Model Railroad News 06 2009

The Electro-Motive Division of General Motors introduced the NW2 switcher in 1939, using the new 567A diesel engine. In the old Electro-Motive terminology, NW2 stood for Nine hundred horsepower (which was not entirely right, the NW2 had 1,000 hp), Welded frame, and 2 was a model designation, because EMD had built a few NW-type locomotives before. Railroads started buying these switchers, finding them reliable and economical in yard and switching service. But in the eyes of the U.S. government, they were inferior to the American Locomotive Company's switcher offerings. As World War II enveloped America, Electro-Motive was ordered to cease production of all switcher locomotives and focus on their FT road diesels. The NW2 would make a post-war comeback and enjoy several more years of uninterrupted production. Finally, the SW7 replaced the NW2 in Electro-Motive's locomotive catalog at the end of 1949. In the late 1930s, the Pennsylvania Railroad put in an order for a few EMD switchers, including one NW2. Pennsy's only pre-war NW2 was delivered in October of 1941, as Electro-Motive serial number 1426. This was the lone NW2 on the Pennsylvania roster until postwar units were delivered in 1946. Delivery of PRR NW2s continued sporadically until 1948. Pre-war and early post-war production NW2s were distinguished from most of their post-war sisters by the lack of side louvers.

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Model Railroad News 07 2009

Some folks find it easy to forget that most freight cars arc bought to serve a particular market need. We have three freight cars, and each has been designed for a particular type of service. SP's B-70-32 boxcars certainly fit this description. These fifty-foot products of 1966 and 1967 were purchased by SP specifically to haul appliances. Relatively speaking, appliances make light loads, so going to an extra height let the interior reach up to 12-feet 7-inches, allowing an extra row of ranges or dishwashers on the top. A single 10-foot 6-inch Youngs town sliding door was sufficient for each side, but the car was equipped with Hydra-Cushion underframes to limit the damage to this new kitchen automation. A few years later, in 1970, Chevrolet and Southern Pacific teamed up to create a car for a very specific purpose. The automaker was ramping up to produce its first subcompact car, the Chevy Vega. With model years from 1971 to 1977, the majority of production would be at Chevy's Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant and they would need reliable and inexpensive transportation for these little cars. The Verta-Pac was designed to hold 30 cars instead of the usual 18 you could load onto a triple-deck auto car. The secret was to hang the cars like bats, heads down with the roofs pointed to the inside. The sides swung down with fifteen doors on each side. The car would be maneuvered onto the ramp-like door. Then it would be drained of all fluid while it was tied down.

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Model Railroader 06 2009

Real railroads operate around the clock, meaning that we can add night operations to our model railroad. One of the ways we can make our "nighttime" operating sessions more realistic is by adding lights to structures, vehicles, and station platforms. This month, I'll show you how I illuminated Mukwonago on our HO scale Milwaukee, Racine & Troy layout. Regular readers of Model Railroader will recognize Mukwonago from previous Step by Step columns. Managing editor David Popp showed how to model a commuter station (May 2007) and an alley scene (August 2007). Adding lights to an existing scene requires planning up front, so draw a diagram to see how your proposed lighting project will work. When working on a wiring project, be prepared for surprises. For example, the lights over the Mukwonago station signs shown in step 3 on page 34 operate at a lower voltage than the rest of the lights and require resistors. After installation, I tested them, and the filaments on these bulbs were barely glowing. After talking with editor Neil Besougloff and executive editor Andy Sperandco, we determined the supplied resistors for those bulbs weren't right for our application.

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N Scale Railroading 03-04 2009

In planning my N scale Rio Grande Moffat Road, I knew that one of the challenges I would have with scenery would be the Flatirons between Plain and Crescent sidings. I envisioned the route though the Flatirons to be a highlight of this portion of the layout. Since this scenery has a very unique look to it, I thought long and hard on how I would construct it. Follow along and see if any of these techniques can help you out with some scenery projects on your layout. Occasionally upthrust to nearly vertical slabs, the Flatirons were a formidable barrier for the railroad. They stood in the path to the drainage of South Boulder Canyon, the most logical westerly route through the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, and the only way for the railroad to access this route was to bore through these slabs. The railroad's survey from Plainview to South Boulder Canyon took the route northward through seven tunnels (Tunnels 2 to 8) to pierce the Flatirons. These unique rock formations are composed of sandstone and pebble conglomerates and are remarkably stable, requiring little support inside most of the tunnels. The railroad changes to a more westerly direction with a 90 curve through Tunnel 8. Flatiron scenery quickly changes at this point as the railroad escapes to a different environment high above South Boulder Creek in Eldorado Canyon.

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N Scale Railroading 05-06 2009

It was six o'clock the morning of September 25, 1975, when the alarm went off. However, we didn't need it because we were already awake and excitedly getting ready. This was our first day of a research trip for my model railroad of the Denver & Rio Grande Western's Third Subdivision, better known as the Tennessee Pass Line, or the Royal Gorge Route. We arrived at Denver the day before, rented a four-wheel-drive Jeep and headed off to Minturn. Colorado, late that evening. The sound of prime movers echoing off the canyon walls added to our excitement and we hardly got any sleep. The next morning we quickly ate breakfast and headed to the yard. My wife's hobby is landscape photography and mine is model railroading; this trip was a great opportunity to merge our hobbies. Minturn was a railroad town. Large numbers of helpers were stationed there to assist eastbound trains up the 3% ruling grade to Tennessee Pass. We walked over to the helper tracks where we met road foreman Keith Schaber, yardmaster Ryan Hads, engine hostler, Tim Kubic, and engineer Ken Lass. They were discussing the day's helper requirements. It was exciting to see EMD F-units operating on the line. My wife Janet surveyed the scene for likely photographs. As luck would have it an eastbound manifest was pulling up to the old passenger station where the crews changed. Before Ken needed to board the helpers, we had a chance to reminisce with him about the glory days when smoke from steam engines used to fill this valley. As duty called, he had to depart on engine number 5664 to help the eastbound up the grade.

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