what is the most popular type of locomotive on your layout

[Tom]

are those former CN sw 12200s, the stack sure look like former CN units. they look great

Thanks, Stuart. I based them on the CNR units, but didn't bother with the light and number board package (offered by Juneco) or the increased capacity fuel tank (included in the Juneco kit), choosing instead to build them to suit my free-lance road. The locos (Athearn blue box) originally came with switcher trucks with metal sideframes. I upgraded them with new white metal Flexicoil sideframes from Juneco, but when Athearn released their version, in plastic, and much more well-detailed, I re-equipped all four locos with the new-style trucks and sideframes. Unfortunately, this resulted in a loss of tractive effort due to the lighter trucks, and I had to re-do the cast weights inside the locos. All were equipped with Mashima can motors and ran great with almost any of my locos, including steam. For small locos, they're fairly powerful, too: all four of them pulled a 71 car train around my layout, and, if you've seen pictures of the layout, you know how many curves and steep grades are involved.


Wayne

I can't agree with Josh enough, they really look sharp. Heavy little guys too, I was so impressed by how they ran, I popped the shell off the other night to see what was under the hood and how you added so much weight, what kind, and where (I have a WP SW-9 that started as the same Athearn Blue Box SW-7 model) and wanted to weight it down for better tractive effort and re-power it, add ultra bright LED's and a decoder. I came to the conclusion that you must have cast the lead to fit the space, correct? I also took note of how you did the full length frame hand rails as David had to do a similar setup on my WP SW-9, so I showed the GV 45 to the friend that built my SW-9. He did a nice job on the handrails and does nice work, but he was blown away with my little Canadian 1200. He now wants me to put a decoder in it to run it, but that would require taking some of the weight out, thus altering this engine. I told him I'd rather not and he likened it to a Ferarri that just sits in the garage and is never driven to appreciate.

It does live a pampered retirement with its caboose in a display case on my entertainment center in the living room with my WP 4-8-8-4 Big Boy.

Josh is lucky, he has locos now from two of my three favorite model railroads, between Grand Valley and the Utah Belt. I am going to run on my other favorite layout of the 3 tomorrow morning, but it's WP in the Feather River Canyon and I have all kinds of WP power. Now if I can get my hands on a retired Utah Belt engine, I'd be all set.