The Motive Power of the Modesto & Empire Traction Co.

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Here i will be posting the Motive Power for the Modesto & Empire Traction Company. These are the real locomotives that serve the M&ET right now. For each Prototype locomotive, ill be doing a model of it for my M&ET layout.

The M&ET currently has a roster of the follwing locomotives:

Seven (7) 70-Tonners (#'s 600-604, 607, 608)
Two (2) SW1500's (#'s 1500 & 1501)
Two (2) RP20BD's (#'s 2000 & 2001)
Two (2) 70-Tonners (#'s 012/611 & 013/610) (future rebuilds and i will wait and see what they are before modeling them)

I am however modeling Ten (10) M&ET 70-Tonners, 2 of them have been retired in early 2009, and one was wrecked in 2006, but i feel they should still be included in my M&ET fleet for the layout....

Ill do a separate post for each locomotive/road number so i can post updates about it when i complete something new on them. Each and every loco will have to be custom painted, decaled detailed, weathered, and fitted with a DCC decoder.

Hope you guys enjoy this thread as much as i will enjoy updating it with new progress shots and details

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We will start off with M&ET #600 which is a 70-Tonner. The locomotive was bought new in October of 1947, and is still in service today. It currently is painted in the new M&ET colors of red and white. Here is what it looks like today:



I have decided that i wanna do #600 as well as #601 in the old M&ET paint scheme however. Here is the old paint scheme of the M&ET:



#600 will be a Bachmann 70-Tonner that will be custom painted to match the old paint scheme in the above picture. I dont know why, but for some reason i like the old paint scheme and want to include it as a little bit of a fantasy unit running with the newly painted units.

This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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#601 is also a 70-Tonner. The locomotive was bought new in February of 1949, and is still in service today. It currently is painted in the new M&ET colors of red and white. Here is what it looks like today:



Like #600, #601 will be a Bachmann 7-Tonner painted in the older M&ET paint scheme just to give a little variety to the M&ET roster. Here is what #601 used to look like and what the model will look like:



This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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#602 is a 70-Tonner that was bought new in February of 1952, just like her sister locos it is also still in operation today. This one is currently in the new M&ET paint scheme, here is a pic of her as she is today:



#602 will be a Bachmann 70-Tonner that will be custom painted to match the current M&ET paint Scheme

This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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70-Tonner #603 was built by GE in January of 1955 for Cherry River Boom & Lumber Co. (in Donaldson, WV) as #2, then sold to M&ET as #2, which was later renumbered to #603 and is still in use today. its current paint scheme is the new M&ET scheme:



M&ET at one time had this loco painted in what looks to be a special "bi-centennial?" paint scheme which i like and am going to be painting this unit in:



#603 will be a Bachmann 70-Tonner that will be custom painted to match the special M&ET paint Scheme above

This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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70-Tonner #604 was originally built by GE in January of 1950 as North Louisiana & Gulf #102 and later sold to M&ET as #604 in 1970. It is still in use today. She currently wears the new M&ET paint scheme:



#604 will be a Bachmann 70-Tonner that will be custom painted to match the current M&ET paint Scheme

This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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70-Tonner #605 was originally built in February of 1947 as ex Southwest Portland Cement #405, which was later bought used as ex Mojave Northern (SWPC) #5. In 1971 M&ET bought it used as #605. This loco was in use all the way up to 2009, when the M&ET officially retired the loco. Here is what she looked like:



Even though this locomotive has been retired from the M&ET fleet, i will still be modeling it for my roster. #605 will be a Bachmann 70-Tonner that will be custom painted to match the current M&ET paint Scheme

This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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M&ET 70-Tonner #606 was built by GE in July of 1950 as Southern Pacific 70-ton 5114. Then later sold in October of 1967 to Chrome Crankshaft for National Metals & Steel Corp 511. in July of 1972 it was sold to ASARCO-Mexicana as #1956, but axle bearings were damaged in transit to El Paso, refused by ASARCo. I was then sold in December of 1972 to M&ET as #606. The M&ET appears to have retired the unit recently as it is not on the roster anymore



I will be modeling this unit however, and custom paining it in the paint scheme showed above. #606 will be a Bachmann 70-Tonner that will be custom painted to match the current M&ET paint Scheme

This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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M&ET 70-Tonner #607 was originally built in March of 1952 as Ex-Oregon Pacific & Eastern #10. It was later bought used in March of 1980 as M&ET #607. #607 is still in operation today with the new M&ET Paint Scheme:



#607 will be a Bachmann 70-Tonner that will be custom painted to match the current M&ET paint Scheme

This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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70-Tonner #608 was originally built in March of 1955 as Ex-Oregon Pacific & Eastern #10, which was later bought by Ex-McCloud River & Lumber as #1, then bought used in 1983 by M&ET as #608. . #608 is still in operation today in the new M&ET paint Scheme:



#608 will be a Bachmann 70-Tonner that will be custom painted to match the current M&ET paint Scheme

This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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M&ET 70-Tonner #609 was originally built in June of 1955 as Ex-Klamath & Northern #205. It was later sold to the M&ET as #609. Unfortunately in 2006, M&ET #'s 609 & 603 were shoving a cut of cars and hit a second cut pretty hard. MET handles canned goods, wine, and chemicals, which make their cars very heavy. Both units had their frames bent and were wrecked. #603 was able to be repaired, but #609 was not so lucky and scrapped. Here is a shot of what #609 used to look like before it was wrecked



Even though this locomotive has been wrecked and is no longer in service for the M&ET fleet, i will still be modeling it for my roster. #609 will be a Bachmann 70-Tonner that will be custom painted to match the current M&ET paint Scheme

This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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M&ET 70-Tonner #613 was originally built in January of 1950 for ex WCTR #5119, then later sold as ex SP #5119, and then bought by the M&ET used in 2005 as #613. #613 is not in service anymore today, it was retired in early 2009. She wore the new M&ET paint scheme the short time she was on the M&ET roster:



Even though this locomotive is no longer in service for the M&ET fleet, i will still be modeling it for my roster. #613 will be a Bachmann 70-Tonner that will be custom painted to match the current M&ET paint Scheme

This unit was ordered on August 28th, 2009. Delivery of the unit should be soon!!

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M&ET 70-Tonners #012 & #013 have an interesting history behind them. Formally Santa Maria Valley Railroad #30 and #40 were sold to Nevada Northern and re-numbered #012 and #013, which were then acquired recently by the M&ET. #012 will be numbered M&ET #611, and #013 will be M&ET #610. According to M&ET’s Vice President, Mr. Beard,

“The 012 (to be numbered 611) does have a broken crankshaft but many usable parts. I do not plan on putting either locomotive back on the rails as they came from the factory, but instead have further plans for them both. I expect that within the next two years both will be repainted to match our other ones and once again will be working their hearts out, although with different power sources.”

We have no idea what #012 & #013 will be re-built into, but im looking forward to seeing what they are!! Right now, there sitting out on a siding in front of the M&ET engine house Here is a picture of #012 as she is right now:



#'s 012 & 013 will not be modeled at this time, instead i will wait till the day that M&ET re-builds them and then do models of the re-builds.

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Here is #013 or future M&ET #610 as she is right now sitting with #012 out in front of the M&ET Engine House:



Like #012, i will be waiting to see what the M&ET does as far as re-builds on these unites before i model them

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M&ET SW1500 #1500 was originally built in June of 1966 as ex Cotton Belt (SSW) as #2491, and then to ex-Southern Pacific #2489 in the merger. After that it was ex Vancouver Wharves #821. The M&ET bought the loco in November of 2006. #1500 is still in service today and is in the M&ET SW1500 paint Scheme:



This unit will be an Athearn RTR model custom painted for the M&ET in the paint scheme above.