Rearranging Some Resin Castings

Here is the Malabar District on my HO layout, a semi-standalone micro in an adjoining basement storage room, although it's connected via a tunnel through the wall. It's set anywhere from the San Joaquin Valley to eastern Colorado or maybe even western Kansas or Nebraska.

I've been using a lot of resin junk pile and small scene castings from Rusty Rail. These come unpainted, but although they take some time and effort to paint, they leave a lot of room for creativity. I've been making up a loco junk yard outside my Yorke industrial engine shed. The loco on the right is a mostly one-piece derelict Shay loco.

Here's the Shay casting before paint.

Not too long ago, I finished another resin junk loco casting. I'm aiming to swap out some other castings so I can fit this new one into the scene and maybe move others elsewhere on the layout.

Here are two other Rusty Rail junk piles elsewhere on the layout.

I got inspiration for weathering the bulldozer from the Gold Rush TV show.

The T1 Trust -- I Don't Get It

The video above reflects a somwwhat revisionist view of the PRR T1, stressing that it was often run at speeds over 130 mph on the track between Crestline, OH and Fort Wayne, IN. This was above the speedometer limit of 120 mph and well above the authorized speed in the employee timetable. This was also above the warranty speed of the Franklin rotary poppet valves, which frequently failed on these locomotives, not because of a design flaw, but because trhey were never intended to run at those speeds.

I'm not surprised at these revelations. I've read that in the late 1930s, PRR top management intended a major speedup of both passenger and freight trains on its main lines. The T1 and Q2 duplex locomotives were part of this program, since the intent of the duplex design was to minimize the constantly shifting weight of the siderods, which would allow higher speeds. Electrfication to Pittsburgh was also part of this plan. However, World War II interrupted the program, while postwar dieselization diverted the capital it would have needed.

There can be no question that the T1s could have pulled passenger trains at 100-120 mph in normal service, as could have the GG1s. However, the overall PRR speedup required track and alignment upgrades that never took place, and the PRR never made money after World War II. This was all nothing but a might-have-been, and the T1 was just an artifact of that circumstance. No matter, railfans have created something of a fantasy around the PRR, and the T1 is an important part of it.

Enter the T1 Trust. Chrome A1 mode does a good job of summarizing the main points the T1 Trust itself doesn't quite make on its own website:

The T1 Trust, formally known as the Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust, is a non-profit organization building a brand-new, fully functional Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) T1 class steam locomotive from scratch. This new locomotive, numbered 5550, will be the 53rd member of the class, as all 52 original T1s were scrapped decades ago.

Project Overview

• Mission: The Trust aims to reignite the golden age of steam by building a powerful mainline excursion engine that will also attempt to achieve the world speed record for a steam locomotive.
• Design: The PRR T1 was an advanced, streamlined 4-4-4-4 steam locomotive known for its speed, power, and art-deco design. The new locomotive 5550 will be a "continuation" of the class, incorporating modern welding techniques and other subtle engineering improvements while maintaining the original spirit and appearance.

All well and good, but to break the steam world speed record, you're going to need to have track that allows speeds over about 130 mph. In North America, there are only two possibilities, the DOT test track in Pueblo, CO, and the Amtrak Northeast Corridor in a few stretches. Whether the DOT would allow a steam loco on its test track is an open question -- steam locomotive siderods put a shifting load on the rail that could damage the track. The same applies to Amtrak, with the additional problem that to avoid interruption of normal schedules, a test could only be done in the very early morning, making daylight photography impossible.

But there's an additional problem that even to run rthe T1 at 70 mph speeds on a Class 1 mainline, the Class 1 railroad has to think this is a good idea. The UP runs its own steam locos, because they put the UP name in front of the public. Other railroads have proven less and less likely to allow steam excursions. A PRR that would gain publicity by running a T1 is long dead; Norfolk Southern wouldn't see the point. Steam excursions attract large crowds of spectators along the tracks, with the potential for irresponsible behavior, significantly increasing the potential for accidents and liability issues.

In addition, in recent decades, the North American rail network is essentially full. Excursion trains can disrupt schedules and require significant extra manpower to manage the public and ensure smooth operations, which the railroads are often unwilling to provide. The amounts needed for indemnification and insurance coverage are probably beyond even the T1 Trust. But beyond that, most excursion steam locomotives run with a diesel helper no matter what, to be sure the train can be pulled off the main line if the steam loco fails. But no diesel helper can run at 100-140 mph in any case.

So as a practicasl matter, the T1 will normally operate on museum or preservation railroads where the speed limit is much lower and the track might not even accommodate the T1's weight. But let's grant the best possible case: let's say the DOT allows the faux T! on its test track, and it smashes the previous official world speed record for a steam locomotive of 126 mph -- hey, grant that it'll do over 140. This will never be anything but an asterisk in the record book, taking place maybe a century after the last record, which was set during the actual age of steam.

The PRR of railfan and modeler fantasy never actually existed, and I say this as someone whose lifetime train riding mileage was overwhelmingly on the old, actual PRR -- I commuted to school several times a year on the whole length of the northeast corridor. It was never much fun. The T1 Trust is a chimera.

Walthers Mainline KCS SD60

One of my all-time favorite locos is the conventional cab EMD SD50s-60s. I really like their extended hood length, it seems to fill the overall profile out better than SD40s and 45s. Fairly late in life I've come to like the Kansas City Southern. So I ordered a Walthers Mainline KCS SD60. (All photos mine.)

Ths fits a KCS roster from the 1980s and 90s that I'd already assembled:

I just wish these locos had ditch lights.

But at least my ScaleTrains ET44 has them, and ground lights as well:

I haven't gotten too many prototype photos of KCS power, esepcially in the gray scheme, but here's an SD70MAC I caught from the Amtrak sleeper window in Jackson, MS:

Units in the Southern Belle scheme make it out to California now and then:

Micro Trains Weathered Railbox Cars

Micro Trains introduced a model of the FMC Plate B Railbox in 1981. These turned out to be accurate for only two years; in 1983, TTX sold all the Plate B Railboxes to member railroads, which first patched them with new reporting marks but left the Railbox paint and lettering in place, but eventually repainted many. This site discusses the railroads that purchased the Plate B cars, as well as the prototypes for many other N scale boxcars.

According to the site,

SOUTHERN PACIFIC- Espee acquired ACF, Berwick and FMC plate B boxcars from Railbox in 1983.

The FMC cars were in Railbox series 18806-19219. Below is my photo of Micro Trains SP 19009:

This would represent a car that had been running for some years after 1983, possibly in the 1990s. Its number is correct for the FMC cars that went to SP. According to the site,

CSX . . . inherited FMC plate B cars from Seaboard System and Chesapeake & Ohio. The Seaboard System cars were numbered 141523-141766; while the C&O cars were numbered 503260-503308.

CSX then renumbered the Seaboard Syatem cars into CSXT 141523-141766. The link doesn't mention the ex C&O cars, or other CSXT series. This site says CSXT 141948 is an ex-C&O car. Below is my photo of Micro Trains CSXT 141948:

The patching and re-renumbering would have taken place about 1988 or later. The amount of weathering on this model would make it later than the ex-SP car above, and in fact, this model has yellow conspicuity stripes on the lower side that were mandated in 2010.

These models can be found on eBay and elsewhere in the $25-$30 range, which makes them a bargain for models of this accuracy.

Micro Trains N Weathered 60 Foot Boxcars

One of my favorite pieces of N rolling stock in the Micro Trains 60 foot boxcar, especially the weathered version. I decided to see if I could find prototype versions of these cars, and surprisingly, I discovered I could. In fact, I think the factory weathered versions of these cars are currently good bargains, considering weathered models can go at a premium. Hewre is my photo of Conrail 216718:

There is a 2005 photo by Joe Rogers of the same prototype car at rrpicturearchives.net, but it won't let me copy or link to it. However, here is a photo of a car from the same BE60A class by Grant Lowry at the Conrail Photo Archive.

Here is my photo of Penn Central 278708

Again, there's a Ken Roble photo of the same prototype cwr at rrpicturearchives.net, but it won't let me copy or link to it. The Conrail Cyclopedia says the prototype cars were built by Berwick for Penn Central as class X77 in series PC 278045-278174 and used for auto parts. Here is an Angelo Toresani photo of PC 278128:

Checking the models against the prototype photos at rrpicturearchives.net, the prototype lettering, weathering patterns, and even graffiti are very close.

More Scenery

I was able to make more scenery progress on \the small N layuout. I used Woodland Scenics Ready Rock and their 1" white foam cut into small blocks to build up the side of a blasted area inside the curve.

I don't have any particular prototype in mind, but there are formations like this on the CSX Berkshire Sub, on the former Clinchfield, and in various parts of the western US. Because there aren't enough suitable shapes available in the faceted Ready Rocks package I used, I'll switch to a package of shelf type Ready Rocxks I have on hand to finish the other side of the curve. I don't think the difference between metamorphic and sedimentary types will be too visible, they'll form separate scenes visible from different sides of the layout.

I'm holding thingd together with Elmer's glue. I'll use ground foam soked in Elmer's to fill in gaps in the rock face and add other vegetation. When the rock face is finished around the curve, I'll fill the new surface in with a sheet ot 1" foam.

Progress On The Small N Layout

Things haven't moved as fast as I had hoped, but I finished tracklaying and basic electrical wiring, and everything's been debugged and is working properly. At the same time, although I didn't originally plan to run passenger trains on it, I began to think about running short passenger trains, with a small shelter and plaform on one part of the layout. This led me to study short Amtrak trains, inclulding the Boston sections of the Lake Shore, Trains 448-449. Here is an example I set up to test how that train would fit on the layout:

As you can see, I've even added some scenery to one corner. As far as small shelters are concerned, I've found a few in my area (both photos mine). Here is Goleta, north of Santa Barbara on the Surfliner route:

Here are smaller shelters on the Glendale platform:

An eBay seller called Model Railway Gadgets offers a somewhat similar shelter in both N and HO scale (photo from eBay site).

It's based on the Mertolink shelter in El Monte, CA.

Very Short Amtrak Train

I was researching short Amtrak trains -- some of the midwest service trains, the Heartland Flyer, and the Borealis qualify, as well as the Portland-Seattle sections of the Empire Builder, and the Boston section of the Lake Shore -- when I ran into this video of a not-quite 448, the Boston section of the Lake Shore, leaving Rensselaer.

The narrator doesn't explain what's happening very well, and I had to poke around to try to get some idea of what's going on here. We know that 448-449, the Boston Sections of the Lake Shore, were discontinued in July due to a sinkhole east of Rensselaer on Amtrak's Post Road Branch, which connects Albsny-Rensselaer with the CSX Berkshire Sub at Schodack to continue to Boston. The trains have been replaced by buses. I've read that in the past, Amtrak has detoured over trhe CSX Castleton Cutoff, but not this time. However, it looks like something needs to run between Rensselaer and Boston to ferry eauipment for the Downeaster, Vermonter, Springfield trains, etc, even if passengers aren't carried on 448-449.

I read via Wikipedia that CSX also uses the Amtrak Post Road Branch via trackage rights. I asked Chrome AI mode about this, and it replied,

CSX has rerouted its freight trains traveling between Albany and the east via its Hudson Subdivision and Berkshire Subdivision. The freight would travel south from Albany to Castleton-on-Hudson on the Hudson Subdivision and then reverse direction to continue east on the Berkshire Subdivision.

So my surmise is this is an Amtrak extra movement that replaces 448-449 to ferry equipment back and forth to Boston for the Downeaster and other New England trains, but so far, I haven't been able to confirm this. But if it is, it must be following a similar route to the CSX freight detour. Normally 448-449 seem to run with as many as four diesel units, plus cabbages on occasion, to perform this function. Whatever it is, it's a prototype for a very short Amtrak train.

Small N Layout

For the past several weeks, I've been working on a small N layout. I rescued a strange piece of what seems to be mahogany plywood from my late dad's garage some years ago, and I always thought it could be used for a small N layout. Eventually I got a couple of Kato N Unitrack sets to play around with, and I started to lay out ideas, but nothing quite jelled. Here is what I was trying to do in 2016:

The dimensions are something like 47" x 27". I set it aside in vertical storage for almost ten years until a better inspiration hit. At this stage, I'm doing final electrical and mechanical testing of the basic oval. Currently there are two Kato Unitrack 20-032 Micro Trains uncoupling magnets installed at either end of the siding track. I'm trying to install them so that contemporary freight cars in the 50-70 feet range can be uncoupled mechanically on a straight section long enough to keep the couplers aligned.

The outside radius curves are 315 mm, which is the equivalent of 24-25" in HO, so I can run contemporary six-axle diesels with the long freight cars. But this will severely limit the number, length, and purpose of the spurs, and I'm still working out exactly where more 20-032 uncoupler magnets and other track sections will go.

Given my age and stage, I've declared myself retired from going underneath any more baseboards. As a result, terminal strips and switch machine decoders are mounted on top of the layout, along the edges as needed. As it happens, there are strange rabbets along the bottom edges of the plywood as it came to me, and they can be used to run all wiring underneath. I'll find a way to mask the terminal strips and so forth with scenery but keep them accessible.

I weathered the single-track, wood-tie Unitrack to conceal the shiny Unitrack look. I've left the double-track concrete-tie sections alone for now.

What Happened To CSX's AC6000s?

In their recent run of N scale AC6000s, Broadway Limited painted the CSX units in the YN3 "dark future" scheme that dates from 2002. Checking photos on the web, I've found that the unit unbers BLI ran with this scheme actually had them on the prototype. (BLI photo)

After last week's post on UP's AC6000, I learned that a spotting feature that distinguished "full" AC6000s like CSX's from "convertible" or "rebuilt" units on UP was the exhaust stacks. An "original" or "full" AC6000 has twin exhaust stacks like the CSX unit in the model photo above. "Convertible" or "rebuilt" units have a single exhuast stack similar to an AC4400 or ES44. This also applied to CSX units that had their engines modifed or replaced.

Unlike the UP units, the CSX units had their AC6000s with AC-radial trucks. BLI reflects this difference on its models.

It's a little harder to track down concrete information on the fate of CSX's AC6000s. The Wikipedia entry I linked last week says that CSX received three pre-production units numbered 600-602 in December 1995. Due to problems with these units, full production was delayed until 1998. GE then delivered "full" units 603-699 and 5000-516 between October 1908 and April 2000.

As with UP, CSX had continuing problems with the "full" units. Per the link,

603-699, 5000-5016's original prime movers replaced with 4,600 hp (3,400 kW) 16 cyl. GEVO prime movers and new computer equipment essentially making them ES46ACs. CSX classifies these units as CW46AHs. 5015 and 5016 were both classified as a CW60AH.

According to another link,

Since 2008, many CSX units have since been equipped with GEVO electronics essentially dubbing them as "ES60AC's", while other units are reported to be equipped or retrofitted with GEVO-16 prime-movers (though nearly all of them simply have modified engine blocks or are retrofitted with 7FDL-16 engines).

So far, I haven't been able to find concrete information on which specific CSX units received which specific modifications.

In the YouTube short below, you can see a CSX AC6000, but if you look at the roof of the long hood, you can see that the as-built twin exhaust stacks like those on rhe BLI model have been replaced with a single, wider exhaust stack like on an ES44.

I will be on the lookout for N scale parts that might be used to modify the BLI model.

According to the last link above, CSX 603-665, 667-699, and 5000-5016 weere sold to Progress Rail in 2018. 600-602 remained on CSX property but out of service. CSX 601 is the "Spirit of Waycross" unit, while 602 is the "Spirit of Maryland". 666 at some point was renumbered to 656 due to the number's Biblical connotations.

In 2019, Progress Rail leased 10 units (two for parts only) to the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad, which numbered them 6000-6007. The YouTube video below shows the WNY&P units in servicxe late in their career:

The description of the video reads,

In 2019 the Western New York and Pennsylvania railroad entered into a lease agreement with Progress Rail or PRLX to rebuild/ lease 8 former CSX AC6000’s to replace the WNYP’s aging fleet of 6 MLW M636’s. Slowly the AC6000’s began to phase out the M636’s between 2019-2020. The WNYP’s AC6000’s numbered 6000-6007 became the main powerhouse of the railroad making runs up keating summit with only 2 locomotives instead of 3-4. However over the next few years the WNYP’s traffic was steadily decreasing and due to this only 3 out of 8 AC6000’s would see regular service. In 2024 the railroad lost one of its largest customers who moved fracking sand out of Emporium PA eliminating runs up the Keating Summit, also in 2024 70 miles of track between Sagertown and Jamestown would be taken out of service further more limiting the traffic of the WNYP and with this cut in traffic saw the nail in the coffin for the AC6000’s. On May 28th AC6000’s 6000, 6003, 6006, and 6007 were moved to Meadville PA where Norfolk Southern would take them to an unknown fate.

All were off the WNY&P late in 2024. According to the link above, Aberdeen, Carolina and Western Railway rebuilt former CSX AC6000CW #666/PRLX 656 into a bar under the name "Engine Room ‘87" in 2024.

What Happened To UP's AC6000s?

Not long ago, I noticed that Broadway Limited did a second run of N scale GE AC6000s. Most notably, I noticed that the UP units were in the post-2023 "small flag" scheme, like this photo of 6937 (BLI photo):

This came as a surprise, because I thought UP's AC6000s were out of service. But this was only partly correct. I began searching for prototype photos, and sure enough, I found some prototypes in the 6900 series in the "small flags" scheme. However, no UP AC6000s currently exist with the original 16-7HDL 6000 horsepower engines. According to Wikipedia, "beginning in 2018, Union Pacific had begun sending its AC6000CWs to GE for rebuilding. The rebuilt units are classified as C44ACMs. By 2023, all of the units have been rebuilt."

As far as I can tell, all AC6000s, original, convertible, or rebuilt have two main spotting features. First, the right side running board jogs upward between the equipment box behind the cab and the rear truck. Second, the radiator extends out over the rear running board.

So let's recap UP's main groups of AC6000s. The Wikipedia link is the best source I've found. The original 6000 horsepower units were numbered 7500-7579, delivered between November 1995 and January 2001. As noted above, these were returned to GE for rebuilding with 4400 horsepowwer engines, but with no outward changes, starting in 2018. Going through my own photos, it looks like I never caught any in the original 7500 series -- for whatever reason, they must not have operated in Southern California.

Units 7300-7405 were "convertible", delivered with the older 4400 horsepower 7FDL engine, with the idea of upgrading them to the 6000 horsepower engine, but this never happened. These units were renumbered to 7010-7079 to make room for ES44ACs, but are not in the same order. They were classified as C4460AC and rebuilt to C44ACM later on in 2018. It looks like I never caught many of these before they were renumbered, but several afterward. But based on the dates of the photos, it's not clear when this renumbering took place. (all photos below are by me):

UP 7342 West Colton November 27, 2013

UP 7010 Cajon 1999

UP 7028 West Colton December 24, 2014

UP 7052 West Colton September 26, 2012

All the original 6000 horsepower units were returned to GE and rebuilt with 4400 horsepower GEVO engines between 2018 and 2023. They were renumbered 6888-6968. Again, based, on the dates of the photos from the metadata in the image, I'm not sure if the dates in the Wikipedia entry are entirely correct.

UP 6898 West Colton February 28, 2018

UP 6911 West Colton January 13, 2016

UP 6961 West Colton April 29, 2014

So the 2024 BLI units numbered in the 6900s with the "small flag" scheme are, strictly speaking, 4400 horsepower C44ACM locomotives, not AC6000s, but they are correctly painted, correctly numbered, and are currently in service.

Atlas Wabash Train Master

I founbd this for an OK price on eBay, but unlike the other Atlas Train Masters I have, this one has been nothing but problems.

I don't know if Atlas still does this, but at least in the 1990s and 2000s, it sold its locos with side handrails installed, but the end handrails were packed separately in the box for the user to install. This was never a good solution, partly because buyers would either lose the handrails or mess them up installing them, and if other models were available to pull out from poorly supervised dealer shelves, some guys would go into the boxes and steal the end handrails from other boxes at the store, and later buyers would get those models home and discover the end handrails were missing.

If you contacted Atlas, they'd say it wasn't their fault, but they'd contact the manufacturer and have them run some extras the mext time they ran the model in four or five years, that is, if the manufacturer remembered to do it then. This was a big reason I gave up on Atlas.

This model was facrory new, the box was sealed, and the handrails were there, but they were extra-fiendish to install. The front ones fell out again as I carried this to the camera. Hope I can find them.

Now I discover that the cab isn't properly seated on the running boards. Another item to try to fix.

The PC board with the DCC socket has the wire position 4 as the only one marked -- normally 1 is marked. But OK, I mounted the plug with the black wire at position 4. When I tested it, I found that the headlghts didn't work, and the loco ran in the opposite directions for front and rear. Turns out the 4 should have been 1. I turned the plug around in the socket so the orange wire went in the position marked 4, and it ran correcrly, and the headlights worked. Luckily this was an easy fix, the others not so much.

This is why I've mostly stopped buying modcls that aren't fully assembled with decoder installed. Walthers Mainline or Proto locos with DCC and sound seem always to be quality assured and don't have all this aggravation. Granted the Atlas Train Master was released in 2004, which makes it 21 years old, but it's time for a next-generation model with high end features like ScaleTrains or Rapido.

Walthers Mainline D&RGW GP9

The most recent runs of the Walthers Mainline GP9 have had paint schemes that I've found appealing, including the Central Vermont 1970s-80s green and yellow and the 1950s SP-Texas & New Orleans black widow. I also really like the D&RGW large speed lettering.

According to the Utah Rails site,

Beginning in 1968, on either new units or on most repainted units, the Rio Grande lettering was made larger, with the Rio made 24 inches high, and Grande made 60 inches high.

The first locos to get this scheme were SD45s assigned to the Kaiser Steel unit coal train to California. Five GP9s (5902, 5903, 5904, 5911, 5954) got this lettering. The Walthers models in this run are 5903 and 5911. Below is a Jim Parker photo of 5904.

Comparing the model paint to prototype photos, the large lettering appears to be correctly placed on each side of the long hood. A smaller black panel with the older flying Rio Grande appears on the short hood front. As on the prototype, the long hood rear does not have this patch. The engineer and fireman figures in the cab correctly face the short hood front of the loco.

I have the sound and DCC version. The ESU sound provided is a lower-cost subset that doesn't have features like prime mover delay on full-featured loco decoders. It also has a limited set of horn and bell options. These are Horns: CV163 = 0 - Leslie A-200 CV163 = 1 - Wabco single-chime CV163 = 2 - Nathan M3 (default) CV163 = 3 - Leslie S3L Bells: CV164 = 0 - Bronze bell (default) CV164 = 1 - Steel bell. I'm satisfied with this sound.

Watchng videos with sound of the D&RGW prototype locos, they appear to have Nathan M3 horns, the default, although the plastic horn detail on the model looks more like a too-small Leslie. As I usually do, I set the acceleration and deceleration momentum CVs 3 and 4 to 0; the flywhweel momentum in the model is enough for me. These were the only CV changes I needed to make.

Operating Scheme Maintenance

I've been running what amounts to a JMRI operations maintenance job, adding newly acquired items over the pastr year or so to the layout and updating their locations to JMRI.

At rear, both of the new Central Vermont GP9s have been added to a consist with the Grand Trunk blue one. They really sound greatr with all engines running at once. Next to that is the Walthers Mainline NW2 on another service track. The Walthers Mainline SCL SW7 is running the update train. I really like the Walthers EMD switchers; the sound has really nice random thuds and clicks.

The tank car isn't new; it's a Bachmann track cleaning car cleaning out the yard tracks as part of the job. It has a neat paint job for D&RGW work service.

In front of the SW7 is one of my recent Accurail Wellsville, Addison, & Galeton boxcars. In the foreground is one of my new Ertl gons with a Chooch load.

Japan Vignette

In my last post, I mentioned that of the limited number of N locos that will negotiate Kato Compact Line curves, many are Japanese prototype. (The Kato N NW2 will take them, but the Broadway limited locos will not.) That doesn't bother me, I had a chance to visit Japan many years ago, and I've always liked Japanese trains. So I decided that if I was going to run some Japanese prototype on this layout, I could justify making some of the scenery Japanese.

Tomix buildings are good basic models of very typical Japanese structures. There are several American railfans who live in Japan and make YouTube videos in US English about their travels, like Jeremy below:

There are also many, many Japanese railfans who post on YouTube, many of whose videos are cab rides on an entire line. You can turn on English sutitles that will translate their Japanese. All these are great tools for getting a feel for how buildings are positioned -- for instance, the ones in my photo back up against the rail line in very typical fashion.

For now, I'm just experimenting with where to place things, and everything is subject to change. But this is an example of the flexibilty possible if you use T-TRAK modular architecture for a home layout; scenes can always be swapped out.

Kato N Japanese ED19 Electric Loco

One of a fairly limited number of locos that can operatre on Kato Compact Line 150 mm curves is their ED19 electric loco:

The prototypes were six locomotives built for the Japanese National Railways by Baldwin-Westinghouse in 1926.

They were built for the Japanese 3'6" gauge, but the proportions aren't far off for US standard gauge electric locos. With a 1-B+B-1 wheel arrangement, they seem to be fairly close to the New Haven EF-2.

The biggest difficulty I had with the loco was installing the number plates. Kato number plates and number boards are tricky and liable to shoot off into space in installation. On their US models, Kato provides extras in case this happens. On this model, though, you just get four boards per number, with no spares. You'd probably have to send to Japan for replacements and maybe try to explain things in Japanese.

What I've done with Kato number boards and number plates is use a small piece of Scotch Magic Tape, laid sticky side up. I press the number board or number plate onto the tape, number side down, into the sticky side of the tape.

Then I pick up the tape and use it to maneuver the number board or number plate into the recess in the body where it belongs. It's good to double check and make sure the numbers are right side up. It may take some jiggering around to get things exactly in line to go in, but the tape will keep things from flying off into space. When the board or plate is firmly installed, you can just gently pull the tape away.

With no spares, I was nevertheless able to get all four number plates installed in this loco.

Overdue Project Update

As far as I can tell, it's been about 18 months since I posted about a trolley-interurban-light rail style micro project I've been working on. At the time, I was just scoping out the possibilties for mounting Kato Compact Line N scale track with 4-5/8" radius on standard T-TRAK modules. My post just had some curves temporarily set up on books and corrugated cardboard sheets and connected to a standard T-TRAK module.

Since then the project has grown:

The layout as it stands is set up on two standard double-wide T-TRAK modules that can be separated in the center. Either can be connected to other standard T-TRAK modules at one end, or one or more standard T-TRAK modules can be added to the center. Provision is made for the left hand module to serve as part of a reverse loop if needed.

The basic ground cover is JTT scenic mats. I got the trees in bulk, I think from Hobby Lobby. I still have more to add. The interurban shelter at left is Milwaukee Elecric prototype from Depots by John. The LRT style platform is from Kato. More buildings and scenery are to come.

Walthers Mainline SP-T&NO GP9

Diesels of Southern Pacific subsidiary Texas & New Orleans, although they were lettered for SP in SP-style paint, had two key differences. One was that they had three-digit road numbers. Another was that they didn't necessarily have the full packages of warning lights of the parent units. However, T&NO units routinely got to California mixed with SP units. Walthers Mainline has produced GP9s with T&NO headlight style and numbers. I ordered 408:

You can see SP-T&NO 408 in the photo above with 5607, a full SP GP9 from an earlier Walthers Proto run, behind it. 5607 has the full light package plus Proto factory details not present on 408. However, I think 408 is a satisfactory layout-qualiry model. Below is a Roger Lalonde photo of siaster loco 434:

The SP placed train numbers in loco numberboards until 1967. Before that, unless the loco was a lead unit on a train, the number boards were empty, as shown in the prototype photo. The Proto model of 5607 has empty numberboards, but the model of 408 has the unit number, which is incorrect. I may change this.

T&NO 408 was built in May 1954. In the 1965 SP renumbering, T&NO units were renumbered into SP number series, and 408 became 3408. In the 1970s, it was renumbered 3301.

HOn30 Layout Pulled Out Of Mothballs

I pulled a small HOn30 layo0ut out of storage after about 27 years. I first became interested in what RMC called HOn2-1/2 in the 1960s, when it first introduced the scale, and I had a small Minirains layout in my dorm. Then I discovered that while 2+ foot gauge was rare in the US, there was a lot of it in Europe, and I started a layout based on Austro-German prototype. I startted it in 1989 in a different home.

I eventually got the scenery to about 50% but put it on the back burner. Not lonmg ago I pulled it out again to try out some of the new OO9-HOn30 UK prototype items. The loco is a Bachmann Talyllynn Ry No 1. The UK modelers are a little lulewarm about this, since it's just a cleaned-up Thomas series loco, but I like it. The brickworks is an old Pola kit with some tweaks.