Ralph's Engine Roster

[Ralph]

I've noticed that some members are posting threads of their engine rosters. I think that's great! It occurred to me that those threads, like all others that eventually stop getting replies may start to head far down the list of past threads and be forgotten. How about posting them as a blog?

I've decided to head the way. Here is Ralph's Engine Roster: The Old, The Inexpensive, and the Downright Cheap!

First up; a pair of Athearn Blue box GP38-2s. Number 8046 is powered while its sister is a dummy. A little light weathering and yellow painted handrails completed their look. These guys run regularly on the layout because of their reliable smooth running and pulling power.


Another pair of powered and unpowered Athearns. SD9s. 6922 was numbered by me after a prototype photo. I use these guys for transfer runs from Williams Yard in Kings Port to the car float yard in West Mill.


A Bachmann GP35 and an old Tyco GP20 shell on an Athearn Geep chassis. The GP20 is unpowered. The GP35 runs beautifully smooth despite the product's reputation for cracked gear problems. Guess I got lucky. I made this pair my "early merger" set, allowing the Pennsy and NYC heritage to show.


An old AHM F unit and an Athearn B. The B unit is powered. I purchased the AHM F unit at a flea market for a couple of bucks. It was actually lettered for the Penn Central but the font wasn't right and the number was inaccurate. I painted it over to make it look more like the real thing.


Athearn U28C and Athearn GP38-2. One of the fun things about modeling the Penn Central is that virtually any lash up of locomotives is probably reasonable. Proto photos I've seen have linked all manner of makes and manufacturers to get trains hauling. The U28C is the powered unit. The Geep sports the rare orange "C" in the mating worms logo that some believe was intended to acknowledge the New Haven's inclusion in the PC system.


F unit 1802 and a PK2 SD9. I have a fondness for this F unit. It was the first HO locomotive I ever owned. I received it in the early 70's as a gift in a train set. It was originally lettered for the Penn Central but painted green! Eventually I gutted the old pancake motor, made the loco a dummy and painted it in more realistic PC black. The loco was also my first attempt at decaling. The SD9 was a gift from my wife and is the most expensive locomotive on my roster. Yes, some of my locos still have horn hook couplers. I'm gradually converting to magnetic but i have a number of freight cars that still have horn hooks as well. Laziness makes me create lashups with both coupler options so I can run trains equipped with either style of coupler. Some day I just gotta hunker down and get this taken care of.


Athearn dummy F7 and powered Athearn GP-9. I believe the F unit's original road was CP. I painted and decaled the loco and decided to go with the Red "P" for a little variety. The Geep is numbered after a proto photo I saw of the actual unit. I've recently seen photos of PC freights run on B&M trackage that often sandwiched a cabless GP-9 between two F units. I'm pondering the possibility of converting my Geep but we'll see.


My latest acquisition, another Athearn F7 that was on sale at my nearest hobby shop. He's clearing them out. Notice this one has all magnetic couplers.


PK RDC. I bought this undecorated RDC at a flea market. It runs nicely and is the only passenger equipment I'm running right now. I do have some old Tyco passenger cars I attempted to make look more like the real thing but they are shorter than the prototype and I have no E8 or FL9 to head them. Don't tell anyone that sometimes I DO run them with the F unit A&B combination pictured above!
I've added PC logos on the sides but the distinctive feature about PC RDCs were the red, white, and black tiger stripes on the ends. I've done a lot of searching for decals to represent these stripes. Apparently one company that was known for them is no longer in business. I've found a good photo of a real PC RDC from the front that I've reduced to HO scale. I'm considering printing it on white decal paper to see if I can apply it to the model. I'll have to carefully cut the door and windows out of the decal first.


My Freelance Railroad, the Kings Port & Western interchanges with the PC at Kings Port. These are Athearn F7s. I'm not satisfied with the color match on the background of the white letter decals with the road name and the orange stripe. Sometime I'll work on improving the appearance of these locos.


KP&W switchers. All three are Athearn units. Two of the three are powered. I use these for transfer runs and interchange switching. As you can see I've been experimenting with different lettering on two of the units.


An old AHM RS3. This loco was cheap at a flea market because it didn't run. I gutted the motor and made it a dummy unit. It was originally lettered for the Penn Central but like the AHM F unit above had the incorrect font and an inaccurate road number. This loco was a test for my freelance color scheme. I'm pleased with the way the background color on the white letter decal for the road name matched the loco body. Sometimes I'll hook the RS3 to some PC locomotives as a pooled power run.


This C-liner is a dummy with a lot of space inside that nicely accommodates my minicam that gives me an engineer's eye view on a TV next to my control stand. I painted this shell for my freelance but also have a black one with a large PC logo that I can fit on it instead. I know that none of the C-liners from the Pennsy or the NYC actually ran on the PC but what the heck! I call it my "See-liner" for the video cam.


That's the roster so far! Thanks for looking. Perhaps you might create you own roster thread as a blog?

Ralph