Eastbound Manifest Freight led by SD39 4013

While Santa Fe was a leader in promoting TOFC/COFC traffic, boxcars, hoppers and  other revenue cars still dominated rail traffic.  Train types included unit coal and grain trains, high priority manifest, regular manifest, vehicle trains, and so on.  Some had regularly scheduled motive power, but oftentimes, Santa Fe just assembled motive power of what was around, calculated tonnage vs. horsepower/tractive effort, and sent the train rolling.  Today's train would be a typical manifest freight with power of different types, and could be run as an "extra" with designation "Extra 4013".

A video of this train is posted on YouTube at:

                      http://youtu.be/c-TijDkzZdU

All the diesels in this train were custom painted and decaled, and weathered by the author.


This manifest freight is lead by SD39 4013.  This model was made from a SD40 as they shared the same body.  Difference?  Only two radiator fans instead of three, as the SD39 has only a 12 cylinder turbocharged 645 diesel engine (2300 hp) as opposed to the SD40's 16 cylinder 3000 hp engine.  The antennae placement differs as the SD39 has it mounted on a sheet metal plane above the sandbox with external wiring connecting it to the cab. The SD39 manufactured by EMD was intended for use on local freights, but tht never prevented Santa Fe from using it in Class One mainline service.  The model is mildly weathered.

U36C 8759, 3600 horsepower unit purchased by Santa Fe in the 1970's.  Weathered unit sporting air conditioning, rotating beacon and radio antennae.  This model started as a Kato U30C,  and I converted it to a U36C using a N Scale of Nevada conversion kit.  Occasionally you can find these kits on Ebay.  U stands for "Universal" locomotive, 36 for 3600 horsepower, and C for three axle trucks.

 

F45 5927 is basically an SD45 with a cowl body.  The difference between the F45 and FP45 is the lack of a steam generator (P) as they were not designed for passenger service.  The model is powered by a Kato SD45 with the body supplied by JnJ trains.  It has BLMA fans, rotating beacon, antennae, and a custom decaling and paint job.  These were challenging to build, but I had modern F units a decade before Athearn brought them to market.

Kato SD45, weathered with a little rust and black soot on top of the long hood.  Looks like this unit had a dymamic brake fire somewhere long the way. 



Close up of blistered paint.

UP 50' plug door box

Custom painted and weathered MC 50' Outside braced boxcar.

The Orange paint really needed to be toned down on this unit.




Very cool CAT on a center depredded flatcar.



Weathered MT car.

I have a picture of this somewhere, a green door replacement on a Sky Blus GN car.

Mildly weathered custom painted DD Box by MT

Couple ATSF hoppers

One of the first cars I purchased back in the 70's, a UP 50" ob boxcar, sold by Model Rectifier Corp.  I removed the roofwalk and severely weathered this car.  UP stuff weathers very easily because of the yellow color. 

Atlas tank from late 90's

Rust (chalks) weathering on white tanks looks so good.

Very old Atlas tank, painted black, with brass railings by Gold Medal Models.



Custom painted MR 50' box.  Not the easiest of paint jobs in lining up the door paint with the rest of the boxcar.  Weathered down to the wheels and trucks.

More Atlas tanks and another very old caboose with Micro Trains frame, trucks, end ladders and custom paint and decals.

Thanks for stopping by!

Westbound Hotshot TOFC led by FP45 5948

My last posting introduced you to the 1981 version of my Needles Division.  The FP45's are a perfect example of the time frame choice, June, 1981.  In the months following, the FP45's would be rebuilt and the appearance would change with the addition of smoke deflectors on the roof.  A very unsightly addition in my opinion.  In 1980, FP45 #5943 was rebuilt as a prototype for future remanufacturing of this class.  However, at that time, the smoke deflectors had not been added.  (I modeled this rebuild, and you will see it in a future posting.)  After much research, the following FP45's are weathered as they might have looked prior to their rebuilds in '81 snd '82. 

What are the chances that four F units would be in one train?  Well, in 1985, I photographed four F units together westbound in Cajon Pass, and a B&W photo of this scene made it into CTC  Board magazine in April of  '85.

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

                              http://youtu.be/GytKoccl-gw

Back to the model RR.  The following train could easily represent  hotshot train 189 (Chicago to Southern California, including Barstow; intermodal) or 199 (Chicago to Northern California, west of Barstow; intermodal).

Lead unit 5948.  All FP45's in this blog are old Lima units (70's) rebuilt with frames from Kato C44-9W's

5941 with fuel tank from SD75M and steps from J&J Trains.

5940 with trucks from Kato SD45's

FP45 #5946.  Fans are from BLMA.  Rotating beacon, antennae and new air horns added.

Weathering included rust along top of cab, extending along the hood.  Black soot along entire hood length.  Subtle weathering on fuel tanks and trucks.  Blue paint weathered (lightened).

Two custom MT trailers on MT 89' Trailer Train flat. Most trailers subtly weathered.

Custom MT trailer and EL trailer from Athearn

Atlas 45' Vermont trailer and 40' Chessie from Athearn

45' Santa Fe from Atlas and 40' UP trailer from Athearn.

 ConCor 45' trailer with MT wheelset and landing gear.  PC 40' from Athearn, atop TT 89' trailer in original 60's paint scheme.

Atlas Preferred 45 with MT wheelset and KCS MT 40' trailer.

Couple more MT trailers.

Atlas Preferred Pool and MT 40' trailer

MT Rio Grande and custom painted and decaled Santa Fe MT 40 footer.

ICG 45' trailer from MT and drop frame trailer from Trainworx.

Atlas 45' and ICG 40 footer from Athearn

Another 45' from MT and drop frame Santa Fe from TWX.

Custom painted and decaled 45 foot MT trailer and 40' Santa Fe trailer from Athearn.

Custom Soo Line and white Santa Fe refrigerated unit from TWX.
 

45' MT and drop frame MoPac trailer from TWX.

Another custom Soo Line and weathered 40' Athearn unit.

Two Trainworx trailers on BLMA 89' F-89-J flat car in original 60's paint scheme.



Beautiful ATSF caboose from Centralia Shops.

Thanks for viewing this posting!

Santa Fe Railroad Needles Division 1981

A change in direction for the Needles Division blog.  In my first blog on June 4th of last year, I mentioned that my primary focus was on two time periods, either June, 1954, or June 1981.  Then I promptly filled the blog with info and videos from eras of everything that was not 1954 or 1981.  But that has now changed, as I have exhausted my material from other time periods.  For the next few months, it is June, 1981 on the Needles Division.

Why 1981?  Mainly because the Santa Fe had not yet begun their rebuilding process that changed the appearance of many classes of locos, particularly with the addition of smoke deflectors on the top of the long hood, (ugly!) and hoods over the air filters (also ugly!).  Plus, what's a train without a caboose. 

1981.  No doublestacks.  Lots of TOFC/COFC.  Lots of different types of diesels.  GE and EMD at their competitive finest.  Union Pacific.  Cabooses.

So, lets begin with a typical 1981 TOFC train you might see crossing the Mojave Desert.  This train would not be cross country to Chicago.

If you want to start out with a video of this train, please go to:

http://youtu.be/9gFczYkqR0E

In this photo we see lead unit GP35 3446.  This custom painted loco is lightly weathered, representing a Geep with "Yellow Bonnet" paint job.  3446 has received air conditioning, raised air horns, and a rotating orange beacon. Notice the air filter partially covered in dust/dirt.

3343 is in it's as delivered paint scheme, generally referred as the "Yellow Stripe" scheme.  The GP35's were the last to have their class completely repainted into the "Yellow Bonnet" scheme, with some units lasting in the delivered scheme into the early 1980's.

This is a custom painted GP30 in Yellow Bonnet, lightly weathered.  Single chime air horns added to each side of this custom painted Geep, along with rotating warning light and can antennae.  The single chime air horns were an exclusive on ATSF GP30's.

                          

 Two 40' trailers, lightly weathered, both models from Trainworx.



Custom painted Rio Grande trailer, an early ConCor model with an MT wheelset.  Silver 40' trailer from Trainworx, dull down a bit.

45' C&NW Micro Trains (MT) trailer, and custom Western Express trailer, with roof and side sills painted silver.  All flatcars on this train are Micro Trains 89 footers and are heavily weathered.

Santa Fe 45' MT trailer and a custom SOU container on trailer.

Custom CO-OP 45' trailer (MT) and Santa Fe 40' drop frame trailer from Trainworx (TWX).

Two more from TWX, a Mopac 40 footer, and a Rock 40' drop frame.  Both slightly weathered, just to take the shine off the trailers.

Kansas City Southern 45' trailer, from Atlas. and a 40' Santa Fe Bicentennial trailer from MT.

Atlas 45' SP trailer.  This trailer's paint scheme was not adopted till sometime in 1984, but I think it looks really cool!  Brillion and Forest Junction has really neat logo on a MT trailer

MT trailers with sills painted and weathered.  WP 40 footer is custom painted and decaled.

ConCor trailer, custom painted and decaled, with MT wheelset, custom YM Line container on trailer.  (This trailer is probably 30 years old!)

MT 45' ICG, and TWX drop frame trailer, both weathered.

Atlas Ce-6 caboose, with red painted platform and steps to resemble Ce-8 class caboose.

Thanks for stopping by.  Stay tuned for much more of 1981 on the Santa Fe Needles Division in 1981.