1981 Union Pacific SD7 Fruit Growers Express

Union Pacific SD7's were delivered by EMD in June of 1953.  They had 1500 hp from the 16 cylinder non-turbocharged engine.  It is an Atlas model which runs very smoothly with it's solid chassis and 12 wheel drive with two flywheels.

UP 2419 is a C30-7, delivered in June of 1978.  The turbocharged equipped 16 cylinder engine produced 3000 hp serving 6 traction motors.  It features rear mounted air horns placed near the rear fan housing, and window shades, rotating beacon, and firecracker antennae.  It is a lightly weathered Kato model.

Equipped with a 20 cylinder turbocharged engine, this SD45 from EMD produced 3600 hp.  It was delivered to the UP in March of 1968.  It features rear mounted air horns, window shades, rotating beacon, and firecracker antennae.  It is a Kato model, lightly weathered. (3633 was renumbered to number 33 in 1978, but again, I'll give myself a pass on that.)



I really like this custom painted mechanical reefer of unknown model origin.  Weathered.  Unfortunately, this model sits high on the chassis, and needs to be lowered.

Insulated reefer, heavily weathered on a basically stock MT car.



Red Caboose 53' PFE mechanical reefer, heavily weathered.

Red Caboose 53' BN Western Fruit Express mechanical reefer, heavily weathered.

This may be a stock model, requiring lowering.

Canadian Pacific 50' mechanical reefer, weathered, with the roof walk removed on this Micro Trains model.



53' mechanical reefer from Red Caboose, weathered.

Another 53' mechanical reefer of unknown origin.

Northern Pacific 50' mechanical refrigeration unit, subtly weathered, with the roof walk removed from  this Micro Trains model.

Southern Pacific labeled PFE reefer from MT.

A couple more PFE reefers with different lettering on each car.  With as many of these cars that I have, I had to change some of the lettering to break the monotony of "alike" cars.

Micro Trans 50' PFE outside braced mechanical reefer, weathered, and with roof walk removed.

Milwaukee Road 50' smooth side mechanical reefer from MT, again with the roof walk removed and weathered.

PFE's weathered.  May be old Atlas cars?

Great Northern Western Fruit Express smooth side mechanical reefer from MT, roof walk removed.

Again, not sure of the origin of this car.

53' Santa Fe PFE mechanical reefer, heavily weathered.  At the time I purchased this car, the billboard Santa Fe lettering was not available.  I removed the "Ship and Travel.." logo and added the large Santa Fe lettering.  Atlas, maybe?

PFE 50' outside braced mechanical reefer, roof walk removed. MT car.

Four more PFE reefers with different lettering on at least three of the cars. 

Northern Pacific 50' mechanical refrigeration unit, weathered, with the roof walk removed from  this Micro Trains model.

53' PFE of unknown origin

Burlington Northern Refrigerator Express. smooth side mechanical reefer from MT, roof walk removed, with subtle weathering.

Beautiful Centralia Shops caboose.

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

http://youtu.be/Zo2h8dM12NY

1981 Santa Fe Manifest Freight led by B36-7 7498

General Electric B36-7 7498, was  the updated version of the U36B.  This 16 cylinder, 3600 h.p. unit was part of a delivery of 16 units in October and November of 1980, numbered 7484 to 7499. Santa Fe was the first railroad to acquire production B36-7's.  The U in U36B stands for Universal Locomotive.




Electro Motive Division SD40 5002.  This is part of an order of 20 delivered in 1966.  The SD40's were rebuilt in the late 70's and brought up as close as possible  to the SD40-2 standards, primarily in the electrical components area.  Of course, these locos received air conditioning, "can" antennae, raised air horns, and a rotating beacon.  They also had their footboards removed from the pilot, and replaced with snow plows.  All received the Yellow Warbonnet paint scheme.



Two more B36-7's which are mildly weathered due to their recent acquisition.  Remember, it is June 1981 on the Needles Division. Why B36-7?  The B means a 4 wheel truck, 36 stands for 3600 h.p., and the 7 means this unit was first designed in the 1970's.

Custom painted 50' Shock Control car, and double plug sliding door Shock Control car, part of the Western Roads five pack.

UP 60 ft. double door box, which is a recent Atlas car, with the multi colored "automated rail way" logo on white a background.  Mildly weathered, but I should weather it heavier due to its longevity on the rails. 

Two Micro Trains 60' Bulkhead flat cars, carrying a load of crated machinery products.  (Or something or other!)

Nicely weathered 50' box, manufactured by Roundhouse Models in the 80's. Note weathered wheels and trucks.

Couple  of 36' covered hoppers, mildly weathered. 

Custom painted Great Northern 50' plug door boxcar.  These are called "plug door" because when opened, they swing out, and upon closing, sit flush with the interior sides.  I painted and decaled this car with custom made decals prior to the release of this car from Atlas in the above paint scheme.  The silver door represents an unpainted aluminum door.  Mildly weathered.

Love Frisco yellow cars, as they are easy to weather and look great!

Two mildly weathered UP cars.



Two near bankrupt railroads, New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad, merged to create Penn Central, a massive railroad system doomed to failure, and of course, bankruptcy.  By the time Conrail was created from these two and others, (Federal Government bailout!), their motive power and freight cars, as well as the entire infrastructure, were a complete mess.  This 50' NYC plug door box truly represents the state of Conrail rolling stock at the time.

Two different paint schemes on the same 55' covered hopper, in order of their appearance on the system.  Both models have Gold Medal Models (GMM) etched brass roofwalks.



I have several of these 50' D&RWG cars on the Needles Division.  Fortunately, they came in more than one number.  I just think the paint scheme is very cool looking and they also weather easily.



Heavily weathered BN, 55 foot covered hopped, This is an old Atlas car updated with (GMM) walkways. 

Shell covered hopper, again old Atlas car updated with (GMM) walkways.  (Oops, just noticed these hoppers need their black and white Consolidated Stencil Panels.  These panels contain car maintenance records.  I will take care of that!)

This might just be a Soo Line plug box, ya think?  Note DF logo (Damage Free), yet with non roller bearing Bettendorf trucks!



DuPont covered hopper, heavily weathered, again, an old Atlas car updated with GMM walkways.  I worked in sales for a DuPont division out of New England for some 20 years.  It is truly one of the great American companies, and one of the oldest, dating back to the Revolutionary War.   

A great little 50' boxcar from MRC Corp., one of the first I purchased, and one of my favorites on the Needles Division.  I removed the roof walk, and then removed the paint, and custom painted and decaled this car.  One of the first I did.  Long time ago.  Yellow weathers easily!  A Ce-8 wide vision caboose brings up the rear of the train.  This beautiful  caboose is from Atlas.

A video of this train is posted on YouTube at:

                                                    http://youtu.be/F3mEZhydPP8

1981 Union Pacific SD45 Manifest Freight

Lead unit SD45 3605 was delivered to the Union Pacific from EMD in April of 1968, part of an order of 50 units.  All had 20 cylinder EMD 645 engines producing 3600 hp.  645 refers to the cubic inches per cylinder. (3605 was actually renumbered to number 5 in 1978, but I am going to give myself a pass on that one).

Southern Pacific Tunnel Motor SD40T-2.  8368 was used as a Lococontrol master on SP Tehachapi loop trains with receiver T-2's located as mid-train helpers.  In this case, it is just working off hours owed by the SP to the UP.  It is designated a "T" model   as the air intakes were on the lower rear to get cleaner air in tunnels and snow sheds. Beautiful Intermountain model.

I know very little about this engine other than it probably came thru acquisition and it is a GP40-2.

CN 50' plug door box car from MT

PRR 50' outside braced plug door box car from MT.  Conrail renumbering has not yet caught up to this car.

DM outside braced box car from MT.  Lightly weathered and ready to roll.

A Bachmann car from the 70's, stripped, roof walk removed, custom painted and decaled, MT trucks and couplers, brake wheel and steps. Then weathered. Oldie but a goodie.

BCOL 50' plug and sliding door box from MT.  Lightly weathered.

BN 40' plug and sliding door box, with roof walk removed, weathered.  Retains Bettendorf trucks.

RF&P 50' sliding door box from Micro Trains.  The colors on this car were outstanding, and it took quite a while before I decided to remove the roof walk and weather the car.  Bought another one to keep new.

SP 60' bulkhead flat with aftermarket lumber load

Trailer Train as above.

SSW with lumber load

Atlas CNW double plug door box.  Yellow weathers nicely.

Another short line car from MT

Hydra Cushion SP car with plug doors.  Roof walk removed.

GBW 50' box car, nicely weathered, from MT 

P&LE 50' box car from MT.  Green paint scheme declares that P&LE is part of the old Penn Central system.  Roof walk removed.

GM&O 40 footer.  Short ladders indicate this car from MT issued without roof walks.

Heavily weathered St. Louis San Francisco 50' box car from MT.

Here's one from the original MT 6-pack.  I managed to purchase one of each of the 3 road names in this package.

I removed the roof walk from this GN 50' plug door box car and weathered it some.  The paint is GN Big Sky Blue.  The car is from MT.

The Rahway Valley is represented on the Needles Division by this MT 50' outside braced box car.

Atlas 50' plug door box car, roof walk removed and weathered.  Most UP freight cars had silver trucks and silver painted on the wheel sets.

Atlas 50' double plug door box car.  Light green door probably means the car is designated for some type of special loading.

MILW outside braced 50' box car from MT, suitably weathered.

This Railbox car looks as if it has seen a lot of action. (from MT.)

Black lettering broadcasts Soo Line.  50' outside braced box car from MT.  I avoided the urge to excessively weather this car, as I made it resemble a prototype photo I had.

Another beautiful Centralia caboose

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

http://youtu.be/Rc65bdqNnt4