Sunday Photo Fun - July 26, 2015 Dog Days of Summer Edition

[Great-Northern-Willmar Div]

My two greatest triumphs of the last week.

[kentuckysouthernrwy]

Good week, Jim!

[mlehman]

preparing to leave Durango westbound.



Narrowgauge 375 working the smelter



100 switching in Crater Lake



Finally, one of those views you can only get with a camera, This one is where the spur to the Merry Widow Mine drops down to join the Cascade Branch at Snowden. Back behind the water heater, its ends are normally the only visible view, but it's not half bad with a camera crammed back there.

[Great-Northern-Willmar Div]

I completely forgot my other conquest this week!


The face that only a mother could love or the CNW engineering department.....

[dti406]

I managed to get some cars done again this week!



Intermountain 2980 ACF Covered Hopper Kit, painted with Scalecoat II MofW Gray and lettered with Oddballs Decals.



Eastern Car Works 2600CF Airslide Covered Hopper kit with added airlines and A-line Sill Steps. Painted with Scalcoat II MofW Gray and lettered with Mark Vaughn's Decals.



Intermountain PS 60' Boxcar Kit, Painted with Scalecoat II Boxcar Red and Floquil Platinum Mist, then lettered with Mask Island Decals.

Thanks for looking!

Rick J

[rockisland652]

Hot and humid out there. Best place to be is in the train room. Back in the day, we didn't have a/c in our house. You just found something to do regardless of the heat, like watching the neighbor lady subathing while avoiding tanlines. Back then, she was worth a look-see and I think she knew we were watching, actually. Ah, the seventies. Good times.

Let's go back to that time and see what our railfan buddies did on a Summer Saturday a long time ago.

Another hot Summer day at Blue Island. We begin with four F units on two trains. The Freight is headed to South Chicago, the Dummy is headed for Joliet. Number 111 and F-7B #25 are not long for this world, and the ex-UP F-9MB (or whatever UP called them) is an indication of whose account they would be credited to when they made their trip to Pielet Brothers. The ex-UP B unit is, of course right out of the Silvis paint shop.


After Western Avenue Junction clears up, it doesn't stay that way long. The IHB Brings a cut into Burr Oak Yard behind SW1500 #9220.


Proof that a train's back end can be as attractive as the headlights. IHB sent this cute caboose along with 9220 and train, PC and PRR x58s rolling along.


Right on the heels of the Harbor, this pair from EL drags yet another transfer into Burr Oak Yard. A motley assortment of power on this transfer run, yet still kept clean by the EL shop forces in Marion.


Ah, the train we were waiting for. An E unit quartet with trailers. The image makes the wait out in the sun worthwhile. Four E's singing together as only the sound of eight 567 v12's can.


No risque sunbathers today. Just a great hour or two of train watching over by Vermont Street.

As you can see, I did a little more work on the Blue Island bridge scene. The track now has joint bars and paint.

Have a good week.

[TBird1958]

Here's what's on the bench........Trimming out laser cut sides for a Cannon &Co. Great Northern lumber car.


A Tangent PS2 4000 that is coming along, not quite done.




And a little sightseeing. This is Seattle, from the car deck of a ferry crossing Elliott Bay from Bremerton, WA., returning from a weekend trip with my band.

[rockisland652]

Man, what did we do before cell phones and texting and Instagram and all this stuff?

Simple! We dialed up our buddies on the old Western Electric rotary and rang 'em up. Or they rang us up. No internet. This was how we found out about the E units on the trailers coming to Blue Island, from our friends out west who caught 'em earlier.

This is one such occasion when we welcomed the ring of the phone! Our friends, it seems, caught the same train that we got at Blue Island at Joliet. I think the light was better at Joliet, rather than that noonday vertical shadow light we had.

Once again, our tired F unit friend, this time bouncing over the diamonds...
]

Our railfan buddy was also impressed by this tired specimen in new paint. He apparently failed to notice the ancient DL&W boxcar right behind the old, one time UP F-3B...


Well, that's enough for one week!



Jim, that Crandall E looks GREAT!!! (ok, the SD18 does too) Keep it up!

[kentuckysouthernrwy]

Cool stuff, boys!

[runs2waynoka]

This is an Exactrail Gunderson 7466 woodchip gon that I finished weathering. The SP prototypes originally had plywood sides, like the Exactrail model has. At some point these cars were rebuilt with steel sides and put into C&D debris service with GFSX reporting marks. I tried to lightly sand down the sides to remove the wood grain and still save the original paint, but the wood grain is still apparent anyway unfortuately. Additionally the car sides of the model have warped inward, some heating got them somewhat strait but you can still see the "bow." Good thing the prototypes are so beat up! These cars have lots of splatter all down the sides making them a time-consuming weathering project.

Prototype-

www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=524439

My model-





Brad

[Spikre]

Tom,
depending on how You want to lable it, the B unit is an ex-U.P.
F9Bm,or F3Bm.
most or all of U.P.s F3 fleet was rebuilt to F9 specs around 1957.
then later 40 of the units were donated to Rock Island at better
than Fire Sale prices.
U.P. was still trying to Merge with the Rock at that time.
Great Pics guys !!
like the EL units,but the GP9s mainly stayed in the Binghamton-
Hornell-Buffalo-Meadville-Youngstown areas,and with 6L Brakes they
couldn't MU with U33Cs,or any units bought after the C424s.
but the DL&W GP7s could MU with most any later EL power,think they
had one of the 24 Brake Shedule Systems.
never personally seen any of ELs 6 GP9s in NJ,but saw plenty of GP7s.
never saw an EL GP9 while EL existed,saw one after CR day.
Edit- most ex-Erie hood units couldn't MU with any cab units,the Switcher
6 type brake system was the culprit.
but Erie bought Baldwin Road Switchers with Electric MU,but still the 6
type,so they could MU with most of the early Road Switcher Fleet.
but there were still some exceptions as shown in a 70s Chart in X2200 South.
Spikre

[rockisland652]

Jul 27, 2015 13:00:34 GMT -8 Spikre said:

Tom,
depending on how You want to lable it, the B unit is an ex-U.P.
F9Bm,or F3Bm.
most or all of U.P.s F3 fleet was rebuilt to F9 specs around 1957.
then later 40 of the units were donated to Rock Island at better
than Fire Sale prices.
U.P. was still trying to Merge with the Rock at that time.
Great Pics guys !!
like the EL units,but the GP9s mainly stayed in the Binghamton-
Hornell-Buffalo-Meadville-Youngstown areas,and with 6L Brakes they
couldn't MU with U33Cs,or any units bought after the C424s.
but the DL&W GP7s could MU with most any later EL power,think they
had one of the 24 Brake Shedule Systems.
never personally seen any of ELs 6 GP9s in NJ,but saw plenty of GP7s.
never saw an EL GP9 while EL existed,saw one after CR day.
Edit- most ex-Erie hood units couldn't MU with any cab units,the Switcher
6 type brake system was the culprit.
but Erie bought Baldwin Road Switchers with Electric MU,but still the 6
type,so they could MU with most of the early Road Switcher Fleet.
but there were still some exceptions as shown in a 70s Chart in X2200 South.
Spikre

Thanks, Spikre. If anyone would know the EL, you are the man and those ex-UP F's were just nutty. They stayed mainly down south, but I have more than a few photos of them on the Illinois Division, never in the lead (no cab signals).

That's not all wrong with that picture. The EL didn't (regularly, anyway...never say never) deliver to Blue Island on the Rock Island. The EL-RI interchange/handoff was at South Chicago. In order for me to model that interchange and yard, I would have to take over the other half of the basement. No big task, really, if I wouldn't mind seeing the kids every other weekend and holiday and re-entering the dating scene, if you catch my drift.

Anyway...I won't be modeling South Chicago, yet I spent many an hour watching the EL at Burnham and State Line Tower. In the era that brought us the wreck of the Penn Central, I always appreciated what looked to be a railroad that hustled and had relatively clean, sharp looking power...and the SD45s and SDP45s...the E8's on freight...ahh....sigh.....wait. Back to reality. Uggh.

I had to include the EL somehow, other than run throughs - I didn't think that was enough. So I included a few engines and cabeese in the purchases over the years (and doing it incorrectly as Spikre correctly pointed out), and decided to move the EL interchange to Burr Oak in Blue Island. I know, for the purist, mood ruined. However, I like seeing those colors in action. One question for the peanut gallery: What power did the EL use to drag interchange all over Chicagoland? Did the EL just keep the road power on the train and pull through to the RI, Milwaukee, BN and CNW? Inquiring minds want to know.

Also, what power did the GT use to drag interchange into Blue Island? Geeps? Canadian SW's? I have a lovely GT Caboose, but no power for this important interchange activity.

[Spikre]

Tom,
awhile back ELHS did a big story about Chicago in the "Diamond", will get
the Issue number for You,it should still be available.
since EL was a part owner of C&WI/BRC,lots of trains went to Clearing Yard.
but there was direct interchange with MP/C&EI at Dolthan, Santa Fe somewhere
for mainly Pig/Containers/Hot Auto Parts, CB&Q/BN had run thrus in both directions,
Milwaukee at Bensonville, Soo Line, C&NW, Rock Island may have been thru Clearing
Yard/BRC, or some location on IHB.
hard to remember, Chicago was BIG then.
Milwaukee got into the habit of running the layed over EL Transfer Power, then they
got caught and EL had Milwaukee GP40s for quite awhile running off owed hours,
some F unit sets also.
BN run thrus to the Twin Cities mainly got Big 6 axle EL power,some smaller 4
axle 2nd gen power,rarely F units or E units.
seems like You missed the PAs in freight service running into Chicago by a year or 2.
will look for the issues involved for You later.
Spikre

[Spikre]

Tom,
the big Chicago issue of the Diamond:
vol-24 #-4,2010.
Chicago and Hammond.
big Chicago map showing most routes in the 73 time frame.
next issue:
vol-19,#-3,
State Line Interlocking,ELs Portal to Chicago.
explains the Complexities of this one time World's Largest
Interlocking Plant,how C&WI ran it,and ELs trains thru it.
there are also 3 issues covering the EL UPS Trains and
Chicago trailer terminal at 51st street.
actually its spread over 3 issues:
vol-21,#-2
vol-21,#-3
vol-21,#-4
there is another issue that tracks the UPS trains over the
road,this was important as EL was penilized when late.
but with the UPS terminal across the street from Croxton Yard
that helped keep the trailers moving.
will look at these issues later to see which articles have
the most usefull info and best pics.
Spikre