The GN 1956 Empire Builder has arrived (3rd Rail/GDD)

So... The story behind the two YY  PRR cars. 

Needed a good color sample, and sent  a set of Champ decals to the factory.  They already had the correct spelling drawn on all the drawings. 

But when they saw the Champ Decal:

PENNSY

YLVANIA

They assumed.  One is to use the extra Y to line up the whole word in two parts.

Factory was really mad at me for not telling them that... Really?

Pennsylvania is derived from "Penn's woods" where Sylvania is Latin for woodlands.  This bit of trivia is something one learns in junior high school. 

Jan

Details, details.

GG1 4877 posted:

Jan posted:

It is spelled PENNSYLVANIA if they don't know..

Jan

Are you sure?

Y, of course I am. Sorry... couldn't resist.

The GN Man posted:

These cars are very nice, but it is NOT a 1956 Empire Builder, other than the dome cars. The other cars are modeled after the 1947 Empire Builder; those cars were reassigned to the Western Star in 1951 and lost their “Empire Builder” letterboards. This is most apparent from the RPO and the observation car being in the “River” series instead of the “Coulee” series.

Well they are advertised as 1956, even at this moment, on the GGD website.  Although, after reading your comments above I did do a little research and did confirm the "River" vs "Coulee" ... 

The GN Man posted:

If you have the dome-lounge car “PRAIRIE VIEW”, be sure the name is correctly spelled. Mine was not; about 5 cars slipped through with this error. 

Nope, I am truly lucky in my eyes and have the;  Glacier View.

 - Jeff

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Great train Jeff and a good video! So am I correct that all the cars in that set have roller bearings or is it just the dome cars? Also it would be great to see a video of your Amtrak El Capitan set too!

According to the GGD website;  "All Axles with Ball Bearing Journals".

Well I honestly framed everything and had the El Cap in the way so you couldn't really see I have nothing but a black base and track laid down.  In the coming days I will do a quick video of the El Capitan cars for which I have four Atlas Amtrak F7s (three powered, one dummy) as I liked the look.

- Jeff

Congrats on a beautiful train.  For the right layout, it's definitely a keeper!  Enjoy it!!! 

jeffdoo posted:

I haven't seen a topic regarding the arrival so I figured I would be the first.  I have also attempted a quick video in case anyone is curious (please be kind; the Handycam is showing its age and it's my first time putting anything on YouTube):

The engines arrived last year and have been waiting for the passenger cars.  I didn't have a choice and all four units are powered but in the end, based upon the weight of the train being pulled, I am happy all four are powered.  I still have to finish adding the included hoses, a few of them are being difficult.  The passenger cars arrived this afternoon and were perfectly packaged!  Only one of the boxes had any lose parts bouncing around and those were screws that came out of a baggie (the baggie contains the thumb tacks for both couplers and two screws).  I also have not added the separate hoses yet to the full dome car.  As you will see in the video, and I don't personally know how to solve it, the LED lights do not reach the end of the cars (just like with the El Capitan).  As for the cars, they are awesome!  I was not expecting the RPO style baggage car, and with the small size of the current layout this train as-is is too big, but I am planning for the future (famous words) and really wanted this model.  The Diner and Lounge cars both have unique interiors, the Lounge car clearly calling for some interior work to be done (counter top, standing passengers, etc).

My first task is finding the issue with the squeaking car (one of the sleepers).  And, pardon the background noise our son cooked the family dinner this evening, the layout exists in what was the dining room...

Thanks and enjoy!

- Jeff

Really a great video - gave the viewer time to obs. and evaluate the entire consist.  THANKS

jeffdoo posted:

My first task is finding the issue with the squeaking car (one of the sleepers). 

So in classic fashion the loudest squeak has been fixed but now I can hear two more which are subtle but I can hear them.  Basically the wheels are rubbing against the brake shoes so they need a little adjusting to move them left/right and/or pull them further away.  As soon as time permits during the week I'll look them all over and adjust accordingly.

- Jeff

Excellent work on the Empire Builder down to the rooftops and interiors - the U shaped western bar.  Did you make sure to include the admonition sign to not flush the toilet while stopped at station?

This Train is every bit the equal to the Atlas California Zephyr.  Next we need the City of Los Angeles.

Here's how they do the signage on China Eastern to Qingdao: "Don't Choke The Toilet"

That only happens when I've had too much Jameson. But then that begs the questions, is there such a thing as too much Jameson?

Great set! I love it!!!

So what happens when you do choke the toilet? 50 lashes? 

My friend who runs a small factory in China, makes many round trips to Shanghai from SFO (San Francisco). One time, the pilot announced that the toilets on the 747 were full and would not operate. And he polled the passengers: Land in Tokyo, 5-8 delay, or continue on to Shanghai with no toilets? They voted to continue on.

These look great.  Any chance GGD will make the missing baggage-dorm and a baggage/mail-storage car to go with it to make it more complete?

"These look great.  Any chance GGD will make the missing baggage-dorm and a baggage/mail-storage car to go with it to make it more complete?"

It could happen, send Scott email with your interest.  I have done so.  The cars (and their names/numbers) that GGD offered were from the 1947 Empire Builder, with the domes from 1955, not realizing the other train consist changes in 1951 and 1955. 
IIRC, the baggage-dorm car was one of the 1951 changes. The baggage (storage mail) car was a streamlined head-end car between the locomotives and RPO that generally appeared only in the Westbound EB, and returned east on Train #28; this storage mail car had a "GREAT NORTHERN" letterboard, not the "EMPIRE BUILDER" letterboard, since it was in general service. (Express boxcars in the EB consist were extremely rare.)

For those interested, the book Great Northern Color Pictorial Vol. 4  by John Strauss has an appendix which lists the Empire Builder car assignments over the years. I have no doubt it is correct, John was GN Traveling Passenger Representative on the train for 15 years. 

While I am slightly disappointed the GGD consist wasn't accurate for 1955, these cars were too nice to send back!!   

Today we had a few customers come by and pick up their sets.  3 Rail sets are now sold out.

We do have a few SF and GN Great Domes left. A couple coaches and sleepers too. Dome coaches gone.

2 Rail, we have 3-4 sets, and a variety of cars left. Just a few.

Scott

Had to open up a dome coach to fish a dome window out. Man there’s a lot of screws in these. They come apart really easy you just need a bucket to hold all the screws

In the past, they used too few screws and the floors would bunch up inside. So you can't win for lose'en

Scott

Scott, I’m not complaining. It’s s but if a project. As I was taking it apart I was thinking “Holy sh** there’s a lot of screws” but I was in and had the floor out in less than 10 minutes. Now I’m looking for the right glue to use do as not to booger up or frost over the window. CA is out and WAlthers Goo is too thick and gets boogery so I’ll find something 

Tacky glue or canopy glue. I like the canopy glue the best because it dries clear and flexible.

I used Loktite vynil adhesive. It’s thin enough to spread. The Goo is too thick. Worked out perfectly. Bought it at Fleet Farm when I bought my new .45

Sorry if this was a little late for you Matt.

Scott

Scott, thanks, I need that one too. There’s a bunch of stuff rattling around in my full dome for the GN. The cars are beautiful and very well done. Fit and finish is done very well.

OK Rocky experts! The EB was upgraded in 1947, 51, and 55?

I did ride in one of the VIEW full domes on an Amtrak EB in 1976.  I wish I could have done the EB in the 1950's.

Go great! Go Great Northern!

I took the wife and granddaughter to the Washington State History Museum yesterday in Tacoma.  They have a great HO layout of Pacific NW scenes.  It's probably 30-35' by about 15;.  Of interest to this post is that they had running the GN Empire Builder with about 12 cars.  It's a very detailed layout with accurate scenery pertinent to the mostly coastal area of Washington State.

Alan

Thanks, Scott, I needed that drawing, too. 

Dominic: Yes, 1947, 1951 and 1955. What did you want to know? There are books written about the GN trains; I can recommend Great Northern Color Pictorial Volumes 3 and 4, plus the new book “Great Northern Postwar Passenger Trains”, recently released. Also, GN Passenger Car Diagrams which I have found online as well as in hard copy. 

The full dome looks a bit easier to get into, the regular dome coach took 12 screws to get the bottom out then 14 more tiny screws to get the floor out but it was actually really easy to work on, just took a bit of time