday 6-5-21

Good morning fellow switcher fans!  JHZ563 thanks for getting us rolling and early this morning I might add!  On the FSJR today it's all about short line railroads of Maryland and B&O.   Have a wonderful and safe weekend everyone   A Patapsco and Back Rivers VO1000 prepares for a backup move into a siding.  That's Clyde Bartholomew, the brakeman, waiting for a signal from Lumpy Larson the rear brakeman, once the switch is open for the move.

Jake and Elroy, both brakeman, ride the rear platform of P&BR VO1000.

Canton Railroad SW1500 and calf make their way down the main.  The Canton Railroad still serves the Canton section of Baltimore City today.  It's Baltimore's oldest continuous running railroad.  

MA&PA SW 1 with freight cars in tow enter the switch at Butler Junction.  Mack, on the ground, tips his hat to Buford on the locomotive's front deck.

Kennecott Copper switcher with gondola.  Kennecott Copper had a refining plant in the Curtis Bay area of Baltimore.  Although there was never a switcher assigned to the plant, Kennecott had it's own railroad ... the Nevada Northern which ran ( and still runs as tourist line ) out of Ely, Nevada.  My Uncle Leon was the Traffic Manager for the Kennecott plant at Curtis Bay.  In addition to various sidings throughout the plant, there was a six track yard switched by the B&O.  Additionally, the plant had it's own pier ( with trackage on the pier )  for exporting copper via shipping lines.  The B&O switch crew could spend the best part of a day switching the Kennecott plant.  According to my uncle, there was always a booze bar set up in the locomotive cab.  Not the safest way to run a railroad.  At times a freight car would get pushed through a bumping post and wind up on the ground.... more than likely due to overindulgence in the locomotive cab bar.  I'm sure none of these shenanigans would fly in the railroad world today.

The P&BR logo is a pretty simple circle.  The P&BR employees affectionately nicknamed their employer, the Push Bump and Ram. The P&BR primarily served the sprawling Bethlehem Steel Plant at Sparrows Point, Md. just outside Baltimore City.  As a matter of fact the P&BR railroad was one of 9 railroads owned by Bethlehem Steel Corp.   The P&BR served other industries near the Bethlehem Steel plant as well and connected with the three class one carriers of the day .... B&O, Western Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

B&O Dockside on the job.

The Canton meets the P&BR in the early morning hours as the sun scatters its' first rays of light.  

Happy SWSat!

Nothing new this week.

Have a great weekend.

Bob

Have a great weekend everyone!

Rusty

New Haven Railroad Y-3 #3400 is an MTH Premier USRA 0-8-0 steam switcher model 20-3148-2 with 3-volt PS2, a BCR2, scale wheels, and no traction tires. MTH lists the hi-rail version of this engine for operation on O-31 and the scale-wheel version for 42-inch radius. I run it only straight through the Atlas O-72 switches on the O-72 loop of my 12’-by-8’ layout because it derails through the curved paths of the Atlas O-54 switches on my 10-by-5’ layout.

These switchers were made for the New Haven by Alco beginning in 1920. #3400 was assigned to Boston. A typical USRA 0-8-0 had a tractive effort of about 51,000 pounds and the combined weight of the engine and tender was about 364,000 pounds. One-hundred and seventy-five 0-8-0 engines were produced during USRA control of the railroads between 1918 and 1920, and 1200 copies were built afterward. The New Haven retired these engines in 1952.

It may be unusual to see an 0-8-0 switcher pulling passenger cars with people aboard but the MTH wood-sided cars are a good match for this locomotive.

MELGAR

A second hand switcher takes a siesta in the loading shed at the grain elevator:

Tom

Well hello SwSat fans, jhz563 thanks for starting this off, I hope your family adventure is great fun...I bet those boys of yours are really looking forward to it!  Well on the opposite side of the fabulous realism brought to us by Melgar and his 0-8-0 New Haven switcher, here is a Japanese manufactured "shuttle train" switcher by Cragstan.  This guy is not really a track loco but not a floor toy either.  It runs on a pre-set layout of "street like" track and performs switching autonomously in a given sequence.  He is battery powered, two type "D" batteries provide the power source and the front panel of the loco swings down to open the battery compartment.

Here he is, with his colorful red, white and blue livery. All sheet metal and lithographed.  Excellent quality as was true of most of the Japanese lithographed tin toys of the 1960's.

Side view, you can notice the drive wheels, they are rather thin and have a rubber traction tire fitted closely around the rim.  Also of course are the lithographed "trucks" designed to show that the loco is 8 wheeled with two trucks but these are just a facade. The rods sticking out fore and aft are actually direction controls.  As he performs his switching tasks these intersect certain stops in the layout to trigger a reverse of direction.

Coolest thing of all, is the brakeman, who waves his flag as the loco is in motion.

Just for a size comparison, here he is next to the Marx 112, LV GE-70 ton switcher from 1972-74.  They are almost identical in size and the lithographed design on the Cragstan resembles the GE model at least as interpreted by Mr. Marx.

Happy SwSat everyone...best wishes for the weekend

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

Well hello SwSat fans, jhz563 thanks for starting this off, I hope your family adventure is great fun...I bet those boys of yours are really looking forward to it!  Well on the opposite side of the fabulous realism brought to us by Melgar and his 0-8-0 New Haven switcher, here is a Japanese manufactured "shuttle train" switcher by Cragstan.  This guy is not really a track loco but not a floor toy either.  It runs on a pre-set layout of "street like" track and performs switching autonomously in a given sequence.  He is battery powered, two type "D" batteries provide the power source and the front panel of the loco swings down to open the battery compartment.

Here he is, with his colorful red, white and blue livery. All sheet metal and lithographed.  Excellent quality as was true of most of the Japanese lithographed tin toys of the 1960's.

Side view, you can notice the drive wheels, they are rather thin and have a rubber traction tire fitted closely around the rim.  Also of course are the lithographed "trucks" designed to show that the loco is 8 wheeled with two trucks but these are just a facade. The rods sticking out fore and aft are actually direction controls.  As he performs his switching tasks these intersect certain stops in the layout to trigger a reverse of direction.

Coolest thing of all, is the brakeman, who waves his flag as the loco is in motion.

Just for a size comparison, here he is next to the Marx 112, LV GE-70 ton switcher from 1972-74.  They are almost identical in size and the lithographed design on the Cragstan resembles the GE model at least as interpreted by Mr. Marx.

Happy SwSat everyone...best wishes for the weekend

Don

Don- love to see a video of it in action if possible. Very cool.

TALES OF THE DOCKSIDER

Well, your Yardmaster is “late to the party” again this weekend.  It seems his spouse thinks certain chores around the house and errands are more important than playing with trains.  Can you believe that?

Shop switcher X-8688 in in the shop this weekend, so D&RG 44 tonner no. 42 is featured in today’s photo.  She is hauling a train of empty ore cars back to the mine somewhere in Colorado.

No. 42 is a Williams by Bachman model that I think is a great value.  It has nice detail, good sound and only cost me $170.  It has a tendency to start and stop abruptly, but I solved that problem by running it with a relatively heavy consist.  Just beware the flimsy handrails!

John

Patrick, in addition to your modelling and story telling skills, now you're adding info about the railroading scene in and around Baltimore making your posts all the more enjoyable.

Likewise Mel, your SWSAT posts always include detailed info on the switcher pictured on your impeccable layouts.