Conway Yard on May 19, 1978

[Chris Webster]

Over at Railpictures.net, Doug Lilly recently posted two photos of the roundhouse at Conrail's Conway Yard on May 19, 1978: Railpictures #762186 and Railpictures #762102
He also posted a picture of a Conrail SD40 and Precision GP35 working the hump: Railpictures #762024

I figured I'd post the links here to see if I could temp Pete to paint over his PC worms...

[De Bruin]

The temptation is definitely there, especially when I see shots like these- 10 Century series vs 3 EMD's, wow! and yes I've gotten real close to CR'ing a black GP-38, though candidly that green and yellow Precision scheme is much higher on the "list" as I saw those all over back in the 70's

You must be telepathic though, this last weekend I put away my PC meat products train and unpacked my "Can Opener" transfer. I don't have much of a yard to store equipment in so I roll the era forward (or back) so to speak, likewise the Long Branch commuter train will get upgraded to an NJT Comet set .

This freight though is an equal opportunity offender; if the Conrail doesn't get them (and trust me I have plenty of friends who hate it like the devil) then it's the tagged cars or the eot "FRED" in place of a caboose.

Two Atlas "Trainman" factory units that I've made some minor mods to the paint and modified the motor harness to series. They're smooth, unexpectedly powerful and will flat out crawl almost imperceptibly, though I'd like the U23B better in black and would love another matching GP15.
Really nice models and I feel fortunate I snagged them when they were still available and relatively inexpensive.

Some modern prototype freight cars are hard to find so I've used some Lionel's and K-Lines to supplement the usual Atlas and Weaver offerings, the coil steel gon is a K-Line that I two-railed and drilled and tapped Kadees to.

This 2-Bay DT&SL CH was an LCCA car and still not too hard to find on Ebay these days, albeit you have do the same steps as on the K-Lines to 2-raIL, and it's a devil to disassemble thanks to Lionel's "kid-proofing."

I generally keep the more pricey PRC freight cars for a short while so I don't typically fiddle with them as in weathering or tagging hence my Weaver 50's in particular are the primary victims of that treatment, with some exceptions.

The FRED is a AAA battery powered flasher and adds a lot to the freight train's appearance IMO, especially at shows where it's just around and around for hours.
I had a hell of time tying to catch it lit with my camera, so I'm posting both times I did.

I'll post a few shots of that NJT commuter here later once I pull the NY&LB train off.

[bob turner]

I did a blue Conrail RS-3 for a friend on the East Coast. I was thinking "Yuk!" but when finished it was actually stunning.

You need a caboose. Nice models and track.

[up148]

I remember back in the late 70's it was a very grungy period for locos & equipment and this photos captures that well.

[De Bruin]

Here’s the replacement for the Long Branch commuter train as threatened, at least a fairly close approximation of a facsimile so curb your enthusiasm.

These Atlas Horizon cars from round 2010 were exceptionally good, as much as their later CZ series, nice, so much so that I have zero desire to go further with this consist, as opposed for example to adding one or more of Benson’s Jersey Arrow extrusions or some similar folly which sadly am prone to do.

The attention to detail on them is remarkably good and the interior lighting great, especially running at night.

I did though resist going with Atlas’s matching Alp-44 and went instead for this Weaver USA GP because I’m cheap, and this one was listed on d’bay with a broken drive and priced accordingly, albeit already painted and decaled in this NJT tri-color scheme (why I bought it) you see applied here.

Some minor alterations to the paint and car body details, a Circuitron lighting box, some LED’s and critically a replacement delrin chain and voila’
Surprisingly durable drive over the years at least in this 4-car push-pull application. I still need to mod this for ditch lights and an alternating circuit for them.

I attribute the restored GP drive's longevity (were notoriously weak) to the excellent rolling characteristics of these Atlas in-board bearing trucks, which as an aside I wish they'd offer separately as I've a number of Amfleet extrusions, both Benson’s ersatz and Welt’z primo versions that would work well with their excellent running design. My lasting regret with the Horizons is getting the second factory run on these where Atlas had dropped the factory strobes on the cab car , which is really nicely done.

[E7]

Really good looking stuff Pete! Almost enough to turn an old dog's head. Watch out though.....Freds today, self driven engineer-less tomorrow!

[Chris Webster]

I did though resist going with Atlas’s matching Alp-44 and went instead for this Weaver USA GP because I’m cheap, and this one was listed on d’bay with a broken drive and priced accordingly, albeit already painted and decaled in this NJT tri-color scheme (why I bought it) you see applied here.

Very nice. A few early NJT trains show up in this video: Erie Lackawanna mainline action. Early Conrail, 1976 1977

I attribute the restored GP drive's longevity (were notoriously weak) to the excellent rolling characteristics of these Atlas in-board bearing trucks, which as an aside I wish they'd offer separately as I've a number of Amfleet extrusions, both Benson’s ersatz and Welt’z primo versions that would work well with their excellent running design.

If you have the Atlas parts diagram with parts numbers on it, you might be able to search the Atlas parts store for that part number.

Another possibility would be to pull a wheel off of each axle, slip a pair of roller bearings intended for the RC market onto the axle, and then reattach the wheel. Here's an example of the bearings from ebay, although I don't know if this listing would be the right size for your axles: Lot of 10 New Bearings RC Car Truck 1/8" x 3/8" x 5/32

[De Bruin]

I've been advised to reach out to Atlas directly via phone regarding those trucks, with the comment that they don't catalog to dealers or end users all of the extra stuff they accumulate. Yet to do that.

The Bensons actually came with very terrible inboard frame trucks that could use both the bearing insert you describe (a process my brother has apparently mastered) as well as their outer wheel faces "cleaned up" to eliminate the wheel set's axle end needles which look like bloody hell.

Massive tedium ahead on this right?