Switcher Saturday September 16, 2023

Boston & Maine #1274 is an MTH model (20-21401-1, MSRP $479.95) of an Alco S-2 switcher that was delivered in 2021. Like my other MTH diesel locomotives with PS3, it runs very smoothly.

B&M #1274 had an unusual history. It was an Alco S-3 switcher built in 1950 as B&M #1174 with 660 horsepower that was damaged in a 1957 fire at the B&M roundhouse in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was rebuilt by Alco as an S-4 switcher with 1000 horsepower and renumbered #1274. The engine weight was 230,000 pounds and tractive effort was 57,500 pounds.

The “bluebird” paint scheme was an effort by B&M president Patrick McGinnis to modernize the look of the railroad as he had done previously while president of the New Haven Railroad between 1954 and 1956. McGinnis became president of the Boston & Maine in 1956 and later served 18 months in Federal Prison for his part in a sale of railroad cars by the B&M. The blue color and logo were widely used for locomotives and rolling stock, especially cabooses, on the B&M.

Pictures and videos on my 12’-by-8’ layout.

MELGAR

Lehigh Valley diesel (Lionel TMCC) running conventionally hauling heavy freight through the country side:

Bob, thanks again for getting us started so early this Saturday; and thank you, Melgar and Bob, for your always interesting photos, videos and information about switchers. Arnold

Happy SWSAT everyone. Thanks for the great kickoff Bob. Here’s my offering today I bought this little guy last year and have been quite fond of it. Enjoy your weekend.

@MELGAR posted:

Boston & Maine #1274 is an MTH model (20-21401-1, MSRP $479.95) of an Alco S-2 switcher that was delivered in 2021. Like my other MTH diesel locomotives with PS3, it runs very smoothly.

B&M #1274 had an unusual history. It was an Alco S-3 switcher built in 1950 as B&M #1174 with 660 horsepower that was damaged in a 1957 fire at the B&M roundhouse in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was rebuilt by Alco as an S-4 switcher with 1000 horsepower and renumbered #1274. The engine weight was 230,000 pounds and tractive effort was 57,500 pounds.

The “bluebird” paint scheme was an effort by B&M president Patrick McGinnis to modernize the look of the railroad as he had done previously while president of the New Haven Railroad between 1954 and 1956. McGinnis became president of the Boston & Maine in 1956 and later served 18 months in Federal Prison for his part in a sale of railroad cars by the B&M. The blue color and logo were widely used for locomotives and rolling stock, especially cabooses, on the B&M.

Pictures and videos on my 12’-by-8’ layout.

MELGAR

Mel great pics as always thanks for sharing

@RSJB18 posted:

Happy SWSat!

Once again, it's time for some switcher fun. This week, I wanted to start by sharing a brief word from our former and hopefully future yardmaster @jhz563. He sends his best to SWSat Nation along with a couple of photos of his favorite
SW 1200 at the power plant.

(photos used with permission)

For the uninitiated- SWSat is a fun place to jump into the engineers or fireman's seat on a GEEP, ALCO, End-cab, 0-4-0 steamer or saddle tanker, Plymouth, or even a Track-mobile. The thread is open to all gauges, shapes, and sizes, foreign or domestic, old or new, so feel free to share what you like.
Just make sure you own the pictures you are posting, or get permission to post from the owner.

This week the RSJ&B shops pushed out another project. We completed a PS3/2 stacker board install on a MTH ALCO S2 chassis and added a Lehigh and New England body to round it out. The engine still needs some fine tuning but so far road testing is going well.

The LNE has a long and interesting history. They were only the 2nd railroad to completely shut down and cease operations after the NYO&W.

Also featured is my Boston and Maine RS3 that was repaired recently too.

Have a great weekend! Looking forward to reading everyone's posts.

Bob

Looks and runs smooth to me Bob. Nice video

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Lehigh Valley diesel (Lionel TMCC) running conventionally hauling heavy freight through the country side:

Bob, thanks again for getting us started so early this Saturday; and thank you, Melgar and Bob, for your always interesting photos, videos and information about switchers. Arnold

Arnold great video that lash up is not wasting any time this morning going through the country side I liked how the brakeman flicked the lights at they tower as the passed lol. Thanks for sharing.

Happy SwSat, y’all!  Thanks, Bob, for the kickoff and count me among the faithful looking forward to JHZ’s return!

Your Yardmaster is still in a NH state of mind, so he’s featuring his NH 0-6-0 no. 2334 today.  She’s an Atlas model retrofitted with a MTH PS3 operating system.

No. 2334 is seen hauling a train you’ve seen before, comprised of cheap postwar flatcars with military vehicle loads.  The train has some new equipment, including a White scout car, two Dodge Power Wagons and a RMT US Army tank car.

The train is leaving NH’s South Worcester, MA yard on the way to the B&M yard in North Worcester.  The B&M will deliver the train to Fort Devens in Ayer, MA.

John

PRR BEEP (my first one) hauling a few tankers down the line to South Fork for cleaning:

As the audio makes apparent, my 4 new RMT tankers (Deep Rock, US Navy, Hooker & Monsanto) squeak quite a bit despite axle-end and coupler bottom frame oiling.

Kind of a tale of how the Mighty Have Fallen. The Rutland probably out of necessity would uses motive power on a variety of jobs. Ten Wheeler #74 saw service at times on the Green Mountain Flyer and the famous Milk Train. In it’s final years. It’s assignment was the Bennington switcher. In studying photos you could see that boards were added front and rear for the brakeman and a good sized backup light. There’s some good working shots of it on video in the Rutland Remnants collection.  I already had 4 on the roster and wanted to do something different with an older TMCC model I had stored away.
Freight boards were added, a cab curtain, a pole, a couple of chain links and a backup light for a Shay. Engine was repainted and Highball Graphics supplied the decals. Seeing I use Kadee’s. There was a wire in the tether for the coil coupler. Seeing it served no function now. I used it to tie all 4 rollers together.

The final shot shows it earning it’s keep switching the creamery. To the right is the Clarendon & Pittsford interchange tracks with some marble loads.

Bill, that’s some heavy duty squeaking!  The axles of the RMT cars, in addition to being supported at the end, pass through holes in the truck frame.  A drop of oil at  those holes cured the squeaking in my RMT tankers.  Give that a try and let me know how you make out.

John

Happy Switcher Saturday and thanks to Bob again for kicking things off.  Great pics and vids everyone. On my pike, we’re still having a blast running our newest addition to the roster, a LIRR VO1000.  

Here she is with her sister RS1 in the background. I like to think this is the Long Island City yards circa 1960, when both engines were in service together -

Here she is switching out a load -

Here are some videos of her working in the lower east side industrial part of town -

Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0 # 102 class U-4a pauses for a photo op at an undisclosed location. This is the only 3 rail IHB I know to exist!….note the operating 3rd cylinder engine under the tender. This switcher was built from MTH drive train components, & a US Hobbies IHB 0-8-0 ……..Naturally, the IHB’s parent company was the Central proper,…

Pat

Some switcher action from the Tracker set -up in DC last weekend......my trusty New York Central S2......

Have a great and safe weekend, folks!

Peter

Hello All

Here's a little USS switcher moving some freight back and forth for no good reason.

Dean

Another great start Bob and Thank You for the help on e-units I have a fine running PW Lionel GP-7 Burlington 2328 from 55-56. Great looking engines all

Greetings, switcher fans. Hope your weekend is off to a great start! While I attend to adding missing hardware to my latest acquisition - a Lionel #617 Santa Fe NW2 - which I will share next week (the parts just arrived), here is a pic of a switcher of “unknown vintage or origin” from the children’s one-foot-gauge railroad which runs through this beautiful garden setting in La Canada-Flintridge, California. Now retired and replaced by a newer model. The kids sat on the middle wooden structure on the flat car, accompanied by parents, of course.  Great fun!

Well SwSat fans, here we area again at another mid=weekend and odd as it is here in central Texas it is RAINING...the last few days have brought rain, the first since 1 July.  My lawn and trees might survive yet.  Well Bob, thanks again for starting us off and getting us moving.   Great pictures everyone.

Here is my post for today.  One of my favorite new switchers on the roster, a Kline Kennecott Copper MP-15.  Purchased only a few weeks ago, she has turned out to be a smooth powerful runner capable of traversing the 0-27 curves on my inner freight loop. So she has been a success all around.

Hope your weekend is going well, best wishes for the upcoming week

Don

Good afternoon fellow switcher lovers!   Wonderful photos, videos and info everyone!  Thanks Bob for getting us rolling today!  Great to see JHZ563 being represented with photos posted via Bob!  

Today I have sequenced the pacing of a Pennsy A5 running on the Mountain Division: first as it emerges from a timber tunnel portal and rumbles across a Bollman truss bridge.  

Coming off the bridge the A5 is about to round a bend.

Taking the grade at Mountain View Rd.  

Someone sitting in their pickup snapped this photo which captures the diminutive locomotive's profile of power.  Fireman Snazzy Semple looks out the cab window.  

With the locomotive thru the grade crossing there is no doubt this is a Pennsylvania RR locomotive.  

Fellers at a MOW camp barely notice the A5 and its' entourage of cars going by.  For these fellers it's business as usual.  

@Steam Crazy posted:

Bill, that’s some heavy duty squeaking!  The axles of the RMT cars, in addition to being supported at the end, pass through holes in the truck frame.  A drop of oil at  those holes cured the squeaking in my RMT tankers.  Give that a try and let me know how you make out.

John

It was the "Deep Rock" car, John. I put a tiny drop of oil at each fold over tab on the coupler bottom frame of each truck and-voila!-no squeaking. I'm not too crazy about this particular truck design. In addition to squeaking out of the box, knuckle release on the uncoupler is sporadic, at best.

It is late 1949 and an ES10 is moving my favorite boxcar to the unloading ramp.   The photographer's niece did a family history and determined we are not related to Preston Tucker, founder of the Tucker Corporation.  This made since considering the photographer is not a genius like he was.

This is a Lionel NW2 pushing a Weaver car.  Lionel's NW2 Phase 5 model is not correct for the PRR as the PRR had no Phase 5 shifters.  The PRR did have one Phase 1, bought in 1941, and 31 Phase 4, bought in 1945 (5) and 1948 (26), for 32 total ES10s (Emd Switcher 1000hp).

Happy Switcher Saturday!

Pics from my old layout displaying Rail Kings 080 B&M Steamer.

Have a great day, Ray

Bill. agree the truck and coupler design isn't the best, but - at $27 per car and the level of detail - I think these cars are good buy.  Glad to hear you silenced the squeaks!

John

@RSJB18 posted:

Happy SWSat!

Once again, it's time for some switcher fun. This week, I wanted to start by sharing a brief word from our former and hopefully future yardmaster @jhz563. He sends his best to SWSat Nation along with a couple of photos of his favorite
SW 1200 at the power plant.

(photos used with permission)

Also featured is my Boston and Maine RS3 that was repaired recently too.

Have a great weekend! Looking forward to reading everyone's posts.

Bob

My LHS has had JHZ’s MTH model in PP&L SW in stock, and I wondered about the scheme that looks like mountains.  We are a couple hundred miles from PP&L country.  
The B&M looks great!

@Steam Crazy posted:

Bill. agree the truck and coupler design isn't the best, but - at $27 per car and the level of detail - I think these cars are good buy.  Glad to hear you silenced the squeaks!

John

I agree, John. Mine were $24 delivered from Nassau Hobby and they do have a wide variety of liveries and road names, likely available from no one else.

@Bill Swatos posted:

I agree, John. Mine were $24 delivered from Nassau Hobby and they do have a wide variety of liveries and road names, likely available from no one else.

Bill- I'm a Menards fan too. I have several of their cars. I like the free lighted car or truck promo's too.  It seems like the earlier one's had better trucks than the ones they are using now. Can't beat the price and they have a great variety. If you want a full scale car then spend the cash.

Still waiting for more diesels.......

That BEEP was definitely earning it's pay pulling that train too!

Bob

Railking SF MP15DC: oddly enough, when received from another forum member, this switcher arrived w/ a SF passenger soundset. He had not ever triggered PSA/FYS, and didn’t change the soundset. Kinda unusual.

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Railking SF MP15DC: oddly enough, when received from another forum member, this switcher arrived w/ a SF passenger soundset. He had not ever triggered PSA/FYS, and didn’t change the soundset. Kinda unusual.

sharp looking black bonnets Mark!

Thanks, Bob.

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Railking SF MP15DC: oddly enough, when received from another forum member, this switcher arrived w/ a SF passenger soundset. He had not ever triggered PSA/FYS, and didn’t change the soundset. Kinda unusual.

I could envision that, since the first issue of this once reviled now sought-after "fantasy" scheme by Lionel was on an F3 passenger set, MTH chose to use the passenger sound set giving the "black bonnet" livery priority over the locomotive type.

Interestingly, the above-referenced set was referred to as the "Midnight Limited" which also happens to be the title of a 1940 murder-mystery film involving robberies and murder aboard the titular passenger train. Most of the filming was apparently done on sets, not in actual passenger coaches of the time.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0...mmary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl

@RSJB18 posted:

Bill- I'm a Menards fan too. I have several of their cars. I like the free lighted car or truck promo's too.  It seems like the earlier one's had better trucks than the ones they are using now. Can't beat the price and they have a great variety. If you want a full scale car then spend the cash.

Still waiting for more diesels.......

That BEEP was definitely earning it's pay pulling that train too!

Bob

Thanks, Bob! She's at 4.5V on the track in that video so don't report me for locomotive abuse. Gotta love those BEEPs!

I only have one switcher currently and it's my Milwaukee Road MP-15AC.  Here is it is in various shots.  The first one shows it at the small engine refueling and minor service facility at my Eola yard.

The next picture it is working in the Eola yard with a Santa Fe switcher that is my son Jim's and my Milwaukee Road F-7's.

The last picture shows it switching at LaGrange beside the Wonder Bread Bakery.

Good thread, makes me realize I need more switchers.  LOL

Art

@Chugman posted:

I only have one switcher currently and it's my Milwaukee Road MP-15AC.  Here is it is in various shots.  The first one shows it at the small engine refueling and minor service facility at my Eola yard.

The next picture it is working in the Eola yard with a Santa Fe switcher that is my son Jim's and my Milwaukee Road F-7's.

The last picture shows it switching at LaGrange beside the Wonder Bread Bakery.

Good thread, makes me realize I need more switchers.  LOL

Art

Thanks for stopping by Art. You look like your setting up to do some serious switching once your signals are done. I think more switchers are in order..

Feel free to post what you have each week.

Bob