I have noticed, that even though ACL. SAL, and SOU are seldom mentioned on the internet, rail magazines, etc. - when models (at least in HO) are offered for sale, they just don't seem to last for sale very long. I suppose that this could also apply to any of a dozen or so other SE lines. I would really like to know as a personal matter of interest, and possibly of note to manufacturers - do you model any of the above three, their predecessors or successors?
I don't model the SCL, FEC, SOU or the L&N specifically. I am freelancing a major carrier in the late '60s that has several interchanges with these roads, therefore it is neccesary to model these "southern" roads to some extent. I have several SCL and FEC locomotives and freight cars. I would love to see more southeastern roadnames offered, we don't see much in the way of Clinchfield , Georgia or Atlanta & West Point.
22 May 2009 I do. The SCRS is a bridge line that the trains of ACL, SAL and SOU cross over and all their passenger trains stop at the Union Station. Larry @ SCRS
10 JUNE 2009 Good morning all. Two of these were just delivered to SCRS. MTH Electric Trains Two of these are still rolling down the line to SCRS. MTH Electric Trains Larry @ SCRS
LARRY - Glad to have you back, is your PC squared away now? Congratulations on the new acquisitions, brings to mind one of my many mottos - "You can never have too many boxcars." Or is that hoppers, reefers, wood racks, ... ...?
Dave, Yes, I do model the SCL in n-scale. I have ACL, SAL, SCL, Family Lines. I do not have any Southern rwy locomotives at this time however I am looking to buy one or two. I have ACL steam loco, SAL gp 18 and several SCL split image SAL to SCL units. I too have tried to persuade others to bring our beloved "Southeastern" railroads to the forefront. I know I'll be looked down on saying this but I get tired of going to my local hobby shop and seeing the same ole' Onion Spacific and Santas Fake railroads being offered. I get the same old answer they sell and the "southern" roads don't. I call B.S. on this one. I know that Intermountain has seen the light and it appears that Atlas, Athearn, and God love em' Bachmann do realize that there are railroads other than the UP/SP/AT&SF/PRR/NYC don't get me wrong there are nothing "wrong" with those railroads but I get tired of having to custom paint an engine or a caboose everytime I would like something different. Sorry that I got off on a rant ;D) I got the same response on the Atlas forum from a member just buy what you want and paint it. Well nuff said. I LOVE the SOUTH and her railroads. Eddie - S.C.L.man "Pulling for you!" in n scale
Eddie - As I mentioned in the original post - when they are available, they don't seem to last too long. And, well said in your post. I too got tired of having to paint and decal for the roads I really wanted to model. Not that I was very good at it and compared to the factory jobs, just miserable. I've noticed that there seems to be a growing interest in the successor roads to the ACL, SAL, and Southern - S.C.L., Family Lines, CSX, and Norfolk Southern (new). What has really caught my eye though, are models for the NS (old), TA&G, P-S, Georgia Road, A&WP and probably a few more that I don't remember. We're fortunate to live in an area that has always been good for outdoor pursuits - hunting, fishing, planting, etc., now I'm glad to see that we can recreate some of the great railroading that went on in the south east.
24 June 2009 Good morning all. In the years past, I to had problems locating 'southeastern railroads', locomotives and rolling stock for the SCRS. And like S.C.L. man, I also had to custom paint some cars. However since MTH entered the scale three rail market, I begin to see more 'southeastern roads' being issued in various types of cars. Orginally, I tried to purchase these directly 'off the shelf' at hobby shops. I found that they sold fast and I missed out on some. I begin to 'pre-order' from the catalogs, through a hobby shop to get locomotives and cars being issued in ACL, SAL, SOU., L & N, C of G and other roads colors. for the SCRS. It has worked out very well for me as almost none of the Locomotives and cars I pre-ordered are now to be found. It has taken quite a while to accumulate the items, however the SCRS can now operate long ACL, SAL and SOU. passenger and freight trains. Larry @ SCRS
P.S. Yes Larry, I have recently experienced several cases of just the same phenomenae, except I no longer have a good local hobby shop. So, since I'd had good experience with several national mail-order shops, I started tracking their latest offerings in a very lackadaisical fashion. Large mistake! Since I do have a hobby "budget" I had my heart set on either the Kadee ACL "Another Cushion Load" with the working center sill or, two six-packs of FGEX reefers, one or the other. I picked the two Kadee cars, checked listings on a Tuesday - no joy! Friday, they were in and "sold out." Okay, marginally disappointed, so let's go to Plan "B" - of the 3 six-packs of FGEX reefers catalogued for at least two months - gone! I've since put three different car types with six different numbers in my "Shopping carts" on line - in the past month, they've all gone. Needless to say, every and I do mean every night, I check the "New Arrivals" notices before shutting down my computer. P.S. Now have access to a digital camera, as soon as I can digest the 163 page instruction booklet and divine how to upload - intend to post photos of that extra 1/4 -1/3 mile of the "EC" south of Charleston.
24 July 2009 These arrived yesterday and are they sharp. MTH Electric Trains Also this. MTH Electric Trains Larry @ SCRS
I model the Central of Georgia from 1950 to June 13, 1963 when the Southern took over. I do this in N scale.
I have a modern CSX layout under construction from Atlanta to Chattanooga to Nashville (former NC&StL / L&N). However, I am currently in a full stop as I decide whether or not to switch to the CSX Monroe Sub between Catawba, SC and Hamlet, NC. This is the old SAL F-line and G-line from Hamlet to Charlotte and Atlanta/Birmingham via Monroe, NC. One of the attraactions to this line is that at any time I can backdate it to the pre-SCL merger days and run all of those great SAL passenger trains and hot freights. Of course I do have some concrete tie trask that I would have to remove first Jamie
Larry - Glad to hear from you again, did you get that virus winkled out? Couple of weeks ago I had a similiar problem. Thankfully, MSN was able to get mine out on-line. Not having control of your own computer is quite something. I see that the SAL cars came in, what about the ACL - didn't you have some of them on order also? Raymond - CofG in N scale? I know that there've been F-3's, GP-7's, and RS-3's in the blue and grey in HO - has anyone produced them in N? About 30+ years ago I gave some thought to painting and decalling that scheme, but for once common sense triumphed over the "wants." I did do a GP-35 in that Southern scheme lettered for CofG. What sort of power do you have, any in the "collard Green" scheme? CSXDixieLine - Gotta love that "Dixie Line" part - the old NC&StL. A very modellable line in its own right - especially that line Chatanooga - Atlanta. Normally I encourage people to model the SAL, N scale I don't know. Years ago Atlas offered the GP-9's and 30's in N, and I see they're now offering the C-420, but are any other engines available? I know SAL was an early experimenter with concrete ties, but don't think I ever learned where. My observation from the few times I've seen this track is, some judicious hacking on the tie-ends with a #11 blade and application of flat brown paint would cover a multitude of sins. For me, that smell of creosote on a summers' day is an indelible memory from childhood.
25 JULY 2009 Good morning all. Raymond. I lived in Griffin, Georgia during the time periods from 1937 up to the spring of 1942, then between the winter of 1948 to mid summer of 1951. This includes being in around the cities of Thomaston and Barnesville. A lot of good Central of Georgia memories. Some of these memories include riding the C of G passenger trains. These trips either originiated or terminated in Griffin. These were from Savannah and Atlanta in each direction. Should MTH issue Premier O Gauge E-8's in Central of Georgia colors, they will pull the Nancy Hanks into the SCRS' Union Station. Trackage rights have already been provided. Dave. Backing up and operating. - still need to work out my problems will e- mail, however... . Let me advise everyone to udate their installed virus production - daily. Make a habit of doing it before you log off. The ACL and the SAL box cars - two each per road - are now producing revenue on the SCRS MTH Electric Trains MTH Electric Trains CSX DIXIE LINE Either of those lines are good to model. They all have heavy traffic.
Larry - Glad to hear that you're back up to speed. I'm probably like most in that I budget new hobby purchases. Thank goodness there wasn't anything to fit my prototypes released in July. The purchases in April of those two SAL E-7A's along with Mr. Faulks new book on the Seaboard really stretched the ole budget. In August Athearn will be releasing the F-2A in the ACL "black maria" colours along with their 4-packs of 3-bay wood chips in ACL and SOU. Atlas will be releasing their 1932 box car in SAL. Needless to say, all are on order. The real hit will come in November however, if BLI releases on time I hope to be able to swing both numbers for their "Centipedes." Although the E-7's operate fine on all my curves, save one - the "Centipedes" may well up as mantle models. Am still fighting some transient electrical problems and some trackwork still isn't 100% and my damaged left arm and hand have not made me too enthusiastic about fixing same. Hurt same early last November and now after tests and too many pain killers, the pain is down to the left side of my hand, little and adjacent fingers. Am hoping that a few more weeks and the arrival of new equipment will fire me up to get the layout finished and see if I can begin some ops. on that fictional addition to the "EC" "somewhere south of Charleston."
Although I'm a '90s era CSX modeler, I'm fascinated by anything ACL/SAL/SCL/SBD. I always look for opportunities to model freight cars in the old paint schemes that survived into the CSX era. Take a look at the lastest issue of the Seaboard-Coast Line Modeler: http://s-clmodeler.aclsal.org/ I love Nick Molo's Tangent ACL PS-2CD 4000 models. He did a beautiful job of capture the kaolin weathering on those cars. I was also fortunate to get some of the resin phosphate cars produced by a small company called Bone Valley Scale Models: http://home.comcast.net/~bonevalleyscalemodels/ They're unfortunately sold out, but they are certain unique Southeastern cars that deserve to be modeled (even if my future layout doesn't cover that part of the country!). I hope we'll see more models of ACL/SAL prototypes in the future.
Dave - Hello and welcome. Glad to see that some CSX modellers pay attention to the "S" part of CSX. Believe it's been 10+ years since I've even seen a Seaboard System car in a CSX train, much less ACL, SAL or even L&N. I know there was an "inland" phosphate trade, I've even seen two or three "unit" trains of phosphate on the SAL, and blocks of 20 - 30 cars on the ACL which doubtless ended up being handed over to PRR or B&O in Washington D.C. I'll do a little research to see if I can find out where these trains or blocks ended up. It appeared to me at the time that the empties must have been handled like "Juice" train cars, returned empty 1, 2, or 3 cars at a time. Have a handle on the empty traffic (my layout would not support a "unit" train) with MDC, Bowser, and AHM covered hoppers - would love to be able to buy those phosphate cars, wet or dry, that seemed to be only found on the ACL or SAL. Athearn (bless 'em) are going to be a big help to me and others similiarly situated with their 3-bay wood chip hoppers. Just hope that they'll introduce a different style or two. However, the pulpwood or "rack cars" still have only 4 body styles; Train-Miniature, Athearn, Atlas, and Walthers - sure would be nice to have an additional body style or two. And I realize tht some of these cars are available as resin kits, but with no experience with these kits, each one seems a project unto itself, not to mention the multiple cars needed to represent such traffic. Getting my layout "ops" ready is project enough.
This is an older post, but maybe the conversation can continue. I am interested in CofG, GA RR, ACL, SAL, Sou, etc. but have little/no interest in SCL (Maybe 'cause it's either too new or too old to fit with the previous roads or CSX and NS of today). My interests are just a mess! If only I could find passenger stuff in all those roads... (I have put ACL/SAL HS decals on some ConCor Budd cars to start the SAL fleet) CC's Budd cars can stand in with Microscale decals fairly nicely for Man o'War (RPO or Baggage to subst for the combine?). Terry
Terry - For those of us who railfanned, followed, and attempted to model southeastern roads, no apologies are necessary. We're sort of unique in the model railroad fraternity in that we model roads that are worthy of modelling in their own right but are basically unknown outside the region. In 1955 I went to visit my cousins in Atlanta for a couple weeks. They, knowing (but not understanding) that I was "ate" up by railroads arranged for me to see and visit roads that were new to me. One that really impressed me was the Central of Georgia. This was of course during their "blue and grey" era. Later (in 1964) when I returned home I visited CofGs' roundhouse in Savannah. There I saw their F-3's done up in standard SOU colors, but lettered "Central of Georgia". Also present were GP-18's and an RS-3 in the "collard green" scheme and just one forlorn RS-3 in the old blue and grey. Note was made then that this was one interesting railroad - very modellable. My impression is that there's not a lot of CofG stock in N gauge. Possibly and hopefully this will change with the growth of the scale. I mean, whodda thunk, Georgia Road and A&WP, in GP-7 and 40 formats, would ever have appeared in HO?
