10-29-2010, 02:22 PM
From today on the New York & Atlantic Railway will take over freight service on the Plymouth Branch.
The NYA is a shortline that took over freight operations from the Long Island Railroad in 1997. It operates about 260 miles of track and it runs 12 engines: a few SW1001, MP15AC, GP38-2 and a SW1200. I have been looking for a shortline to model for the last few years and with the NYA I found what I was looking for. Their Bushwick branch inspired me in the first place to model an urban scene from New York and the structures on the right side of my layout will be from along this branch. Unfortunately only an old Athearn RTR GP38-2 was available in NYA colors so far and as long they don’t replace these junk motors with something that is running decently, I won’t buy them. But besides the motor, only the colors and the 81" short hood is right for the NYA GP38-2, almost all the other details don’t match. I am not a rivet counter, but that engine is not close enough to the prototype. I had been looking for decals of the NYA, but could not find any. It is funny that now shortly after I started to build this layout, Athearn announced that they will release a NYA MP15AC with their next run – so I immediately preordered an engine. I hope to get it next March or April. A few days after I ordered the MP15, I found a source for NYA decals – now, how good is that?
. So my layout will be a fictional branch of this railroad.
The next thing after I found the NYA decals was to get a P2K GP38-2 that I can turn into NYA #268: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=256356">http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=256356</a><!-- m --> . The NYA GP38-2s were built 1976 and neither the P2K model nor the Atlas Trainman Geep represent that version. So here is my to-do list: replace the 88" short hood with the 81" hood of the older version, "chicken wire" radiator grilles on the long hood, new anticlimber, small snow plow on the front pilot and weed cutter on the rear pilot, new air hoses, ditch lights (non-working), 3000 gallon fuel tank, shorten exhaust stacks, 5 chime air horn, replace plastic grabirons with wire grabirons, new stanchions and railing for the front, get the airtanks in the right positon and don’t ruin it by doing so.
I already started that project. First I stripped the paint from the shell by putting it in 99% alcohol. I was surprised that after only 15 minutes the paint started to come off. After 30 minutes I could easily brush off the paint with a toothbrush. When I used this method on an Atlas engine, it took about a week. I did all the cutting so far (anticlimber, grilles, fuel tank, exhaust stacks) and did not ruin the engine yet. So after this is done, I hope this project is on a good way now. To finish it will take some time, because the detail parts are not all readily available for me here on this side of the big pond. I will keep you informed as I am moving along.
![[Image: 268-1.jpg]](http://www.cnw.mattheydesign.de/268-1.jpg)
The NYA is a shortline that took over freight operations from the Long Island Railroad in 1997. It operates about 260 miles of track and it runs 12 engines: a few SW1001, MP15AC, GP38-2 and a SW1200. I have been looking for a shortline to model for the last few years and with the NYA I found what I was looking for. Their Bushwick branch inspired me in the first place to model an urban scene from New York and the structures on the right side of my layout will be from along this branch. Unfortunately only an old Athearn RTR GP38-2 was available in NYA colors so far and as long they don’t replace these junk motors with something that is running decently, I won’t buy them. But besides the motor, only the colors and the 81" short hood is right for the NYA GP38-2, almost all the other details don’t match. I am not a rivet counter, but that engine is not close enough to the prototype. I had been looking for decals of the NYA, but could not find any. It is funny that now shortly after I started to build this layout, Athearn announced that they will release a NYA MP15AC with their next run – so I immediately preordered an engine. I hope to get it next March or April. A few days after I ordered the MP15, I found a source for NYA decals – now, how good is that?
. So my layout will be a fictional branch of this railroad. The next thing after I found the NYA decals was to get a P2K GP38-2 that I can turn into NYA #268: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=256356">http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=256356</a><!-- m --> . The NYA GP38-2s were built 1976 and neither the P2K model nor the Atlas Trainman Geep represent that version. So here is my to-do list: replace the 88" short hood with the 81" hood of the older version, "chicken wire" radiator grilles on the long hood, new anticlimber, small snow plow on the front pilot and weed cutter on the rear pilot, new air hoses, ditch lights (non-working), 3000 gallon fuel tank, shorten exhaust stacks, 5 chime air horn, replace plastic grabirons with wire grabirons, new stanchions and railing for the front, get the airtanks in the right positon and don’t ruin it by doing so.
I already started that project. First I stripped the paint from the shell by putting it in 99% alcohol. I was surprised that after only 15 minutes the paint started to come off. After 30 minutes I could easily brush off the paint with a toothbrush. When I used this method on an Atlas engine, it took about a week. I did all the cutting so far (anticlimber, grilles, fuel tank, exhaust stacks) and did not ruin the engine yet. So after this is done, I hope this project is on a good way now. To finish it will take some time, because the detail parts are not all readily available for me here on this side of the big pond. I will keep you informed as I am moving along.
Kurt