GEC's Layout Progress

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, I have some bad progress and then exciting news.

Lately, I've been feeling pretty overwelmed with my resin kits, so I've been rebuilding and rehabilitating "older" cars and locomotives I own, and its been a fairly successful program so far. Now, almost all of my Passenger cars are in top shape. In particular, I was upgrading and updating my 2003-era Silver Meteor consist. The only car that needs serious testing now is my Dorm-Lounge, but i think I've Ironed out the kinks in it.

The Rebuilding of Amtrak E60MA #610

The only thing left was the locomotive I intended to pull the train, E60MA #610. I built this one when I was 16, and I am still proud of it, since I managed to get most of the basic details right, especially around the headlight/number-board area. I also modified the frame and drive to make it extremely powerful. The locomotive can pull a prototypical Silver Meteor consist of up to 13 cars up a sustained 4% grade single handedly, BEFORE I ever put bullfrog snot on anything.

However, the paint and decals did not age well. The silver paint looked pretty worn, and the decals weren't holding up well. I decided I was going to redo the paint, similar to what I did on my NJT E60CH. Unfortunately, things haven't been working out. I ended up having to undo almost everything, and all the details I had placed so perfectly had to come off.

So far, i've been able to repaint the silver part of the body, and now the challenge will be re-applying the black paint around all the electrical details on the roof and the cab faces, which have detail parts I can't remove installed in them. I think the big hurdle will be the black paint. After that, I can reapply the details, and with any luck, #610 will look better than ever, and match my "24 year old" standards.

Prototype Info

E60MA #610 started life as E60CP #955, built in November 1975. One of the few E60s equipped with a steam generator, it stood in for GG1s on long-haul trains. It actually survived a collision which required its nose to be rebuilt. In 1987, it was rebuilt with HEP and other improvements, and reclassified E60MA, numbered 610. #610 was notable for being the last electric locomotive to haul the Broadway Limited when the train was discontinued. #610 was amongst the last to be retired in June 2004, with only #608 lasting until July of that year, with nearly 30 years of service.


Here is a Photo of #610 in 2011. Its been sitting like this since the year before, when the paint and decals began to become ragged.





More Silverliner IVs join the roster

Though I keep saying I model New Jersey, more Philadelphia modeling opportunities have presented themselves, in the form of a powered/dummy pair of Silverliner IV Single units, painted but not marked. These were part of a 2 car set offered many years ago by IHP. I'm pretty excited, since this train should, in theory, work right our of the box, and with an extra powered Silverliner IV, I can split my MUs up.

This is particularly exciting, since at my club, I was hoping to put these SEPTA MUs into "commuter service", along with my SEPTA push-pull sets and Reading Company MU cars. I now have 5 functional Silverliner IV singles. A married pair Silverliner IV is waiting on parts in the distant future, and eventually I'll have seven cars.

This means I can run at least 2 Silverliner IV trains with 2 cars or three cars, on top of my 3 car set of Silverliner IIIs, which can all run right now with a little bit of tune up. These new cars even have pantographs preinstalled.

Here is a picture of Reading 9018, which is very similar to the models I'll be getting. The new Silverliners will be given Penn Central/SEPTA markings, making it an even split (2 Reading, 2 Penn Central, 1 SEPTA Block logo)

The Prototype Silverliner IVs were purchased by the City of Philadephia and SEPTA to bump the MP54s and "Green car" Reading MUs from service. They began to arrive in early 1974, and the order was completed by late 1975, with cars being split between the Penn Central and Reading Company. SEPTA has kept all of them in service to date (except for one lost in a collision), and apart from some rebuilt to replace their PCB transformers and some other minor details, they remain largely the same. These cars are still the core of SEPTA's service, more numerous than the Silverliner Vs that bumped the older Silverliners from service 2 years ago.