SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023
TRAINS / AMTRAK / ACELA
Amtrak is incapable of running a "high speed railroad" of any kind, for a variety of reasons. But here we are, in 2023, and Amtrak bought trains they literally cannot use. This is not unusual for Amtrak, as they have been plagued by bad equipment decisions since Day One.
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023
TRAINS / OPERATIONS
Some AWESOME train videos! Trains don't exist just to block traffic, they actually serve a useful function.
First, how coal gets from a train car into a ship! It's really interesting to watch.
1. NS loading the Algoma Innovator at the Sandusky Coal Dock
Second, watching the train operations in the steel mills of northeastern Indiana, including the famous "bottle cars" that transport super hot liquid steel from the blast furnace to the rolling mills.
2. Steel Mill Trains inside Indiana Harbor and Gary Works
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023
MODEL RAILROADING / N-SCALE / PASSENGER TRAINS / AMTRAK
I've been on a crazy quest to build my own early 1970's era Amtrak "rainbow" passenger train. Amtrak never used the phrase for their trains, it was a name given to the them by railfans. In the beginning days of Amtrak back in 1971, there were no diesels or passenger cars painted for the new organization, so the trains were a mish-mash of different equipment from the railroads that Amtrak took over, and many cars carried the livery of it's former railroad.
The railroad era that interests me the most is the mid 70's, specifically 1976. Amtrak had painted most of its inherited fleet of old passenger trains in Amtrak's early red, while and blue colors, so rainbow trains were already very rare. However, in the world of model trains, one can always pretend, and in my version of the mid 70's, the rainbow trains will still rule the rails.
At this time I'm mostly interested in the Burlington Northern (BN) railroad in terms of history and modeling, along with the other railroads that served northern Minnesota. The BN was born from a huge merger of four western railroads in 1970, and operated its own rainbow fleet of passenger trains before Amtrak took over in 1971.
The miniature rainbow passenger train I'm interested in creating is going to be influenced by both the early years of the Burlington Northern and Amtrak.
Here's what I plan on doing for my own N-Scale (1:160) BN/Amtrak passenger train:
The EMD SDP40F was Amtrak's first new passenger diesel. They were built by EMD in 1973-74, and 150 were delivered. Based on the extremely successful SD40 an SD40-2 freight locomotives, the SDP40F's had a short life due to being prone to derailing. Most of them were withdrawn by 1977.
I plan on having two SDP40F's for my train, both from KATO, a Japanese maker of model trains that makes wonderful pieces.
Well, you got to put people's extra baggage somewhere....Amtrak had a ton of baggage cars that they inherited from the predecessor roads, they simply repainted them in Amtrak colors and kept them going.
I plan on having just one baggage car on my train, but KATO sells their Amtrak baggage cars in sets of two.
Here's where things get interesting. The coaches will represent the Burlington Northern, Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroads. They are all 56-seat coaches from Centralia Car Shops, a division of Des Plaines Hobbies. These cars are not cheap, hence I only plan on owning a handful. Here are my main selections:
1. NORTHERN PACIFIC 56 SEAT COACH in it's Raymond Lowey designed "North Coast Limited" paint scheme:
2. GREAT NORTHERN 56 SEAT COACH in the green & orange "Empire Builder" paint scheme:
3. GREAT NORTHERN 56 SEAT COACH in the "Big Sky Blue" paint scheme:
4. BURLINGTON NORTHERN 56 SEAT COACH - in a "Burlington Route" silver paint scheme:
THE DINING CAR - Burlington Northern's "Lake Michigan"
The Burlington Northern started repainting the Burlington Route, Northern Pacific, and Great Northern passenger cars it inherited from its merger, and painted them in "Cascade Green" with a white "hockey stick" stripe. Only a few were repainted before Amtrak took over. I believe "Lake Michigan" was a former Great Northern dining car.
So that's the core of my rainbow passenger train! Just two diesels and six cars long, but I like it. Since it's an all-coach train, it will represent some sort of short-distance train that ran during daylight hours, like the old "Gopher" & "Badger" trains that the Great Northern ran between Duluth and Minneapolis.
A beautiful Railway Post Office (RPO) from Micro Line trains in the "North Coast Limited" paint scheme. There were no RPO's left in service in the 1970's, but some were used as baggage cars.
For some odd reason it was not unusual to see Union Pacific passenger cars mixed in with Burlington Northern passenger cars in Amtrak's early days. Some of these cars might have also been from the Milwaukee Road, which was using the exact same paint scheme for their trains. Here's a nice Union Pacific coach from Bachmann:
The Spokane, Portland and Seattle (SP&S) Railroad was one of the four lines that became the Burlington Northern. They had some very handsome passenger trains of their own. This particular coach was painted to match Northern Pacific's "pine tree" paint scheme. The SP&S often had their equipment mixed in with Great Northern and Northern Pacific equipment, and would paint their equipment to match the other railroads, though they also had their own unique passenger livery as well. Finding model trains painted for the SP&S railroad is difficult, but Centralia Car Shops does have this one coach available.
Yes, a passenger car dedicated to transporting horses! Normally only prize race horses or rodeo horses road in these specialized cars. Micro Line trains makes them in a variety of paint schemes, I hope to have several. By the mid 70's, most of the horse cars had been retired, but one can always pretend. I do own a few of these on already. I try to pick them up whenever I go to a train show and see them for sale. Might just collect them all! The one in this photo is painted for the Southern railroad, but the horse cars come in a wide variety of different paint schemes.
And that's about it for my ideas concerning a 1970's era Amtrak rainbow train. I never, ever would have considered something like this for my model railroad, but trains like these were as normal as could be back in the early 70's when Amtrak was trying to get it's act together. Any railfan who knows his history would immediately recognize what I'm trying to showcase if they were to see this train running on my layout.
Another possibility would be to get EMD F7 or E9 diesels in Amtrak colors to go with my train, which would be even more realistic than the SPD40F diesels in regards to being a pointer to the early 70's. Not a priority, but if I can find one or two of these older EMD models in the future in N scale, I might just bring them into the collection.
- Pseudo Boethius
MONDAY, MAY 1, 2023
TRAINS / PASSENGER TRAINS / AMTRAK / BURLINGTON NORTHERN
The early 1970's were a strange time for passenger trains, as the few that were left in operation were all nationalized into an entity known as Amtrak.
This particular train, which I assume is on old Northern Pacific rails in Jefferson Canyon, Montana is why I find the early days of Amtrak so fascinating: their trains featured cars from multiple railroads.
On this particular Amtrak train you can see paint schemes from the following railroads:
Found this photo at The Center for Railroad Photography and Art website.
Link: https://railphoto-art.org/collections/bjorklund/burlington-northern/#!jig[1]/FL/25391668702
Lots of good stuff!
- Pseudo Boethius
TRAINS / HISTORY / GRADE CROSSING ACCIDENTS
I remember this accident like it happened yesterday. We were all shocked that something like this could even happen.
This is a very detailed look at the accident, and how it happened.
Monday, April 3, 2023
MODEL RAILROADING / N SCALE / TRACKPLANS
Back in the early days of N-scale model railroading, the Atlas Model Railroad Company came out with a book of track plans for their new line of N-scale track and trains. One of those track plans was called "The Unhinged and Horizontal", so-called because the base board for this track plan was a hollow-core door! A typical 4 x 8 sheet of plywood from the lumber yard was often chose to setup one's very first model railroad in HO scale. But for the smaller N scale trains, the preferred base board for starting a small layout was a hollow-core door, usually measuring 30" x 80".
I did an internet search for this track plan, and found an improved version created by a guy named Mike. He has an entire page on his website dedicated to N-scale track plans of all shapes and sizes. And yes, this layout, much like the original, is designed to fit on a hollow-core door.
If I were to buy all the Atlas track I would need to create this layout, along with additional electrical components to wire it for operation, it would easily set me back $800 USD. Even small model railroads can be incredibly expensive. And that price does not include any trains, buildings, scenery or even the door from the lumber yard.
I just happen to have a hollow core door in my possession that I'm just using as a utility table, setup on a couple of saw horses. I also happen to have a small collection of N scale trains! So I was thinking about building this layout, to give my trains a place to run.
Here's a link to Mike's N-scale layout designs: Cke1st's Trackplans Page
Monday, April 3, 2023
BOOKS / RAILROADS / DULUTH, MISSABE & IRON RANGE
Just got this book last week from Perry's Hobbies in Morgan, Minnesota. For a book about ore cars, it's one of the most beautiful books I've ever owned. The paper quality and the binding are first rate.
I bought it for my continued research into the railroads of northern Minnesota. Northern Minnesota is the home of the "iron range", one of the richest iron ore deposits in America. Iron ore is a very heavy ore, so to move the ore to the steel mills that need it, several railroads were built to serve the mines in the area.
Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Equipment, 1883-2004
by Daniel P. Holbrook
published by Signature Press
ISBN: 978-1-930013-41-4
Sadly, this book is no longer in print, and Signature Press is out of business.
Saturday, April 1, 2023
TRAINS / UNION PACIFIC / BURLINGTON NORTHERN
An amazing photo taken back in 1978 of a huge Union Pacific DD40X diesel leading a freight train through Pleasant Valley, Oregon with a Burlington Northern F-45 following. The third unit appears to be a Union Pacific SD40, but I do not know for sure. Altogether, we have 13,000 hp of diesel power in front of this train, with the DD40X supplying half of it, with it's 6,600 HP rating.
TRAINS / MODEL TRAINS / KEVIN BROWN
Kevin Brown only has a little over 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, but he's my favorite model railroader on YouTube. He's from the Bloomington / Normal area of Illinois, and models in N-scale using the "T-TRAK" module standard. T-TRAK modules are very small modules, without legs or benchwork, that are designed for easy transport and setup. Kevin has made his own benchwork for the modules when he operates them at home.
The reason I like him is his emphasis on midwest railroading in the mid 60's time frame. He's also a wealth of information on T-TRAK and how to make modules.
He also operates his model trains like a real railroad, complete with a schedule.
A lot of the ideas and concepts he uses are things I'm going to incorporate into my own model railroad: The "Superior and Thunder Bay", which will represent the Burlington Northern railroad in northern Minnesota.
TRAINS / PASSENGER TRAINS / GREAT NORTHERN
This is a photo of what is either the Gopher or Badger passenger train in Superior, Wisconsin in 1969. The Gopher and Badger trains were operated by the Great Northern railroad between the cities of the "Twin Ports" of Duluth/Superior and the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis/St.Paul. Superior is actually located right across the border from Duluth in the state of Wisconsin.
Notice the colorful consist of passenger cars, in three different Great Northern paint schemes.
See the original photo here: https://www.railpictures.net/photo/559210/