GEC's roster thread

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I was planning on posting more of my modern freight equipment, but we have no batteries for my camera in this house, so i'm out of luck. Also, most of my "modern" stuff is in various states of construction that even though i've probably posted a billion photos of it all here, I'd rather complete the project, then present it. For example, my C32-8 just needs some details on the frame, but instead of doing that now, i'm typing here because i can't manage my time properly

Besides, after that massive wall of conrail (it never occurred to me that i owned that many conrail engines until now, and i still have MORE), I've decided i'm gonna go back to passenger trains for a moment, specifically, commuter trains.

First up: The "west" end of the roster, including philadelphia area models, such as PRR, Reading, and SEPTA

Reading Company RDC-3 #9168

This unit is one of the mystery units for me. This unit survives today on what I think is the Reading and Northern, but its been rebuilt into an all coach unit. That said, this unit did start out life as an RDC3 according to reading rosters, but i cannot find any photos. For now, it remains the only RDCs on my roster. I've considered PRSL units, but RDCs are hard for me to justify, they just didn't run where i model, and besides, I have plenty of EMUs to fill in the self-propelled commuter car gap.

If anyone can find me any history on the car, that would be awesome. As a model, its a Proto 1000 unit that i bought secondhand from a member of my club. I plan to light the markers and add other details when i find a photo.



Reading/Conrail/ SEPTA Silverliner IV MA-1E “single unit” #9021

The Silverliner IV is the main electric MU on SEPTA’s roster. With the Imminent retirement of the former Reading/PRR Silverliner IIs and PRR Silverliner IIIs, the Silverliner IVs will be the last American MUs on the railroad as well. Using Shells made by the aerospace firm “AVCO” and Built by GE, the Silverliner IVs were built during a flurry of new MU car purchases in the Mid 70s, and many other local EMUs share the same “body shell”.

Unlike the other Penn Central and Reading MU cars at the time, the Silverliner IVs were technically owned by SEPTA, but operated by whichever railroad owned the tracks the commuter operations were running on. The Reading Company got a small batch (relative to the huge numbers of Penn Central units) of the Silverliner IVs. The singles arrived first in 1974, followed by the MA-1F “Married Pairs” later that year into 1975. Unlike MP54s, which had a trailer, the Married pairs shared equipment between cars, making them inseparable.

Some interesting Reading Company Only modifications was the use of a cow catcher style pilot (though its not on my model... yet). Reading Commuter cars were the only ones with this modification, the Penn Central Silverliner IVs had standard MU pilots.

This model represents one of the single units as delivered in 1974 with the early SEPTA logo and former railroad herald Typical of the early Conrail era. It maintained this paint scheme (including Reading diamond) all the way through to the end of Conrail commuter operations. SEPTA promptly repainted all equipment with the familiar block logo after that date sometime in 1983. IHP is currently producing the kit in three versions, an Express line (like this one), an RTR dummy with SEPTA block logos for the SEPTA store, and a “Standard Series” kit, which is the most expensive but the most detailed. However, the Express lines are incredibly detailed as they come, and can be done up cheaply to match.

In the future, I plan to buy at least one Silverliner IV married pair and one or two more Singles to create a full Reading Company train. I may also go with some Penn Central units, but the Reading is more unique, and matches the club layout better.





SEPTA AEM7 #2305

There are six AEM7s and one ALP44 on SEPTA’s roster, and they are in fact, the only regular passenger locomotives on the railroad. The AEM7s arrived with Amtrak’s order for the locomotives, and the single ALP44 came in 1996 on the tail end of NJ transit’s order of the same locomotive.

SEPTA discontinued its diesel operations in 1981. With a few exceptions, (such as loaned NJ Transit U34CHs, one even receiving SEPTA paint,) SEPTA has since run exclusively Electric locomotive hauled Push Pulls and Electric Multiple unit cars, and is one of a handful of “pure” heavy electric passenger railroads left in the US (I think the Chicago South Shoreline is the other).



Couldn’t pick which picture is better, so I’ll post both. A six car set of these things
makes for a sexy train, and kids always love it at shows, exclaiming “that’s the train Mom/Dad takes to work!”



Not really a Locomotive, but the cab control cars are important to push pull operations and have all the bells, whistles, and lights of the locomotive. I have two SEPTA cab cars in excellent condition. This is my most recent one, bought from a friend. You'd be surprised what people offer me to buy this train.



PRR MP54 EMU

The sound of an accelerating MP54 is said to have been “the finest in Juice Tradition” They were the Pennsylvania railroad’s primary commuter hauler. The MP54s were initially built in 1915 as unpowered “P54” coaches, but were specifically intended to later be powered, and the distinctive “Owl Eyes” were built into the cars. Eventually, these cars would come in several variations, and be rebuilt extensively. In a sense, the lowly, mundane blocky MP54 is an even greater testament to PRR engineering than even the GG1, as they were built 15 years earlier, and withstood years of abuse by the railroads, and passengers, running all the way to the end of 1979, when they were retired (along with Conrail’s GG1 fleet), replaced by more modern Silverliner. While many retained their Pennsy paint their whole lives, some got Penn Central dark green, and a few were even painted in SEPTA colors, though I’m not sure how long they lasted.

This model is an In-progress Funaro and Camerlengo coach kit, representing MP54s prior to their 1950s rebuilds. I have an additional F&C kit, and two Walthers 1960s era kits, one coach, and the other a combine. Those frighten me, and are horrifically out of scale, but I may be able to use the pantographs. Unfortunately, with Con Cor announcing their own MP54 kits, there is a good chance I’ll try to purchase several of these. It’s a shame, I keep picking up these unusual and rare kits, and then Poof, someone makes it RTR, and I don’t think I can beat Con Cor’s quality, with lights and motors and everything off the bat. They’re probably ridiculously expensive, but I don’t plan on making a huge train of them, and besides, they are still cheaper than standard IHP Arrow and Silverliner Kits while being more complete. I hope they produce modernized versions, but we’ll see. I’ll likely paint them up as Penn Central or weathered PRR units to match my early Conrail era.



PRR MP85/MA-1B Silverliner II EMU

In 1958, the PRR asked Budd to devise a new EMU for the modern day (by this time, the MP54s were 43 years old). Called Pioneer IIIs, these cars were longer, lighter, faster, carried more people, and were equipped with luxuries like air conditioning, with roughly the same horsepower as an MP54. However, due to the PRR’s worsening financial situation, no more such cars were purchased. It wouldn’t be until 1963, when the Passenger Service Improvement Corporation (an agency of Philadelphia to improve transit conditions and a precursor to SEPTA), bought 55 new MUs for Philadelphia commuter service. These became the “Silverliner IIs”, (making the Pioneer IIIs the unofficial Silverliner I). Both the PRR and Reading received the MA-1B (of course, the PRR received more, 38 out of the 55 car order). Interestingly, the Reading Cars came slight different, with larger engineer’s windows, among other things. Aside from the Metroliners, Budd would not make another Heavy Electric MU

The Models are made by GEM brass, and truthfully, they aren’t faithful to the prototype. However, they still look good on the layout, which is the important part I guess. I hope to get them running reasonably some day. I bought the pair in total for $40, an incredible deal considering these pairs usually go for five times that much.





The next installment will be NJ transit