Progress Shots

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Here's an area I haven't covered yet. When I designed this layout in 1993, I realized that i'd lived in so many places, traveled so much, and had so many interests that it would be folly to say "I'm going to model a Santa Fe branch line in Texas on September 23, 1948, just before they withdrew the xxx class". My job was going to be to evaluate the range of interests I had and find a way to accommodate predictable changes in focus. This section of the layout was designed to let me do things with one set of interests, on one hand PRR-Amtrak Northeast Corridor, and on the other European main line electrification.[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]The trackwork here isn't even finished, and most of it isn't wired. I have the materials eventually to install Sommerfeldt German style catenary, but I expect to run Amtrak and PRR electrics as well. In fact, the track plan is designed to let me detour main line US type freights onto this loop, change engines, and run with electrics until I decide to go back to diesel operation. Chris-GEC's posts have been prodding me to get interested in this part of the layout again.

Hmm, I missed this the first time around! That would be cool to see some E33s and GG1s making that run under all that wire. You might be able to go for a "South Amboy" like run as well, swapping passenger trains!

I bring this up because I was going through some past swap meet treasures and came up with this:[It's a dummy Walthers version of the American GK E60. I've run into several of these at swaps over the years. I'm now thinking this could become a scenery item. I've never fully decided what I'm going to put in the upper left area of the scene above, but now I'm thinking I may add a scenery-only motor storage track there and put a couple of dummy or non-runnable locos on display.

Well, not that I would do this, BUT, technically 955 smacked into a fallen catenary pole during a light engine move in 1984. It was rebuilt and put back into service (it actually eventually became 610, the last locomotive to pull the Broadway Limited), but not before they cut the front end off! If you felt brave, you could model the locomotive in its "Damaged" condition, on its way to a repair facility.

This isn't the best picture, but I might be able to scan others from my books.