Fellow modeler and great friend of the A.P.R.R. John R. came up with a neat idea while running trains on his superb N.Y.C.T.L. New York Central Train Layout that a lash up of 7 Penn Central engines would be the order of the day.
John has asked his fellow Penn Central Modelers to replicate the same scenario on their layouts, if at all possible.
We put together a string of Penn Central Geeps, consisting of GP38-2's, GP40's, and a newly acquired GP35.
While John has posted some great pics and a video, the N.Y.C.T.L. operates on DC power, whereas the A.P.R.R. operates on DCC. I did run the engines to the area you see on the layout, but not all running at the same time. The engines in the 2 & 3 spot were running as well as engine 6 & 7. Those engines were running in DCC mode as consist, and I used 2 sets of controllers to get them moving at the same time. They ran a short distance as the strain to move the 3 other engines not on my control. I could have run all 7 engines together, but that would have taken some time and doing on my part. I would have had to deconsist the 3 sets of Geeps and the consisted all 7 engines together to have them run. Yes, I took the easy way out, as time was not on my side.
The Penn Central would have been proud to see 7 engines running in a consist like this.
Here is a quick pan of the 7 engines idling on the main line of the A.P.R.R.
I have fulfilled the request made by John R. and was happy to be part of this great idea...
Enjoy!
Regardless of them running together or not, 7 of them together is an impressive sight. And if you think about it, the problems of running 7 PC model train locomotives in a consist is probably semi-prototypical of the PC at its lowest point. A good number of their locos would not run very well together either. This was a fun exercise.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive Sir Neal!!! Thanks for the bailout. These photos were to good not be posted!
ReplyDeleteVery nice looking lash up of PC locomotives! Sir John brought up a fun subject to cover. In addition to the “Seven Engine Itch”, we could refer to it as the “Magnificent Seven”. Either way a great way to see some nice lash ups of power.
ReplyDeleteI had the same issue you did, I set up a 7-unit consist in DCC, but I didn't want to take the effort to speed match the seven! So I could run them in a crawl for a short distance, but that was about it. I've found that 3, at most 4, units is a practical limit.
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