Grain hauling shortline layout underway


malletman

malletman

Alcohaulic
I was able to build a bridge across the narrowed portion of my 4x8 layout to allow me 22" radius curves and access to the shelves at the rear. This also allows easier access to the rear of the layout. Motive power is a pair of ex NYS&W Alco C430's and a beater ex BN GP20, all are Overland Models brass imports. Two are unpainted yet, one is factory painted in the yellowjacket colors of the Susie Q. Line is set somewhere in Illinios or Indiana, haven't decided yet. I have the grain elevator in place, need a few add on silos yet. The sidings for the feed mil/Co-Op are planed as is lead back to the engine house/service area. The main drag into town and its crossing are in place and planned on paper. More grain hoppers and tanks are on the top of the need list, as is buildings. I am considering upgrading to Kato Untrak despite the limited offerings in HO scale, but the crossing and Atlas bridges would remain as Kato has yet to dublicate thier nice N scale items in HO to cover those needs. But I do really like thier combined roadbed/rail set up and the cost is about a wash once you price out cork roadbed and ballest(not to mention the hassle of gluing ballest). But for now my ancient snap track allows trains to run. Here is a pic of the layout, then of Alco #3006 heading toward the feed mill and central elevator. Mike the Aspie
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Control is with an old but near mint MRC Railine 370 transformer. Works perfectly with the engines I am using. One C430 is on hand, the factory painted one will be here tomorrow and the GP20 will hopefully be mine soon.
 
The factory painted version of my pair of Alco C430s came in todays mail. Here she is paired up with the unpainted one. They both run well together, even with the unpainted one having a totally different drive system being the early run with the "tank drive" set up.
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Now to work on getting new track, and get busy on scenery. Mike
 
More motive power changes as the layout evolves, which is normal for me as I find buildings and come across engines that better suit my desires. For now the pair of big C430s will stay. But I found and bought this BN(ex CB&Q) GP20 for a keen price, lacking its original box and nearly frozen solid from dried grease. Runs like a fined tuned Overland Models should. It is very true that many like to model what they saw/watched train wise. And for me growing up it was a local shorline, handling mostly grain and pot ash. In the later years they used a rag tag roster of ex BN and NW Geeps. Whilst the NW units didnt do much for me, I was always drawn to the ex BN units. From thier strange beacons(of which one of them is in my collection) to the Cascade green/black colors. Unfortunatly Overland never did the exact unit in HO scale, the Samhongsa driven model just is not as smooth. So the GP20 is close enough to scratch that itch. Now if OMI did a generic high nose GP9 with dynamics to give me a 2nd unit! If I find a second BN 4 axle EMD, that might spell the end to the big Alcos, sending them to ebay. I also picked up some more turnouts today and the engine house went to a friend to get weathered. Mike the Aspie
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I love the BN, if I had the layout room, I would be modeling the Crawford Hill, Nebraska area in 1990. Our local shortline had a pair of ex BN GP10's, 1410 and 1416. I have the massive beacon light and one of the glass front number boards from 1410. A patched out, dirty and ratty ex-BN GP20 fits my mind's eye for farm land shortline. What I dont like is the BNSF, wish that merger never happened, along with ditch light. I love those final years just before ditch lights, with beacons and just the standard headlights. Mike the Aspie
 
Nice looking brass! Someday I find a brass locomotive or two to have as my own. As a kid I remember a hobby shop shop called I think the Hobby Horse that had hundreds of brass locomotives in display cases. It was a great place to hang out and dream about having some brass locomotives.

The brass sure beats the Athearn BB locomotives in having so much more detail.

Thanks for the memories.

Greg
 
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Most of my brass has cost less than a new plastic engine with sound/dcc in it. The GP20 was $175, the unpainted C430 was $225 and one just like it sold for 168 on ebay, the factory painted one cost me a bit more at close to $400. If you just watch Overland Models/Overland brass over on ebay, one can find lots of good deals on there, along with lots of "wishing" prices. Just have to weed thru them to find the good deals. I normally make it so it shows the newest listed items first. Sometimes a really good "but it now" deal pops up and you can grab it before someone else does. Mike
 
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