Day Two of TOFC Parade on the Needles Division

Back in the eighties, I spent a lot of time taking pictures of Santa Fe trains and equipment.  Today I am uploading one of two videos of TOFC/COFC trains on the Needles Division.  Maybe if I took some videos, it might look something like this...

                   http://youtu.be/DCSAWQFxiyU


Thanks for watching!

Day One of TOFC Parade on the Needles Division

     Back in the eighties, I spent a lot of time taking pictures of Santa Fe trains and equipment.  Today I am uploading one of two videos of TOFC/COFC trains on the Needles Division.  Maybe if I took some videos, it might look something like this...

             http://youtu.be/VwUtqsUS91U


Thanks for watching!

1981 Union Pacific SD40-2 Manifest Freight

One of the many hundreds of SD40-2 delivered to the UP in the 70's, it sports rear mounted air horn and rotating beacon, faded original "We Can Handle It" paint and years of weathering.



Originally built in 1968 as unit 3609, this SD45, along with all units numbered 3600 to 3649, had their numbers changed to 1-50 to clear room for the sequential numbering of SD40-2's to be delivered in 1978.  Most of these SD45's received RCS equipment, with the even numbered SD45's being "control" units with the odd numbered units being "remote" units.  This system was short lived.  Appearance-wise, the RCA antennae was mounted over the cab, resulting in the communication firecracker antennae moved to the very aft of the long hood.



Smooth running Atlas SD7

Roundhouse C&NW 50' "waffle" box car.  Horizontal bracing on side panels reflect inside tie downs for stabilizing load.



Santa FE cylindrical hopper with GMM walkways

GWF 50' DD box from MT, mildly weathered

CEI 50' plug door box from MT

Atlas 53' covered hopper in D&RG livery.  The roof walk is photo etch metal from Gold Medal Models (GMM).

Red Caboose 60' BN beer car, mildly weathered.

Red Caboose 60' MOPAC beer car, mildly weathered.




Model Rectifier 50' double door boxcar, a real "oldie". Weathered, with roller bearing trucks added.  Again, the roof walk has been removed.



60' BN gondola with block metal scrap load

Red Caboose 60' Union Pacific beer car, mildly weathered.

Red Caboose 60' D&RG beer car, mildly weathered.



WP 50' DD box from MT, mildly weathered



Rock Island 50' box with single 8' door



Atlas tank car with ACFX lettering.  Weathered with rust across the top of the car, done with chalks.

ATSF 50' Shock Control car.  XF logo indicates food loading only.



NW 50' DD box from MT, mildly weathered, roof walk removed and roller bearing trucks added.



LP&N 50' DD box from MT, mildly weathered.  Everybody loves this car.

Couple of MT cement covered hoppers.

Western Maryland Damage Free 50' plug and sliding door box car, with the roof walk removed and mildly weathered

RBOX 50' single door box car, part of nationwide pool of freight cars.

Roundhouse D&RGW 50' "waffle" box car.

Centralia caboose

I have posted a video of this train at:

                     http://youtu.be/AFpayO_gL0s

1981 Santa Fe Eastbound Manifest led by SD45-2 5656

Unit 5656 was built in May 1972 and delivered in the Yellow Stripe paint scheme.  All 90 purchased were eventually repainted into the Yellow Warbonnet scheme, and equipped with air conditioning, high mounted air horns, window shades, and radio antennae.  5656 was mildly weathered, with rust showing around the air filter.  You can faintly see where the yellow paint in that air filter has just about weathered away.



SD40 5012, part of initial order of 20 locomotives in 1966 (5000-5019).  Santa Fe then targeted the SD45 for future deliveries, until 1977 with the initial purchases of the SD40-2.  Delivered in the Yellow Stripe paint scheme and numbered 1700-1719, they were part of a remanufacturing program during 1980 and 1981.  Unit 5012 appears as if it has just been released from it's rebuilding!

In 1976,  GE C30-7 was introduced as the successor to the U30C locomotive and contained several internal and external design changes resulting in 16 cylinders and 3000 h.p.  Early C30's featured a blanked nose headlight receptacle, with the headlight relocated above the window area.  The last order of 14 units of the 157 ordered between 1977 and 1982 had white number boards and a smooth nose.  8077 is mildly weathered with all the appropriate roof add-ons.




Custom painted 50' MT box car.  The white door on a mineral brown box car generally indicated a food loading only car, as does the XF logo on the upper left of the car.  Mildly weathered.





Two mildly weathered MT 53' covered hoppers

Two mildly weathered MT Santa Fe covered hoppers



Stock MT 50' cars.  The Shock Control car has been sprayed with dullcote and represents a recent rebuild, while the CNW car as mildly weathered.

The stars of the next few photos are the various "Cats" on MT 50' flats.  These models are made by Norscot Construction Minis.

Two Cat 272E Excavators

ICG 50' flat with Caterpillar 906 Compact Wheel Loader

Cat 420E Backhoe Loader

Excavators on a BN flat and a UP flat

Two weathered 50' MT gondolas, B&O and WP

These five gondolas are all loaded with aluminum, crushed into rectangular or square shapes.

Frisco gondola and Ce-8 Wide Vision caboose


A video of this train can be found on YouTube at:

http://youtu.be/4bXqDvCgiOU

Thanks for checking in on the Needles Division!

1981 Union Pacific GP40 Manifest Freight

In mid 1980, Union Pacific changed the standard on horn placement, moving them to the front of the loco on the cab roof.  The antennae was moved to right of center.  Heavily weathered GP40, an Atlas 8 wheel drive unit with a solid metal chassis.

I am pretty sure that this unit is a GP40-2.  Most of the GP40 genre locos on the UP came through the acquisition of other railroads.  I am not sure where these two Geeps came from, but I have seen a picture of a prototype UP GP40-2 numbered 672, so these numbers seem correct.



Last of the series of 60 GP38-2's, engine number 2059 was delivered in April of 1975.

UP 2031, delivered in May of 1974, follows the new standard of horns mounted on the cab roof.  It has an updated paint job.

These GP38-2 are early Kato models.  While the initial models were very heavy and can pull a ton (frame similar to their GP50's), they are noisier than later Kato offerings.  However, they do run smooth with proper lubrication.

Roundhouse class Bx-182 ATSF Shock Control car, with MT wheel sets and body mounted couplers.  There are a dozen of these cars roaming my Needles Division.

Outside braced 36' covered hopper of unknown origin.

Two MT hoppers,, both weathered down to wheel sets.

Custom painted and decaled Model Rectifier 50' plug door box car.  PRR reporting numbers painted over and Conrail numbers added.  No effort was taken to remove the PRR logo.  Roof walk removed.

Three MT covered hoppers

Another Bx-182

This Bachmann car goes back to the 70's, and was one of the first seven box cars that I purchased. This Central of Georgia car has the roof walk removed, and was my first attempt at weathering.  Although poorly done, it has sentimental value.

This ADMX car has rust weathering across the body top, with GMM railings and steps



Three ADM cars, GMM equipped and weathered.

NP 50' DD box sans roof walk.  MT car.





MT B&O 50' DD box, and, of course, roof walk removed.

Airslide hopper, weathered. One of few instances where the Santa Fe used grey cars with black lettering.



WP 60' Beer car from Red Caboose.  One of three different paint schemes applied by WP to this car class.  All three are present on the Needles Division.

SP 60' Beer car from Red Caboose. I always like the Hydra Cushion logo on SP freight cars. 

Stock Reading 40' box car sans roof walk

Conrail car from MT, a 50' DD box.

Seaboard Coast Line 50' plug door box car.  I removed the roof walk.  Black can be tough to weather

A couple of DuPont tankers, weathered, but it hardly shows.   I worked for DuPont for some 20 years.

Another short line box car from MT,  The red is a very attractive color on this car.  Slightly weathered.

A Mopac 50' outside braced plug door box, weathered.

NW 40' box car, slightly weathered.  Stock from MT.

A Central Vermont 50' outside braced plug door box, weathered, with the "Noodle" CV logo.  (The CV and GT fall under the domain of the Canadian National.)

A Bachmann car from the 70's, stripped, roof walk removed, custom painted and decaled, MT trucks, body mounted couplers, brakewheel and steps. Then weathered. All this for a box car I originally bought for $2.49

Again, a beautiful Centralia caboose.

You can see a video of this train on YouTube at:


http://youtu.be/2LAsSDXZXzk

Thanks for your interest.