Switcher Saturday - Mark !! 8/29/2020

Lionel Vulcan switchers have been in action on the S&Y RR the past week. From Postwar through MPC, and now modern with CC, these little guys have been running on layouts for about for 65 years. Bought my first Vulcan switcher ( #59 Minuteman ) from Madison Hardware about then for around $6 or $7, still running today after many decades.

Rusty

An ex-Army #41 switcher finds a new life as an industrial switcher at a grain elevator:

Tom

Happy SWSAT everyone! 

While on vacation the wk of Aug 16th, 2020 my wife & I found this NebKota RR GP #49 parked by a grain silo in far Northwestern Nebraska.  It was about high noon & 100F so I didn't spend much time taking snapshots !

Happy SWSat!

@jhz563- great pix of the plant under construction. You don't see stuff like that these days.

Great photos everyone!

Sharing a new (old) addition to the fleet this week. I bought this engine over a year ago and finally unpacked it and put it on the rails. I had inspected it after I bought it but a can't believe it took this long to get around to running it. Time flies!
Lionel D&H ALCO RS-11 (w/ command). It's a very nice looking engine and you can't beat the D&H colors.

I put it through it's paces last night, still need to lube it today and put the battery in.

His older brother rolled by to check out the action.

Have a great weekend!

Bob

              MTH BN SD24s just dropped a cut of coal hoppers for the power plant at NJ Hirailers.

Good morning fellow switcher fans!!  Wonderful pics and videos you guys!!  JHZ563 thanks for notching out the throttle and getting us rolling today.

Here is a photo potpourri of switchers going about their various tasks on the Free State Junction Railway.   I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!  Be safe = Be well!

GE 44 tonner shoves two 50 ton hoppers to the coal tower. 

44 tonner on the main.

BL2 bring a freight thru Butler junction. 

Plymouth switcher doing duty in Brewtown. 

44 tonner on the main and 0-8-0 in the hole. 

SW 9 brings a freight westward as an RS1 moves into a siding to pick up some cars. 

0-8-0 with brakeman riding the footboard. 

Dockside being serviced. 

0-8-0 at the tower as a BL2 passes over on the far track. 

@Tom Densel posted:

An ex-Army #41 switcher finds a new life as an industrial switcher at a grain elevator:

Tom

Tom- who made the elevator? I'm looking for a smallish one for my next project.

Bob

Happy Switcher Saturday. Shark Bay Switchers was a busy day.

@RSJB18 posted:

Happy SWSat!

@jhz563- great pix of the plant under construction. You don't see stuff like that these days. 

Thanks Bob.  There's boxes of old construction pictures,  all nicely bound.  I will try to go through them some more a little at a time over the next few weeks. 

A little switcher action on Switcher Saturday!

Great pics gang keepin rollin 

@trumpettrain posted:

Good morning fellow switcher fans!!  Wonderful pics and videos you guys!!  JHZ563 thanks for notching out the throttle and getting us rolling today.

Here is a photo potpourri of switchers going about their various tasks on the Free State Junction Railway.   I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!  Be safe = Be well!

GE 44 tonner shoves two 50 ton hoppers to the coal tower. 

44 tonner on the main.

BL2 bring a freight thru Butler junction. 

Plymouth switcher doing duty in Brewtown. 

44 tonner on the main and 0-8-0 in the hole. 

SW 9 brings a freight westward as an RS1 moves into a siding to pick up some cars. 

0-8-0 with brakeman riding the footboard. 

Dockside being serviced. 

0-8-0 at the tower as a BL2 passes over on the far track. 

Patrick, I was speaking about your autumn scenery with one of our Forum friends yesterday. We agree that you have a special talent for autumn colors, and the autumn scenery on your layout is beautiful.

I have attempted autumn colors on my layout, found it to be very challenging to do, and ultimately abandoned it. 

It all worked out because I have 2 baseball parks with O scale player figures on my layout so Spring/Summer scenery in various shades of green works. I found green colored scenery to be much easier to do than autumn scenery. Arnold

TALES OF THE DOCKSIDER

There’s been a lot of strange foreign power on Worcester rails recently, but who would expect an antique steam locomotive?

Seeing is believing!  PRR H3 Consolidation 437, circa 1886, has been preserved for excursion use.  She’s scheduled to pull a train in Worcester today, but has been sidelined due to a steam leak in the right cylinder.  Will all the families who bought tickets, especially the kids, be disappointed today?

No!  NYC shop switcher X-8688 has been dispatched to pull 437 to the shop ASAP!  The shop crew has promised to “drop everything” to get 437 to the station on time.  The families will get to enjoy the sights and sounds of a beautiful antique engine today!

Yay! SWSat is rolling again. 

I have been out of the game for a bit. Earlier this summer my son deleted my entire email account permanently with prejudice so I lost all my contacts and I am sorry if anyone has been trying to reach me. 

Here is a two rail engine and caboose sitting on a three rail track. The Engine is a nicely scratch built LIRR Morris Park Shop Electric Switcher. There were two of these the 320 and the 322. They were built this small to fit onto the transfer table and the roundhouse turntable with other equipment. These lasted from the 20’s into the early 1960’s is my understanding.  

I have no idea who made it in metal and styrene.  It was bundled with some other cars I bid on. 

Well, happy switcher Saturday everyone.  Here is my picture for today...The EMD MP-15 switcher is using all of her 1500 HP to move a few boxcars off of the L&S so we don't pay per diem charges.  Anything to save a nickel, management is even paying weekend pay to the switcher crew to move those cars out of the port and up the line.   Not to worry about the UP livery, L&S management got her on a second hand deal from the UP and put her right to work...no paint job for her not yet anyway.  Likely she will spend her L&S career with just the UP lettering and number painted over (or maybe with a cardboard sign...these guys are really cheap! ).  General Storm and Sash is about to resume post quarantine work...there has been an uptick in home construction and contractors orders for new doors are arriving every day.  L&S management may throw a party, this means lumber and other supplies in and doors out...YEA we make revenue!! 

Happy SwSat everyone...Stay healthy

Don

Welcome back Andy! I love that shop Switcher 

Anyone know what NVR stands for? Don

               Happy "SWSat !!

                                          have a great weekend everyone !!

I believe that is Northern Vermont Railway 

@scale rail posted:

Anyone know what NVR stands for? Don

What about Not Very Red??

It's Napa Valley Railroads #51 and it is a DS44-660.

Thank you Keith, I most likely saw a few times when we lived in the Bay Area. So it's a 1946 Baldwin. Not many of those around. Thanks again Keith. Don

@Steam Crazy posted:

TALES OF THE DOCKSIDER

There’s been a lot of strange foreign power on Worcester rails recently, but who would expect an antique steam locomotive?

Seeing is believing!  PRR H3 Consolidation 437, circa 1886, has been preserved for excursion use.  She’s scheduled to pull a train in Worcester today, but has been sidelined due to a steam leak in the right cylinder.  Will all the families who bought tickets, especially the kids, be disappointed today?

No!  NYC shop switcher X-8688 has been dispatched to pull 437 to the shop ASAP!  The shop crew has promised to “drop everything” to get 437 to the station on time.  The families will get to enjoy the sights and sounds of a beautiful antique engine today!

 

I enjoyed your little story, Steam Crazy.

Above are some beautiful and unique Switchers, all really cool... That’s an area that I need to look into. Happy Railroading Everyone.... 

Great stuff as always, guys!  Thanks for sharing and stay safe.

@BAR GP7 #63 posted:

...Shark Bay Switchers...

I don't know what it is, but for a small locomotive saddletank engines are cool.

Here's my K-Line porter assisting w/ some postwar hoppers.

Arnold, I'm very pleased to hear you liked my story!  Thanks!

John

@Keystone posted:

I don't know what it is, but for a small locomotive saddletank engines are cool.

Here's my K-Line porter assisting w/ some postwar hoppers.

Keystone. Thanks. It´s an ALCO 0-6-0ST, Lionel products. Orginal was a SP&S #600, but i just repaint that and now it´s Shark Bay R.R. #12 "Earl".

Johan

Another great Switcher Saturday.

Bob, D&H Lightning Stripes look cool.

Patrick Free State Junction busy as usual.

Johan those Shark Bay switchers always look good doing their duties.

Andy, nice to see you posting.  If you've been posting I haven't seen them.  That switcher is way cool and the caboose reminds me of the one you've ghot tucked away in the woods upstate.

@coach joe posted:

Another great Switcher Saturday.

Andy, nice to see you posting.  If you've been posting I haven't seen them.  That switcher is way cool and the caboose reminds me of the one you've got  tucked away in the woods upstate. 

Nice catch Joe. It is in fact the very one. It is the o scale craftsman style model of the exact caboose that ran on the track here.  I used the plan to build my replica 15 years ago. This year finally building the model was one of my pandemic projects. As you can see just like my replica there is still some work (like handrails) that need finishing. 

I am happy to finally have it mostly done. In my mind I had made it into this big deal but it was straight forward and a fun project. This Particular model is the actual one I used in Planning but I have 4 more of these to go so I can build the entire fleet (Plus a model of my replica.)

I have since  gone on to build quite a few Craftsman style car kits this year as well as design and build a freelance coal breaker office in o scale for my train club. Since I didn’t have castings the windows were the most fiddling bits. 

Great job on those windows Andy.  Never would have known they weren't castings.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Patrick, I was speaking about your autumn scenery with one of our Forum friends yesterday. We agree that you have a special talent for autumn colors, and the autumn scenery on your layout is beautiful.

I have attempted autumn colors on my layout, found it to be very challenging to do, and ultimately abandoned it. 

It all worked out because I have 2 baseball parks with O scale player figures on my layout so Spring/Summer scenery in various shades of green works. I found green colored scenery to be much easier to do than autumn scenery. Arnold

Thank you so much Arnold for your kind works regarding my autumn colors!  As a kid, my family like with many households, the train tables ( two 4 X 8 ) went up the day before Thanksgiving and came down a week or so after the new year.  During that time frame, I loved to scenic the layout and invariably I would go with a fall flavor.   Of course in those days I didn't have access to the many wonderful scenery products that we have today, but I did the best I could with Life Like products.  I always greatly enjoyed the scenicing process then as I do now. 

As I've mentioned a couple of times in other threads, I'm color blind ... runs in the male side of my mother's family.   I don't see the world as folks who are not color blind see the world... LOL!    I'm always absolutely thrilled that you and others enjoy my fall scenery work!  

Yes baseball and summer certainly go hand in hand.  I've always greatly admired your baseball parks in the photos you've shared here on the forum.   Those photos certainly convey to all of us your great love for the game!  

Thank you everyone for another awesome weekend of Switcher Saturday!

I have always wondered why some railfans and model railroaders use the term PARKED when referring to a locomotive that is standing still?  In all the years I railroaded I never heard the term park or parked being used.  It was always ON THE SPOT or SPOTTED.  A locomotive was on the spot.  A freight car was spotted, be it at an industry or on a team track.  

This isn't to say that there are railroaders who use these this terminology, however I never encountered a railroader using this "lingo".  If you've been out in the great outdoors railfanning and have overheard railroaders use the terms Park or Parked I'd be interested to know which railroad as well as the location.

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not nitpicking, just interested is all.

73