Switcher Saturday Mark II: 2/15/20

Hi there SWSAT gang.  Good vacation but good to be home.   Thanks Lew for getting us kicked off yesterday.   So I was with the family in FL this past week,  and headed home on the auto train yesterday morning.   Lots of observations on that,  but got some big Switcher pictures this morning.   Now, normally I would never consider a wide nose Dash 8 as a Switcher,  but that is exactly how it is used.   On the northern end of the run, loco 515 handles spotting the auto racks.  An identical unit has this duty on the southern end.  I caught some pictures from inside the coach,  and from the ground. My phone jumbled up the order of the photos but you'll get the idea.  The ride was nice enough,  but it is very good to be home!

U R welcome! Glad you are all back home safe&sound. And ready to step back into harness I'll assume>  

Welcome back JHZ..... We're 6 time veterans of the Autotrain. Driving from LI, NY to Fla is not in my DNA so the train is a great alternative. Last time we went they had 514 on duty.

Thank you for the photographs and video JHZ and Bob.  We have never been to Florida.  The closest I got was Atlanta, and that was for a work conference.  When I worked for Virginia Power in the '80s and early '90s, we had a substation that was handy the Lorton terminal.  I saw the train parked several times, but of course couldn't hang around in the company van.  I could get into driving the 5 hours to Lorton and riding the train to Florida.

Welcome back did you and your family  make a stop at WDW ? Love the Auto-train my wife and I have taken it many times my only complaint's are when they are hours late and the top bunk in the rooms are like sleeping on concrete. ☺ 

Welcome home JHZ!  Glad to hear you and your family enjoyed the trip to Florida.  Thank you and Bob for the videos of the Auto Train switcher operations. Nice!

RSJB18 posted:

sidehack posted:

RSJB18 posted:

sidehack posted:

Lew nice selection, here is my RS11

That's a beauty Ray. I have a Lionel D&H RS-11 w/command that I need to unpack and get on the rails.

Is your's Lionel?

yes it's a great engine, unpack that D&H would love to see it

Ray- not unpacked yet but I forgot I had taken some pix of my RS-11 when I bought it. stay tuned....

That is a beauty! Love that paint scheme

Me too

rpmcobra posted:

Welcome back did you and your family  make a stop at WDW ? Love the Auto-train my wife and I have taken it many times my only complaint's are when they are hours late and the top bunk in the rooms are like sleeping on concrete. ☺ 

The only Disney park we hit this time was Blizzard Beach, just Mrs. Z, my oldest and myself.   It was 90 deg in February!

We did go to Nasa, which was great.  I have a few pictures of some railroad inside the property,  but no equipment,  and of course they sold all their old Switchers.

RSJB18 posted:

Me too

ok now I'm getting jealous....nice!

Thanks to Mr Stack I was able to lash up a post war and a post war celebration Seaboard switchers.  I think they look great!