GEC's Layout Progress

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, looking back on my posts, there seems to quite a few things I photographed (probably for this thread), but never posted. I will change that now!

Here are a few odds and ends that I scooped up over the last 6 months or so-

NJT F7A-

This is an Intermountain sound equipped unit that was almost a steal in terms of price. Even though a few of the NJ Transit F7s were marked down, this one was WAY down, and luckily, brand new. It made an ideal engine for a small commuter train at my club's open house, since it looked and sounded better than most of my currently serviceable NJ transit locomotives. The sound is REALLY good. It requires a few minor details such as the nose mounted "gong" bell and rooftop strobes, but otherwise it looks nice.

The prototype was purchased from the Chicago North Western, as an interim solution for loss of electrified trains during the conversion of the former DL&W electrification from 3000V DC power, to 25,000V 60HZ AC power, the "planned but never implemented" power plan for the Northeast Corridor. These supplemented the U34CH locomotives, then the only other non-electrified power on the line.



Amtrak GG1 #924

I managed to snatch this GG1 for also a steal price (it helps when the Ebay start bid is $1 with no reserve). Unfortunately, this one took a hit in the mean time, and while still functional, will probably need a new pilot. MTH is a pain though, since they don't give out parts diagrams, and they don't know what parts i'm talking about. They want me to actually Email them photos of all the broken parts! Irritating indeed, considering my earlier positive experience with them!

In any event, this one has not had any of the "DCS vs DCC" issues that my first MTH GG1 had (and those were comparatively minor compared to most stories I hear). I still hear about MTH hiccups, but the GG1s seem to be OK as long as I don't try to run them with Broadway Limited Imports models, which are not readily speed matchable.

The only thing this GG1 really needs is some High Intakes. Technically, I should eliminate the "as built" intakes, but to do so would be a major project, and I don't think that the correct decals are readily available for ANY Amtrak GG1. Repainting the model would be difficult enough even if I had the decals! Fortunately, the prototype 924 didn't have any other tricky details like the foot holes added to many GG1s. The Die-cast body of the MTH and BLI GG1s probably do not lend themselves to that sort of modification easily.



Conrail American Crane

This is a neat powered crane. Really the only problem with it, is that the boom reel broke. the end of the Reel had a slot in it, which sheered apart for some reason. I attempted to swap the reel around, but this lead to the string overlapping and binding on the body shell. This prevents the easy movement of the boom up and down.

I would either need to unwind the threads from the reel, detach or cut them and swap those as well, or i would need to glue a screw or something in place to engage the provided tool. Fixing the hook may also be a problem but some surgeons thread was recommended, and that might do the trick if I can find some (local places didn't have it).

This thing sure sounds loud when it runs, but its still pretty neat.



40' Boxcars

I also picked these up a few months ago. Pictured is a Kadee PS-1 40' CNJ Boxcar. Or is it? Though difficult to see in the photo, all the dates indicate this car actually belongs to Conrail. Indeed, several such CNJ cars lasted into the early 80s before being retired, probably the last of their kind in revenue service.

Behind it was an "eh" walthers 40' Conrail inulated boxcar, patched out from Penn Central. The main problem is that this car is marked up as an X56, which were indeed 40' insulated boxcars that Conrail did maintain for a while. The X56 however, is much closer to the dimensions of the CNJ car! Atlas now produces a Penn Central car that is much closer to the X56 than this Walthers car is. I'm not sure anything like the Walthers car survived to Conrail.

Several LV 40' boxcars did make it to Conrail, and those I'd like to model at some point. Reportedly, a few of Conrail's customers still had freight doors spaced for 40' cars, which necessitated some remain in service. One or two show up in the old photos from time to time, so its not entirely unreasonable to have a few, though the late 70s and early 80s would definitely be the end of the road for most.

The Detail and spring trucks on the Kadee car are amazing! It has run fairly reliable too, so I am pleased.



AEM7s

Back in November, a couple AEM7s in the Phase IV "Northeast Direct" scheme appeared briefly, including the relatively rare #910, which was factory painted with a more accurate gray than the original run of these models. At this point, i'm about three models shy of owning at least one of every AEM7 number offered by atlas (prior to the newly announced run of course). I only require Amtrak 901, and MARC 4900 and 4902. In the case of the latter MARC units, though models of MARC cars aren't common, both were loaned to NJ transit for testing prior to purchasing the ALP44, and to Amtrak during the holiday rushes.

In any event, this is the scheme I most remember as a kid. I only remember a few Phase III AEM7s, and now of course, everything is in Phase V paint.



Speaking of AEM7s, though I know I've posted this elsewhere, I also acquired a Marklin RC4, painted as Amtrak X995. These Swedish locomotives are the "base" from which the AEM7 was derived. The "Americanized" version was built by EMD, and was bigger, heavier and more "crash resistant". This engine did a couple months of test runs in the late 70s before returning to Sweden. As history has shown, the locomotive was a success, and the AEM7s quickly replaced both the aging GG1s and reduced the role of the tempermental E60s.

Here, RC4 X995 is paired with AEM7 #911. there will be challenges in making the locomotive DC compatible (it is an AC track engine), but it doesn't yet seem impossible.



CNJ/NJ DOT commuter coaches, ex-KCS

I was pretty excited when I got these cars, but I don't think I posted any clear pictures of them (though the are always hanging around in recent photos!). These are the fantastic Rapido cars from their supercontinental line.

They aren't perfect for these cars, but they are close enough. The only real problem is that these cars lack a window on the non-vestibule end, but they otherwise capture the look fairly well, and in reality, there are no other RTR CNJ/NJDOT (or any other NJ DOT commuter cars for that matter) that are readily available. All others need either a patching (Jersey builder cars), or need to be built from kits with varying degrees of mind numbing insanity.

Though typically assigned to Raritan Valley Line trains to Phillipsburg, these would on occasion end up on Jersey Shore bound Bayhead trains. Either way, these cars are perfect matches for my ex CNJ GP40P and passenger equipped GP7s.

The prototypes were the "last" streamlined passenger cars built by Pullman Standard in 1965, made for KCS. These were the "newest" cars in CNJ service, being only about only a few years old when they were purchased by the state of New Jersey in the early to mid 1970s. As in the paint on the GP40Ps, the C&O influence over the CNJ was very obvious in its passenger equipment of that era.



The missing window should be just about where that CNJ logo is. Car sides for these cars exist, but I'm not about to go strip off these sides just to be "prototypically accurate".



Number Shuffled GG1

As mentioned earlier, my MTH GG1s didn't play nice with my BLI units. This GG1 started out as my Conrail 4867. Since few GG1s ran freight by themselves in their last days (Conrail always had one more GG1 than necessary in case of failure), I decided this wouldn't do. A friend of mine commented that the sound in the MTH unit was much more like the passenger geared sound he remembered for these units.

I decided to make this on an NJ DOT GG1, and chose #4872 as the "earliest" NJ DOT GG1. this was also convenient since it didn't have any side steps or high intakes to deal with.

I later acquired a new Broadway limited GG1 to bring my Conrail roster back up to three units. My only regret was renumbering it to be 4867 like before. While 4867 did tough it out to the end, the roof had an interesting modification to it that I can't find much information on. I suppose its not obvious in most pictures, but it is there. When I got my Amtrak Dispatcher sheet, it listed several GG1 powered freight trains, any of which would be viable for my modeling time period. 4867 wasn't among them that day, but I know it lasted into November 1979. In the future at least, if I choose to get more, I'll know what to number them!


One major thing missing from this GG1, as well as its sister # 4883, is the "N.J. DEPT. OF TRAN. OWNER" white lettering, found underneath the "right hand" road number of all NJ DOT/NJ Transit GG1s. No decal exists for this, and I may have to piece it together with letters (which is a nightmare!). I'm hoping someone can help me with decals.

Otherwise, these NJ DOT GG1s would be good to go.



NJ DOT Line up

This is an older shot (the GP40P is at least partially painted now), but at least here, I have a fairly representative fleet of all NJ DOT locomotive types (in fact, two of each except for the GP40P) used on the "Newark" division (Ex PRR and CNJ lines), where I model. The only pain is finishing these models off! I have no idea when they will all get done. The coaches are another nightmare I haven't tackled yet. It will be difficult to represent the underbody properly. Even so, its nice to have these unique units!