Paint Shop

[E7]

Pat is as good as they get! Engine looks great, even though I'm a lightning stripes fan.

Rich

[De Bruin]

Cool stuff Sarge, you beat me to the same project(s) I bought one each of the Weaver RS-11 and RSD-12 with the intention to "penn-centralize" them in an appropriate scheme, after replacing the cast on details with P&D parts. So far I've only done a pair of GP-38's, but have the above Alcos and one of those minimalist Weaver U25B's in the Queue, I also have one of the older FA2s as well which I will render as the ill-fated #1350, the only FA2 to get the black and worms as I understand it, after getting the paint it purportedly threw a main rod on it's way from Collinwood to Pittsburgh and that was that. In my experience the china-drives have their issues but they MU well with like powered Atlas with their low draw and uniform gearing, and I like running three or four at a time

I like your RSD-15(DL-600B) a lot, and now wish I'd bought one when they were around. I look forward to seeing what it looks like with the stanchions replaced and the frame cleaned up. Like the look with the shortened tank too. I was thinking about "fixing" the look of the Weaver RS-11's with various lengths of evergreen strip in the appropriate width and thickness, but I will wait and see what your Atlas turns out like with the retrofit Kemtron stanchons.

[sarge]

Hi, Pete

The stanchions should be fine and I wouldn't be shy about ordering them up to stock for the projects. They were the same thing up to the Century series, which then used the GM style that bolted to the side of the frame after a brief flirtation with the top bolted style you reached through a hole in the sill, most often already occupied by waspnests, rattlesnakes, or ice you got to torch out.

The Atlas has steel sheet with the foldup stanchions, easily enough seperated as a piece, then cut them off flush, smooth em up and repaint. Then the new ones can be done up on the deck, new wire, and you should be good to go. I have no idea what was going through their minds but the spacing isn't right either, so a go off photos is really what's required. Actually the end ones are done right (go figure!) though new railing that is a bit less thick will lift them even further.

They did that perfectly gorgeous SW, then...

[Chris Webster]

A Weaver RS3 detailed and painted for the first locomotive I ever ran; a tutorial out of sight of the suits on the Auburn Branch. I also built a version of the same unit in NYC paint about a year ago, but this is just a "personal memory lane" project.

Are you also going to build a version of the same unit after it became a Dewitt geep?

[sarge]

Chris, probably not, really. Most of them were after my time, so don't really have the connection.

I sometimes wonder whether 5243 became one or made it unadulterated into Conrail and perhaps then to Amtrak. I'm sure there is a list somewhere, but I don't know its fate.

It was an interesting project; as I remember it at the start the E-units retired and on the deadline in Altoona would have the 567s pulled and refurbished at Juniata. There was an E that they would get loaded into, hauled to DeWitt, the power assemblies craned out and then put into the waiting refurbished RS3s. Then the old 244 blocks would get loaded into the E and sent back to Juniata, where they would dump them into the derelict Es on the deadline so the scrap value by weight would be reasonable.

There was a huge stock of 244 parts and GE generators and electrics that stockpiled from that project, since the block or crank had to fail before an RS3 would be a candidate at least early on. That 244 would be picked clean before it loaded up.

Another O Scaler who was a very good friend made his living working on old Alcos, Tom Landrigan. We met on one of his "buying" trips, this one picking up electrical parts for 539 powered S-classes that belonged to Solvay Process/Allied Chemical. They bought a raft of them, mostly ex-B&O. Back then, DeWitt and Alco Engine (the old Mac Seymour engine plant) in Auburn were meccas for parts for anyone who worked on Alcos in the 70s on. I still have some Alco engine part boxes here somewhere that came from the DeWitt stock.

Consider all this an old man's musings and not at all historically vetted for accuracy. My memory could be dead wrong about the details. Grin!

Next "memory" loco might be an S-class switcher, a more difficult one an RSD12, or one of the DL721s that handled locals along with the RS3s. Two oddballs, being EMD which was unusual there, were the pair of GP30s (2228 and 2229) that were regulars up the Hojack from DeWitt through Woodard Junction up to Fulton, then Oswego, up one day and down the next.

The bad ol' days to be sure, but a hell of a formative period to have witnessed.

[sarge]

A little fun with some "budget" rolling stock. These are both Weaver cars, both lowered onto the trucks a bit and a little paintwork, just to prove these can be made into something pretty reasonable without a lot of work.

First, this war-emergency gondola. These are now coming out under Atlas' label. The only change really was to put their trucks and couplers on, which I'm not convinced was an improvement. They missed the one opportunity to make theirs better than how Weaver did them, which is to lower the car to an appropriate height. Indeed the Atlas one has a huge amount of air between the top of the coupler box and the cutout in the endsill. Awful, and a real shame given the shells are really pretty nice and good representations.

Anyway, slammed this Weaver version down a good 1/4" and fitted the boxes up into the end a bit. Makes a world of difference getting the trucks tucked up under the car, a hallmark of that design.

image.jpg

image.jpg

A good mate passed me this composite hopper from Weaver. These are evolutions from that first hopper Bob Weaver did when he broke into the injection moulding game, then an L&N prototype if memory serves. Anyway, new side facets were made approximating the War Emergency two-pocket car, so not really having a prototype. Still, challenge accepted. Lowered this one too, then removed a lot of weird extra lettering they put on for some reason leaving the herald, reporting marks, and dimensional data based on a few photos of Reading gear.

image.jpg

image.jpg

Goes to show you can make some simple stuff that looks good tweeking the dimensional low-hangers and laying a lick of paint and weather.

[2railjon]

Terrific weathering, Sarge!

[sarge]

Thanks, Jon. One more thing has to happen before the hopper is really acceptable. You might notice the side mould-facet was redone only on the outside. Weaver left the inside of the sides as steel; no planking showing. Grin!

A nice coal load will fix that.

[Chris Webster]

Cool stuff Sarge, you beat me to the same project(s) I bought one each of the Weaver RS-11 and RSD-12 with the intention to "penn-centralize" them in an appropriate scheme, after replacing the cast on details with P&D parts.

In case you're looking for a RS3 project, here's one with your name on it:
Railpictures #672020, Central of New Jersey #1554 at Elizabethport, New Jersey in July, 1973

[De Bruin]

Indeed literally.
Seriously though I would like to do one of these passenger RS's as I have a yen to do a CNJ passenger train, preferably one of those early sixties version exurban "clockers" with head end cars. Alternately Atlas did a nice batch of their Trainman 60's in the cool seventies era Blue and Yellow with Lady Liberty heralds, a reasonable stand-in for the CNJ's sizable fleet of Pressed Steel 1920's era coaches.
Have to kit bash a "cab car" though
http://rr-fallenflags.org/cnj/cnj-ccu0kga.jpg

[healey36]

Thanks, Jon. One more thing has to happen before the hopper is really acceptable. You might notice the side mould-facet was redone only on the outside. Weaver left the inside of the sides as steel; no planking showing. Grin!

A nice coal load will fix that.

Very sharp Sarge. Do you have a preferred source for coal loads, or do you make them up yourself? If so, love to know your technique. I've made a few myself over the years, but have never been happy with them (in appearance or function).

Healey

[Rufus T. Firefly]

.

[healey36]

What kind of paint did you use, Ruf? An acrylic? Some of the lacquer stuff dissolves foam, at least that’s been my experience.

[G3750]

A little fun with some "budget" rolling stock. These are both Weaver cars, both lowered onto the trucks a bit and a little paintwork, just to prove these can be made into something pretty reasonable without a lot of work.

First, this war-emergency gondola. These are now coming out under Atlas' label. The only change really was to put their trucks and couplers on, which I'm not convinced was an improvement. They missed the one opportunity to make theirs better than how Weaver did them, which is to lower the car to an appropriate height. Indeed the Atlas one has a huge amount of air between the top of the coupler box and the cutout in the endsill. Awful, and a real shame given the shells are really pretty nice and good representations.

Anyway, slammed this Weaver version down a good 1/4" and fitted the boxes up into the end a bit. Makes a world of difference getting the trucks tucked up under the car, a hallmark of that design.

image.jpg

image.jpg

A good mate passed me this composite hopper from Weaver. These are evolutions from that first hopper Bob Weaver did when he broke into the injection moulding game, then an L&N prototype if memory serves. Anyway, new side facets were made approximating the War Emergency two-pocket car, so not really having a prototype. Still, challenge accepted. Lowered this one too, then removed a lot of weird extra lettering they put on for some reason leaving the herald, reporting marks, and dimensional data based on a few photos of Reading gear.

image.jpg

image.jpg

Goes to show you can make some simple stuff that looks good tweeking the dimensional low-hangers and laying a lick of paint and weather.

Hey Brian! Nice DD (can) in the background.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

.