1981 Santa Fe Westbound TOFC led by SD45-2 5640



SD45-2 5640 is an Intermountain model of the 20 cylinder 3600 horsepower behemoth.  It is mildly weathered with a normal amount of fading.  I add raised air horns 1981 style, on the roof of the cab.  Santa Fe purchased 90 of these units from 1972 to 1974.

SD40-2 5033 is a Kato model of this 16 cylinder 3000 horsepower unit.  Originally produced by Kato as a "Snoot" version, I replaced the long nose with that of an SD45, thus making it a standard version of the SD40-2.  The "Porches" on either end of the SD40-2 are due to making the longer SD45 frames standard on mid and later production units.  I custom painted the model, adding the air conditioner, raised air horns, antennae, and rotating beacon. The model represented freshly painted unit out of the San Bernardino, CA paint shop.

GP38 3520  is one of 61 purchased by the Santa Fe in 1970.  The unit is equipped with a 3000 gallon fuel tank, dynamic brakes, and a factory installed rotary beacon.  My model is mildly weathered.

All but one of the 89' trailers in this train are Micro Trains models.  All are weathered to some degree.  Here pictured are a couple of MT trailers, with the highlight  being the Bicentennial white Santa Fe 40' trailer.

All the bracing for the trailers has been masked and sprayed silver, with many weathered to a gray color.  Both of these trailers are custom painted and decaled.



Stock MT 45' Family Lines trailer and custom painted and decaled Santa Fe trailer.  Both the SFTT and fully lettered Santa Fe 40' trailers were beautiful examples of Santa Fe's emphasis on modular traffic.

Gelco custom trailer with refrigeration unit and stock MT BN trailer.

Custom Preferred 102 trailer and NW unit shortened from 48 to 40'.



Since these photos were taken, all of my TOFC/COFC flat cars have the U-1 Stencil added.  That is the black logo with a yellow circle stamped on, representing inspected for defective 33" wheels

Two custom trailers.  The Santa Fe trailer represents one where the rear panels have been replaced.

Stock MT trailers, both mildly weathered

Stock Rio Grande trailer and custom Santa Fe trailer

Both trailers custom painted and decaled

Preferred 45 trailer custom painted/decaled.  Stock MT Conrail trailer with replacement panel

Both the Nevada Northern and the Rio Grande trailers are custom.



The Southern 45'trailer is a Con Cor trailer with Micro Trains wheel sets, while the UP trailer is stock, but weathered. Hmm, in looking at this photo, I believe I will redo the wheel sets on the Southern trailer.



Here is the exception to the MT flats.  This flat is a solid metal Rapido flat, custom painted, updated with Micro Trains wheel sets and end ramps. The Santa Fe trailer represents a 40 ft. trailer stretched out to 45'.  I saw many of these "stretch jobs" in Cajon Pass in the early eighties.  The Con Cor Rio Grande trailer has MT wheel sets.

Both the Western Express trailer and the American Presidents Line Container on flat trailer are custom painted and decaled.  The beautiful Red Caboose Waycar brings up the end of the train.

Thanks for logging onto the Needles Division!

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

                                   http://youtu.be/GF4O7jqKUak

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