In reply to NickD :
Hoping Kato makes Dash 8/Phase 3 or Phase IV. I'd like to add either of those to our current Kato Amtrak stuff. They've released a Phase V 50th for pre-order, but I haven't been interested enough in it to put in an order. I'd definitely also go for "Day 1" on a P42 even if it was "fictional".
NickD said:Amtrak has unveiled new liveries for their 50th anniversary (May 1st). The Midnight Blue is meh, but that Phase VI has some real promise. Shades of the Phase I in the design and lots of bright color, definitely an improvement over Phase V, with it's drab colors and weird wavy lines. The return of the "Pepsi Cans" from their Dash-8 GEs and the A-Day/Day 1 scheme off E8 #4316 is also really cool.
Looking at this further, it's definitely odd that the Midnight Blue, Phase VI, Phase V 50th Anniversary, Dash-8 Phase III and Phase I are all distinctly drawn as P42 Genesis, while the Day 1/A-Day is one of the new ALC-42s. Just kind of a strange distinction to make in the drawings. Also, weird that, since the P42s are on their way out, why wouldn't they make them all ALC-42s, especially the Phase VI?
A neat video from Amtrak covering the history of all their paint schemes. Interesting to hear that the passenger cars have technically been on Phase VI livery for the past few years, with the locomotives not getting Phase VI until the end of this year, and then they already have Phase VII planned. At least it looks like they are getting more adventurous with color.
The Dash-8 Pepsi Cans were honestly a pretty good look.
The Pepsi Cans were kind of a stopgap measure. GE won the contract to supply Amtrak's new power but the Genesis was still in the development phase and the F40PHs were getting tired, so GE crammed a Head-End Power package in the back of a B32-8 and created the 8-32WH. To make them fit in as a passenger unit, GE painted them in the unique "Pepsi Can" paint scheme. Problem is, rather than have a separate engine running the HEP generator, GE ran the HEP generator off the main engine, so when you kicked the HEP on, it reduced the engine speed and only developed 2,700 hp when running in HEP mode with a 0kW HEP load. Traction horsepower decreased to a bare minimum of 1,685 hp when providing the maximum 800 kW HEP load to the train. So crews weren't a big fan of them over the road, because they were slow to load (a GE complaint) and when you had a large train hooked up and were running the HEP generator, they were really slow and underpowered.
While largely supplanted by the P40s and P42s for over the road hauls, Amtrak keeps the 8-32WHs as they make nice switchers at their facilities (better visibility and places for the brakemen to ride on the outside), as well as maintenance of way usage and equipment transfers. They also see use as helper units when there is a shortage of Genesis units in an area. Sadly they've lost the Pepsi Can liveries though.
Employees say, don't look for them to be retired or replaced anytime soon. The Genesis and ALC-42s are terrible as switchers, and Amtrak hasn't expressed any interest in new road switchers from GE or EMD.
When they received the updated Phase IV livery, they were nicknamed "Diet Pepsi Cans"
#519 leading an F40PH on the Sunset Limited
Three 500s at Ventura with the southbound Coastal Starlight
We stopped by a restored trestle on the way up to Cloudcroft today, so I grabbed a few pics.
Then we hiked a trail across the road, since it seemed safe...
...and I got another pic of the trestle from high above.
I was always interested in this area because of the 4 truck shays that the El Paso and Northeastern (Rock Island) had. They were the largest for that time. I believe one of the the two that they owned had once belonged to the Norfolk and Western Railroad.
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:
That looks like a 2-8-2T, sometimes called a "Minaret". A rarity that only popped up on logging lines. They were usually short-drivered (like 44") and by ditching the tender for tanks it both increased the factor of adhesion and made them easier to operate in either direction. The name came from Sugar Pine Lumber's Minarets & Western line, which was designed to haul logs from the forests near Minarets up to their sawmill in Pinedale. The collapse of the logging market in the mid-'20s and the Great Depression killed off the M&W. They also had a really unique one-of-one 2-10-2T built by Alco.
Some of the 2-8-2Ts survive as well. I know one of the original M&W "Minarets" is at Strasburg as a rainy day project that they tinker with when they get some time.
There are also a few of the Hammond Lumber 2-8-2Ts and a Coos Bay 2-8-2T as well.
There was a second Coos Bay Lumber 2-8-2T, #10, at an RV park in Florida but it got cut up for scrap relatively recently, like 2011 or so. Sad, but by all accounts #10 was the roughest, nastiest, most forlorn piece of equipment you'd ever laid eyes on. When it had been moved there, they had separated it into two or three parts, and rather than take the boiler off the right way the furnace bearers were torch cut, as were the rivets on the waist bearers. Instead of trying to remove the bolts attaching the bottom of the smoke box to the saddle, the bottom of the smoke box was simply cut around the outside edge of the saddle. Then they just set the boiler back on it the frame. The steam pipes between the smoke box and the valve cylinders were torch cut; not just a cut, but about a one foot section was cut out, so the cylinders filled with water and rust. The saddle tank for water and the fuel bunker on the back were scrapped, the rear wall of the cab was cut out to make an opening like a regular steam engine and it was backed up to a tender. Most of the jewelry and appliances were gone, I believe the connecting rods were cut. Pretty much nothing worth saving.
Today I learned that Richard Jensen was 29 years old when he bought his first steam locomotive, Grand Trunk Western K4A Pacific #5629. Wow, I guess I need to get my act together.
I also learned that he modified #5629 quite heavily from it's original appearance. Some of the major changes were that he painted the smokebox gray (CN/GTW painted them black) to make it look like a USRA engine, relocated the bell, installed a Illinois Central headlight, and swapped out the original tender with one from a Soo Line 4-8-2 (what actually happened to #5629's tender is unknown to this day, it was put on a spur and used for coal storage for a number of years, but its ultimate fate is a mystery). It also wore some running gear parts from GTW #5634, which was a "hoodoo" or cursed engine. If the GTW had an accident with a locomotive on a switch frog or a train was laying in a ditch, it was more than likely the #5634
In reply to NickD :
Wow. I didn't look that close, but I thought it was an 0-6-0. That's pretty cool - I don't think I've ever heard of a 2-8-2T
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
I didn't know they were a thing until I went to Strasburg in '19 and took the shop tour and they had Sugar Pine Lumber #37 in the shop. I did a double-take when I saw it, because its a physically huge engine, and then had to count the wheels because I'd never seen one before. Coos Bay Lumber replaced their Shays with Minarets, so they were clearly a capable machine
Doing some digging, the big 2-10-2T was sold to Consolidated Builders Inc after Minarets & Western was closed down by the Great Depression. It was used in the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam and then sadly this unique machine was scrapped in '45. CBI also gave it a tender to tow behind to extend its range
Hmm, Illinois Railway Museum is going to let visitors operate J. Neil Lumber #5, their 3-truck Shay, this summer. I could take the Lake Shore Limited from right here in Rome and ride it to Chicago and then rent/Turo a car for the hour-and-a-half drive to Union, Illinois.
In reply to NickD :
That sounds like an awesome plan!
914Driver said:
Supposedly one of those double-ended Baldwins long out-lived the others, being used as an air compressor for one of their shop facilities. Sadly it wasn't saved
Well, there is now one less Class I in the US. Canadian Pacific bought out Kansas City Southern. That presumably includes Kansas City Southern De Mexico, so CP now will operate in all three regions of North America, Canada, USA and Central America
NickD said:Well, there is now one less Class I in the US. Canadian Pacific bought out Kansas City Southern. That presumably includes Kansas City Southern De Mexico, so CP now will operate in all three regions of North America, Canada, USA and Central America
It still has to be approved, and the US has not been very open to foreign ownership of US railways.
And frankly, as a Canadian, I'd rather not see this acquisition/merger taking place. As CP aquires US railways, it will eventually become more of a US than Canadian company, and that usually ends with head offices moving, and/or the whole thing being acquired by another US railway.
Either way a short term gain, but eventual long term loss for Canada.
Sidewayze said:NickD said:Well, there is now one less Class I in the US. Canadian Pacific bought out Kansas City Southern. That presumably includes Kansas City Southern De Mexico, so CP now will operate in all three regions of North America, Canada, USA and Central America
It still has to be approved, and the US has not been very open to foreign ownership of US railways.
And frankly, as a Canadian, I'd rather not see this acquisition/merger taking place. As CP aquires US railways, it will eventually become more of a US than Canadian company, and that usually ends with head offices moving, and/or the whole thing being acquired by another US railway.
Either way a short term gain, but eventual long term loss for Canada.
Keith Creel seems pretty confident that the STB will allow it, as there is minimal overlap between CP and KCS operations, so they won't monopolize an area. And Canadian railroads have snapped up their share of US lines (D&H, Illinois Central, EJ&E, DM&IR, DT&I, amongst others). And considering the state of US-Mexican relations, no flounder, Mexico would probably prefer to do business with a Canadian line
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