Thanks Giving Weekend Photo Fun 11-27/11-30


Alcomotive said:
The original UP 1870 was a EMD TR5A....UP 1870-1877 were assigned to helper service on the South-Central District during early 1953; during February and March 1953 each unit had the D.S. (Diesel Switch) prefix removed from its 1870-series number. UP 1870-1872 were modified with 1400 gallon fuel tanks (originally equipped with 600 gallon fuel tanks) and air reservoirs on top of car body in September 1968 for service on the North Platte, Neb., hump yards. After being modified, they had 521,600 pounds total cow/calf operating weight. Then 7 units were built into SW10s units 1871 thru 1877. 1870 was the only one not re-built into a SW10. It was built in 1951 and retired in June 1976.

As for Athearn these were a real goof in being speced out as what it was intended for. Because it was to be a SW7 but for this unit number it should a been a EMD TR5A ...NOT... the latter nor could it have been a SW1500. So all in all the mold is in fact SW7/9 shell.

Between the time of UPs first Diesel switcher locomotives in 1939 and the 1982 merger with Western Pacific and Missouri Pacific, Union Pacific owned 118 non-EMD yard switchers. Included were 54 Alco S-2s, 45 Alco S-4s, six Baldwin VO 1000s, five Baldwin DS-4-4-10s, five Fairbanks-Morse H10-44s, one single Alco S-3 and a single Alco HH-1000, both of which came to UP with the purchase of the Mount Hood Railway in 1968, and finally, a single General Electric 44-ton center-cab switcher.

continued...http://www.utahrails.net/articles/up-sw-other.php the history of the D.S. designation....first switcher was in black by the way....
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Amazingly coincidental to this story, I own the real numberboards from the 1870/1872B TR5AB set. The engines were sold to the EJ&E in the 1970's, where a local hobby shop owner took these from.

I also might have the Pyle marker lights from these engines...I don't know if they ever operated with them though.

Alco---Do you know where I can find a photo of these engines with my numberboards? I can't find a photo of them to save my life!

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Phil
 
Jerome, I think I said extra grabs and didn't mention handrails. I think you've got it now that I see the bell on the unit you post, Alco's bell has just broken loose from the frame. Athearn did have two styles of bells, the one with the rope attachment for manual ringing and the one with the solid metal frame for the air actuated bell. I'm not sure any SW-7 came with a manual bell. I'm surprised that you've got a BB SW-7 with plastic sideframes. I bought a lot of those back in the 60's and 70's when I was actively modeling anf they were all metal. I haven't bought any since so I guess Athearn must have gone to plastic side frames at some point. Shows you what I know. :)

Jim, here's the 2 styles of Athearn plastic bells. The one on the left comes with an S-12 (and the older GE U-boats) switcher. The one on the right comes with SW7 cow/calfs, SW1000/1500's.

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There are a few cases where diesels have air-operated bells, on the old style yolk-and-base mount. One that comes to mind are many of the old Northern Pacific GPs that were outfitted with old steam engine bells, but also installed with a Prime or Salem air clapper.

Also, you can have a manual style bell operated with a air or steam mechanism, as well as a steam engine having this same fixture. Most of these, called "Howard Style", are also able to be operated manually if needed...

Here's an excellent website about bells...http://www.bellsandbirmans.com/bells/bellfacts.php



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Phil
 
johnny,

Thanks for the info...

unfortunately I made the 6 hour round trip to the nearest decent hobby shop yesterday. (that's where/when I got my generators). I looked into using window screen, but it's a bit large IMO...

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I also added some details to my Spectrum 44-tonner. (nice ebay score: winning bid: $16.50, shipping $10, in perfect condition...)
Bells and Hancock Air Whistles were added to both ends, and the New Haven lettering was mussed up with my thumbnail. Next step: weathering!! ( haven't decided who owns it after the New Haven sold it, at this point I'm just gonna weather the tar out of it.)

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V&AL - like i said its a cool project and your doin a great job - im just really picky about details sometimes. Like the others said, once its in there youll be hard pressed to tell which end is which...but for the ones sitting out on the layout, will be easier to spot.

Some great shots this weekend everybody!
 
wheeler1963 said:
The SW1500 and SW1000 are almost exactly the same. The biggest difference is the SW1000 has 1 exhaust stack, the SW1500 has 2.
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Actually the EASIEST way to identify an SW1500 is the side frames. No other SW has those Flexicoil trucks! Flexicoil trucks were optional on the SW1500, but myself, I've never laid eyes upon one w/o! However, beyond the exhaust & trucks they're the same...
 
Went to Alexandria this afternoon, didn't get back til 6:30. Picked up these two items while I was there.

A new Canadian grain hopper:
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And a Phillips 66 3 dome tank car:
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I also got 6 conifer trees, 6 cedar trees and 3 elm trees.
 
First WPF Contribution

Hello all. I've enjoyed your photos for a couple of years and thought it was time I got in on the fun. I have spent several weeks building and weathering a Silver Streak drover's caboose and nine P2K Mather single deck stock cars to go with it. While I was at it, I put a quick temporary weathering job on my Spectrum Frisco Mountain to pull the stock train at a train show next weekend.
 
Phil, pretty cool that you got those number boards. Looks like they are the ones from the headlights rather the the bug eye markers the TR5A's had for part of their career. The closest I can find to the 1870 was 1873, which was one built with dynamic brakes for helper service:

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And 1871 A and B, with the same dynamics:

up1871s.jpg


Those were taken in 1968. By 1980, they had undergone a considerable change in appearance, with the frog eye numberboards, dynamics, classification lights, and MU equipment removed:

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I haven't been able to find a picture of the actual 1870 but it was sold off to EJ&E about 1981 and I suspect it looked like the 1874 by then. I believe that the 1870 through 1879 all originally had dynamic brakes and were built for helper service.

First time I've seen those ex-GN Geeps with the big steam locomotive bells too. I wonder why they ended up with these, since I think the GP-7 came standard with a normal bell. Nice site on bells too.

Steve, nice photos although I have to put on my jacket to look at them. :)

Oleirish, please don't encourage Steve in his addiction. We are trying to help him here. :D

Ron and MDCustom, those are some pretty nice scratchbuilt structures. I sure wish I had your talents.

V&AL, go to a craft store like Michaels and ask for wedding veil gauze. It should be almost perfect for screening for your generator car. Nice bell on the front of that 44 tonner too.

Johnny, looks like your customers got some outstanding work for their money.

Just to add to the SW1X confusion, there was also the SW1001, the low clearance cab version of SW1000. To my knowledge (although I will probably be proved wrong), No SW 1000 or 1001 was ever delivered with flexicoil trucks. SW 1500's could have flexi's or standard AAR switcher trucks as has already been shown. So I guess the only thing you can say for sure it that, if it's an SW1x carbody with flexi's, it must be an SW1500, which should be confirmed by the two stacks.
 
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I can guarantee you can find an SW1000 with 2 stacks as well...:eek:;) It is nice to see what Canadian Forrest Products unit with Flexicoils, but they look like modified ones, just like Flexicoil's found on export EMD's don't look normal. Model wise, the Flexicoil only exists on the real Athearn SW1500. Up until this recent release, the the Athearn SW1000 only had friction bearing trucks!

I just wish more units has gotten the HT-B trucks!:D

Anyways...
News from me:

Modification of Dash 9 side frames, replaced the covered bearing with a Details West exposed roller bearing. I like they look of them so much, that I'm going to replace the cast on exposed roller bearing with the Details Wast version now!
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Continued work on the oil loading platform.
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Joe
Nice job on the grass! The scene is coming along!

GrampysTrains
Simply awesome!

Jeffery
Cool shot under the bridge!

GrampysTrains
Awesome crossing!

Jim
Cool looking town!

Josh
Neat shot!

Mike
Great looking switcher!

Jeffery
Nice video!

Alcomotive
Nice looking shots!

Jerome
Nice locos!

Steve B
Cool video!

Airslide
Nice going so far!

V&AL
Cool project!

Jerome
Cool proto shots! Great looking switchers!

mtrpls
Neat video!

Johnny
Neat shots and equipment!

Phil
Neat BN shots!

Steve B
Cool night proto shots!

mdcustom
Nice looking icehouse!

oleirish
Cool!

Joe
Cool video!

RonP
Nice job!

V&AL
Nice job on the screen and cool looking loco!

Jeffery
Nice rolling stock!

Phil
Great pictures!

MopacOkie
Nice looking stockcars, caboose, and steamer!
 
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