We step into the 90's to present on the A.P.R.R. as we're making changes to some motive power. With the Florida layout going into high gear in the next 45 days, an opportunity to bring some equipment down there (okay, a lot of equipment) has come about. I'm taking my brother's car down to his place in Florida, which happens to be in our neighborhood. I'm loading up the car with many boxes of train and other related items I'm taking to Florida. I'll be taking the Amtrak Auto Train from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL. I haven't taken the Auto Train in 30 years, so we're going to document the ride as much as possible.
Since the Florida layout is smaller, I needed some 4 axle engines for that layout. I took off a pair of Athearn GP40-2 engines and replaced them with a pair of Atlas Dash 8-40B engines. Here's some background information on these engines, courtesy of Wikipedia:
The GE Dash 8-40B (or B40-8) is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems between 1988 and 1989. It is part of the GE Dash 8 Series of freight locomotives. The Dash 8-40B is a standard version of the series; the Dash 8-40BW is a standard series but with a gull wing instead a standard cab.
A total of 151 examples of this locomotive were built for North American railroads.
The GE Dash 8-40BW (B40-8W) is a variant fitted with a full-width cab. Another variant is the GE Dash 8-40BP, more commonly known as the Genesis series. The locomotives in the Genesis series are the P40DC, the P42DC, and the P32AC-DM.
| Railroad | Quantity | Road numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway | 40 | 7410-7449 |
| Conrail | 30 | 5060-5089 |
| General Electric | 1 | 8002 |
| New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway | 24 | 4002-4048 (even nos.) |
| St. Louis Southwestern Railway | 55 | 8040-8094 |
| United States Department of Energy (Savannah River Site) | 1 | 107 |
The engines I've added are road numbers 5930 & 5931. Here is what they look like courtesy Fallen Flags.
My engines are factory painted in YN3. 5930 has DCC with Sound. It has an ESU Loksound decoder. 5931 has an ESU Lokpilot decoder.
A little demo of how they sound and run on the layout...
These engine are now assigned to the Grain Train. It runs when I host an operating session. We have one member of our 'non-group' group, who only runs the grain train. He's in his own little world as he likes to run long trains, longer than what I normally run on the railroad. As I tell my guys, I always have a 'Plan B' when this certain person is present.
Thanks for stopping by!
This looks like a lot of fun! I keep modeling what I see, so I have stuff from the 90s, but that's because I saw it then and still love to run it! I have some CSX and Santa Fe warbonnets, as well as UP and even last-gasp SP.
ReplyDeleteIt seems the plan you have will be fantastic. What I love is those engines. Very unique.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive engines and good working plan distributing the motive power among your two layouts. Excellent video and the sound effects were awesome.
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