A sad thing to see...


JeffShultz

JeffShultz

Stay off the tracks!
I wish that I'd had $150 extra bucks this weekend....

I went to a model railroad swap meet (which overall was quite nice), and just before I left I saw a big cardboard box with "DCC Layout" scrawled on a piece of paper attached to it. It also had a price of $237 crossed out and replaced with one of $150.

I dug through it and discovered that it contained an Atlas Commander DuoPack DCC system, two (!) Atlas GP38s in BNSF "Heritage" paint, some random cars (one of which was a Walther's Centerbeam with a limited edition paintjob that just happened to be for an industry I model, and a bunch of Tru-Track (not that I need it).

What was really sad was that nothing was in proper boxes - the cars and locomotives were floating freely in the cardboard box, and it was starting to take a toll, at least on the engines. The Atlas handrails are more resilient than I thought they were....

Very sad... I would have liked to have gotten what was over $300 worth of stuff (retail) for that price. But I like being happily married better...
 
Very sad... I would have liked to have gotten what was over $300 worth of stuff (retail) for that price. But I like being happily married better...
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Excellent choice in my opinion Jeff, Then there's always the chance the stuff wasn't worth $150, might have been junk. Now the upside of this Christmas is only a few weeks away, and the better choice will show her appreciation. :D with some nice presents.
Cheers Willis
 
HAH!

You were at Rickreall? If so, so was I, even had a table.... Oh, and so was "Signalmonkey" btw. Ships in the night, eh?
 
Yep, I was at Rickreall - I wandered around in a black jacket, with my W&P t-shirt and hat on. I'd been down at the Corvallis club open house earlier that day. What table were you at?

As for the quality of the equipment, I can vouch for the engines (unless they are atypical) and the centerbeam was one painted for Cascade Warehouse. The Atlas Commander duopack is normally at least a $150 item... although for that price I'll probably go for a Digitrax Zephyr. The table the stuff was at was on the "far" wall in the kitchen section. I did get a 20' Walther's container for $1.25, which is much more in line with my budget. I also got a P2K covered hopper kit for $5... looking at the parts (it's the first serious kit I've had in ages, and the first serious railroad kit). That was from the table next (nearer the front) to the Whistle Stop table. I was hoping Whistle Stop might have brought some Atlas Corn Syrup cars, if they had them. No such luck.

As for the kit, now I see why RTR is so popular for newer cars....
 
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I was in by the big menu sign next to the concessions counter. Sheldon had 3/4's of the table for his slides, and I had a handful of paper leftover on my side. No models that day for me, I left the weathered stuff at home.
 
Is that the table that was clearing out at about 1:30pm or so? (maybe a bit earlier?) I was back there (moaning over the DCC box) then.
 
I am sure the engines and the rolling stock would have been worth the $150. The Altas system, depending upon whether is was upgraded might been worth something. Had one and was really happy when i stopped using it. Two digit addressing and limited function key usage made that system less than desirable.
 
JeffShultz said:
Is that the table that was clearing out at about 1:30pm or so? (maybe a bit earlier?) I was back there (moaning over the DCC box) then.
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Yep. Sheldon wanted to go chase down P&W 3300, which we finally caught just east of Lafayette.
 
The, um, large mid-section gent that was talking to him (or you?) when you were tearing down is my father-in-law... where the heck is Lafayette?

There are a lot of places on the railroad that aren't in my mental map - one of these days I'm going to have to figure out where Asahar (sp?) is in relationship to Corvallis and Albany, and how the Eugene Hauler actually maneuvers around before heading off to Eugene.

BTW, how closely do you think that 3300 resembles a SD40-2? I need to chase it down one of these days myself.
 
Gee! are you guys trying to make Jeff feel real sorry
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for himself?
Cheers Willis :D
 
abcraghead said:
Yep. Sheldon wanted to go chase down P&W 3300, which we finally caught just east of Lafayette.
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This sounds like the same Sheldon that I know from his interest in Spokane railway history. Is he on this board?
 
JeffShultz said:
The, um, large mid-section gent that was talking to him (or you?) when you were tearing down is my father-in-law... where the heck is Lafayette?

There are a lot of places on the railroad that aren't in my mental map - one of these days I'm going to have to figure out where Asahar (sp?) is in relationship to Corvallis and Albany, and how the Eugene Hauler actually maneuvers around before heading off to Eugene.

BTW, how closely do you think that 3300 resembles a SD40-2? I need to chase it down one of these days myself.
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Lafayette is just west of Dundee, and just east of Mac. I was the one in the bright red coat as we were bugging out.

Ashahr (Asher phonetically) is a siding just NW of Albany on the Toledo District, although I have never seen it myself. As for the Eugene Hauler, it tends to run out of Eugene now, and then comes into the Albany UP yard and is broken up, often with the help of the yard switcher, which has lately been the SD7.

As for the 3300, it looks like (and in fact is, at heart) a straight SD40, but it has an SD40-2's trucks shoved under it. The tank is shorter to accomodate them. I was tempted to buy a Kato SD40 to start one from. One key spotting feature of this unique motor is it's narrowly set ditch lights.
 
SDP45 said:
This sounds like the same Sheldon that I know from his interest in Spokane railway history. Is he on this board?
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Indeed it was the same Sheldon, there is only one! We're both pseudo-board members of the SP&S Historical Society as well -- he the newsletter editor, I the webmaster.

I don't think he's on RRF or MRRF. His interest is primarily in historic images and rosters, not RRF's forte really. He has some really cool stuff of SP in my own backyard when I was growing up though -- bet the SP fans would drool over the SD9's doing local switching... or how about a super 8 movie with 5 SD9's pulling mdoern auto racks through a crossing protected by a wig-wag, past an ABS signal, with a FRED on the rear? Enough contradictions to make your head spin!
 
abcraghead said:
Lafayette is just west of Dundee, and just east of Mac. I was the one in the bright red coat as we were bugging out.
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Ah - I'm pretty sure that I heard the Westsider leaving Corvallis when we got to Adair Village at 10am, so that would fit.

Ashahr (Asher phonetically) is a siding just NW of Albany on the Toledo District, although I have never seen it myself. As for the Eugene Hauler, it tends to run out of Eugene now, and then comes into the Albany UP yard and is broken up, often with the help of the yard switcher, which has lately been the SD7.
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I thought the Hauler was bi-directional, hauling pre-blocked loads to Eugene from Albany? (and this is getting really off-topic, perhaps the forums shouldn't have been split after all...)

As for the 3300, it looks like (and in fact is, at heart) a straight SD40, but it has an SD40-2's trucks shoved under it. The tank is shorter to accomodate them. I was tempted to buy a Kato SD40 to start one from. One key spotting feature of this unique motor is it's narrowly set ditch lights.
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Kato does have both an SD40 and an SD40-2, don't they? I can tell I need more photos of the 3300.
 
Well then, let's get back on-topic:

3300 is an SD40-3MR, ex-EMDX 2000; ex-EMDX SD40 6340; ex-BN 6340; nee CS 880.

Here it is in BN paint, before EMD got it and screwed with it.
http://archive.trainpix.com/BN/EMDORIG/SD40/6340.HTM

Here it is under EMD:
http://www.trainweb.org/screamingeagle/gallery/emd/j_glenewinkel/EMD2000.jpg
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures\617\EMD2000.JPG

You can see clearly by the lack of porches that this was a straight SD40 once. In fact it was built in 1968. The close spaced ditches were added by EMD. Either way, starting from a straight 40 would be the best bet, so Kato is probably your top choice. You can occasionally find Kato SD40's fairly cheap secondhand. A friend recently snagged one for under $50.
 
Hmmmm. Then I'd get to find the SD40-2 trucks. Still, it might be a worthwhile project in a couple years. That's when I'll have a layout that an SD40 doesn't hang off both ends of.
 
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