Switcher Saturday Mark II!, 2/29/2020

Happy leap-day SWSAT!

In the background of this night shot the West End has been completely rearranged and that track switch laying in the foreground  hints at a further tweak upcoming on the PER:

The addition of the passing siding seen here facilitates facing-point moves which has made SWITCHING more interesting at the West End. The Paint Factory now has (5) car spots:

And switching there is even more aesthetically satisfying:

Happy SWSat! The Leap Year Edition!

This week the D&H is in the yards at the RSJ&B picking up a couple of new covered hoppers for the trip up north. The yard master sent a GP-9 # 8229 (WbB), down to grab the cars.

The crew was running late so they hightailed it out of town. (Gotta re-wire this engine in series )

Hope everyone enjoys their bonus day and their trains.

Bob

Penn Central SW8 8616 (Atlas O) spots a hi-cube boxcar at a warehouse:

Tom

Happy SWSAT everyone! Buzz is dropping off a couple of coal cars this morning enjoy your weekend 

Lee, how in the World are you uncoupling those cars? I see claw couplers but no remote uncoupler in the track-work.

geysergazer posted:

Lee, how in the World are you uncoupling those cars? I see claw couplers but no remote uncoupler in the track-work.

Ancient Chinese secret of  Mr. Lee’s lol. Lew I’ll let you think about 

Today is leap day. Doesn't happen very often...

MTH Railking New York Central 0-8-0 steam switcher #415 is a scale-sized PS1 model that I bought more than 20 years ago. It has always run well and I still run it quite often.

MELGAR

Is it Saturday already?  Great  I just got back from a trip and need to unpack and wash some clothes, so I thought I'd find a file photo for today.  I found this photo of my MTH SW-1 from 2009.  I had a carpet layout back then that was huge and I should have never taking it down.  Unfortunately, that MTH track was just too much trouble

This SW-1, or ES6 as classified by the PRR, is another one of my engines that is packed away somewhere that I need to find and run a bit.  If I remember correctly, it uses a GP-7 frame so its too long.  I wonder if a scale length one has ever been made.

Lee,

That tripod does the job...

MELGAR

                                                                      C N J

How about an SW1500.  Woodside Lumber.  Russ

"Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, they've all come to look for America"

America, by Paul Simon

Arnold

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

Switcher action on the Seattle & Yakima RR

Union Station DC....taken about 90 minutes ago, heading north on a Northeast Regional.

Have a great weekend, folks!

Peter

Peter, you caught a rare bird there (the switcher to the right), an Amtrak SW1!

                    happy "SWSat" everyone !!

                 working on a very cold, cloudy morning...

    skies are starting to clear up, waiting for the next assignment, still very cold out...

                      still working hard switching out cars late into the evening...

Big Jersey Central FM Switcher Power:

Arnold

My Latest Aquisition.....

Switchers for this Saturday.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Well Switcher Saturday fans...it's late and I worked most of today trying to get order out of chaos in the train room and I found two little switchers you might find interesting.  Both are battery powered and lithographed tinplate.  Both are made in Japan, the diesel by Cragstan and the steamer by Alps.  I hope you enjoy them.

Here us a front view, the battery (a single D) goes behind the boiler front and the power switch is on the other side under the running board.  It is identified as NYC # 723 and the lithography is very detailed

Here is the diesel switcher...Cragstan "shuttle Train"

Front view

Side View

Rear platform with an articulated flagman who waves his flag as the engine moves

For size comparison, the Cragstan Shuttle Train is about the same size as a Marx GE 70 Ton switcher.

Best wishes for Switcher Saturday !!

Don McErlean