UP SD40-2's NEW Layout

[UP SD40-2]

Went to the hobby store today, secretly had planned on getting a UP GP15, or some Wisconsin Central engine, preferably an SD45 as they ran a lot of those...ended up with neither   . I did however, get some more brush to put around the layout, I need a ton of brush so today helped, picked up another pack of Kadee #5's too.

For some odd reason I have been on a Wisconsin based roads kick lately, have at least one example of all of them except for Wisconsin Central, wish I would have took one of my Dads WC engines before he sold everything he had years ago....for just $250.00! cripes, he really lost his...backside on that deal, oh well, doesnt mean anything now. 

I ran what is probably my favorite Alco's this week, RSD15, its a Green Bay Western...


FUN FACT: the RSD15 was commonly called the "alligator" due to its unusually long front hood.
Don't know if you folks knew it but GBW was an all Alco road, yep, every engine they had on their roster was an Alco, I always thought that was pretty awesome!

I like Alco's and have a few of them, mostly UP and CNW, but I have two I havent ran in ages, pulled these RS11's out of a box and ran them for awhile. I was really surprised just how well they ran after all these years, well, one is a dummy, but #608 really ran awesome, actually stupendous at very slow, crawling speeds, perfect for switching fun  .


 



Those engines ran so darn good I ended up putting them on one of the tracks I have designated for the Rock Valley RR Museum, a good place for those old Alco's.

I ran some other stuff this week but didnt get pics of all of it, had fun though  .

I put some of the brush I bought today down in a couple areas, some is in this pic, with the last engines I ended up running this week...


Well, thats really it for this week, till next time...

[UP SD40-2]

Update on the WC hopes I had in my last post, looking on Ebay this morning i found a BRAND NEW IN BOX, WC SD45!! 

The best part/s is its a Kato, they run very well and are really outstanding quality for the money. I have two Kato's that are over 10yrs old that I run a lot, and they still run as good as the day I bought them, one is a UP SD40-2, the other is my UP SD90/43MAC. I am super excited its a Kato, I was thinking all I would be able to find is a friggin Bachman basic, or a Walthers low end engine. The number I bought was WC #6677 and I have found quite a few pics of that engine, everything looks correct on the model. Did I mention I picked this baby up for $85.00...NEW  

I know, ya, I know, "but Deano, you needed that engine like you needed a hole in your head", well, you couldnt be more right  , my logic behind it...
1- I have at least one example engine of all the Wisconsin based roads except for WC(odd I didnt have one because they were right where WSOR is now in Janesville) , and with this engine it will complete that goal.

2- Its an SD45, I dont have an SD45 on the layout and WC had and ran a lot of SD45's, so that makes it a plus. (I do have a basket case SD45 UP but its an Athearn BB and is missing so many parts, not good quality either)

3- This will make a nice added leased power engine to put in with consists. I have seen a lot of odd stuff that WSOR has leased, if I put RJ Corman on it or WAMX or something it would really fit right in, but I am not going to do that, I will leave the paint as is and just run it as leased power, most likely on my WSOR runs  .

It really came down to two engines, the SD45, or I also found a WC Kato SD40-2. The SD45 does NOT have the cool front hood paint scheme, thats the only down side, the paint scheme is correct for that road number, but not the cool front scheme. The SD40-2 did have the cool front paint scheme, but was $44.00 more, not including shipping. SO...since WC had a lot of SD45's, and I really dont have any usable ones, and the cost was darn near $50 bucks less, I went with the SD45 without the cool front paint, seemed worth it to me, all things considered.

I'll post pics when I get it  ....till next time...

[doctorwayne]

I'm an Alco-haulic, too, so it's nice to see those old RS-11s again, Deano.  I bought the 602 and 604 from Hobbies For Men, in Beacon, New York, via mail order (pre-internet days), simply because I liked the looks of them in the ads in RMC and MR. 
They were from LifeLike and after they introduced their much superior Proto-2000 line, I later dubbed those two as Proto-No-Thousands.  They each had one truck-mounted motor, and were extremely poor runners.  After removing the motors and adding better details (the original handrails were part of the bodyshell casting, so you can imagine how thick they were. 
I don't recall if the Atlas RS-11s were available at that time or came later, but when I could finally afford them, I ordered two, making two sets, each with a smooth running Atlas and fairly smooth-rolling dummy.


I later added an Atlas S-4...

   

...but it's gone, too.

Wayne

[Tyson Rayles]

Do we need to start a AA club here?

[Schraddel]

Anonyme ALCOholiker? I'm game!


Lutz

[UP SD40-2]

Wayne, as you can see, both those engines still look FANTASTIC! NO broken parts, and 608 runs outstanding! As I have mentioned they now reside on one of my museum tracks   .

OK guys, to go with my last post with the Alco's, the RSD15(my favorite) and the RS11's, I think I have rounded up all the rest of my Alco's, though it is possible that I might have missed one or two, I just have a bunch of stuff in boxes so...

Two things to mention, after taking the pics I noticed a dog hair in some shots, sorry, just not going to redue the shots, and also on a couple of the engines you will notice a couple parts might be missing, those engines I have pulled from my "to be fixed" project box.

I decided to just post what I believe to be all the Alco's I own here, so sorry for reposting the RSD15 and RS11's again(now turning this post into a two part post).

My favorite first, the rest in no particular order....

RSD15
 

RS11's


DL109


C420


HH660


RS1


RS3

[UP SD40-2]

PART 2 on 'Alco's

RS32


RS27


S3


PA1


Well, I think thats it for my Alco's...I think

****UPDATE ON MY WC ONGOING PROJECT.........#6677........#6585....that is all  

till next time...

[tetters]

The only thing missing is all the smoke coming out of the exhaust. LOL.

[tompm]

Nice collection of locos!

[UP SD40-2]

My favorite YouTube channel is Highironofwisconsin , just finished watching todays post from that guy, it was AWESOME! Tonight I just seen on there that UP still has an SD40-2 Snoot nose in service here in WISCONSIN!  WOW, SO COOL  . The guy that runs that channel goes all over Wisconsin posting vids he took of EVERY RR in Wisconsin, UP, WSOR, Wisconsin Northern, IC&E, CP, CN, Amtrack, cripes, he covers them ALL. 

OK, back to the layout, been working on the "do something challenge " , but have been working on other area's of the layout too. Not going to post any of the Challenge stuff on this thread, but did do this stuff I'll post....

Went to the hobby shop Friday, picked up some stuff, like these cat tails, I might have went over board on them, PLEASE let me know if I did, its real easy to take them away, I might have over done them  .......





I also bought some park benches to finish off my little Memorial park by the courthouse, and added a few extra details to that area  ...


No work here, but I don't get many picks by the farmhouse, so here's a local pulled by an SD38-2 & SD40-2, the Snoot nose is on point  ...


A pair of Centennial's run a freight by Town...


Till next time...

[Charlie B]

Looking great Deano. How about loaning me some ambition so I can get off my duff and do something. 
Charlie

[doctorwayne]

Great-looking scenes, Deano!

Wayne

[tompm]

Good looking stuff Deano!

Since I used to have to crawl around the areas with the cattails they look good and perhaps too few. I can remember a few places where we came across fields of them which usually meant wetlands which could make things difficult for our projects.

[UP SD40-2]

Well, now that the Challenge is over, its back to layout progress in other places  . Though I didn't finish my Challenge, I am pretty happy with what I had finished. 

I am really excited to continue on with the static grass across the rest of the layout, really looking forward to the wooded area, I think the static grass will really help that area out a lot. I'll post my progress as it happens, back to 8 hour days again starting this week, that will help give me time work on the layout again, the 10 hour days were just killing me  ,l I know, stop griping, at least I am still working, ya that's true.

A couple pics of the back area I took this morning(had off today). Looking at these pics, WOW, I should have painted the rail/ties on that turnout this morning  ....








Till next time...

[tompm]

The more I see of the static grass the more I am liking it. Looks great.