The Diesel Compromise

I'm in a bit of a fix. I want to model the SD&AE transition era prototypically but there are no as-616's or DSR 6-6-1500's in N scale. These ran with the steamers and lived quite harmoniously from 1950 to late 1952. Then in 1953, a trio of ALCO RSD-5's in SP black widow paint showed up to send the steamers down the rocky road, all the way to Dublin whack-fol-lol-de-rahhhhhhhhhhhh.
arghh:
OK, enough of the Irish drinking songs; time to get down to business:

I'm thinking of just getting an Atlas RSD-5 in black widow paint so I can run trains with a diesel as the road engine and my steamers as helpers. However a couple problems exist:

1) RSD-5's are multiple-unit, making the need for a steam helper unneccesary.

2) Once these engines were ON the SD&AE, the few remaining steamers made a mass exodus for other parts of the SP in northern California.

How about this hypothetical situation: the RSD-5's appeared on the SD&AE to take over the daily freights, but just before the old engineers and firemen lost their jobs, it was found that the MU connections were malfunctioning. for a few days, only one engine at a time was operable with a single crew, so the steamers hung around just long enough while the ALCO's waited for repairs. Maybe I can model one of those few days...

 

Thanks. I'm really wanting the diesel, not necessarily for modeling reasons, but more for an atlas diesel's reliability when it comes time to actually operate my layout. Hopefully the ALCO's will just be stand-ins for a while until a Baldwin unit is released.

BTW, I 100% agree..if anyone were to make a Baldwin road switcher it's Atlas.
AND NO CENTERCAB!

 

Bowser did the 616 in HO but I don't know if they have ever done one in N scale; might be worth a check.

 

Baldwin road switchers are one of the major gaps in N scale diseasels.

The Atlas RSD-5 is a good runner but it is a bit slippery. The prototype had C/C trucks, but the model has B-1/1-B trucks. The Atlas/Kato RSD-5 had C/C trucks, but it is a rather finicky locomotive and does not run as well as the newer Atlas version.

If you want to go the A/K route anyhow, the shells will swap with a minumum of work.

 

You COULD find some Atlas VO-1000's, and use them.
In you N scale alternate reality, they could have been used instead of the AS16 (AS616) engines. SP had 10 of them, and I've seen them painted in the SP tiger stripe scheme in N scale.

 

I know you would like to maintain prototype fidelity but, sometimes modelers license has to come into play. We all have to bend reality to some extent. I would still run a couple of RSD-5s with a steam helper. It's your railroad. If someone nitpicks your use of motive power, just show them the door.

 

Put together some phony flimsies or something showing the week in 1953 when Korean War supply shipments demanded the use of all motive power available yadda yadda. It's no more a stretch than my phony connector route between the SP&S A-line and the SP Tillamook Branch.

 

Believe MopMan has it just about right. Noticed from your profile that you're "probably the first and last teenager ever to model the SD&AE." So, except for guys about my age who model the SD&AE, who knows more about the prototype than you? And, even for guys my age - who had the central point on the SD&AE where all the activities of even this fairly small road could be observed?

During my school vacations, ages 6 to 16, I can promise you that I saw almost every daylight train on my favorite prototype (see logo above) that ran. However, that excludes night trains just about year-round and all those school days that I heard the whistle but that was it. Who knows what non-standard things the SAL was doing while I wasn't looking?

To me it appears that you've just about nailed the scenery in that part of the country and don't think there are many who could reasonably criticize the work of a "teenager' - looks darn good to me! So, say you get real "het-up" about SP's RS-11's, covered wagons, GE's - black widow or bloody nose - and have to have 'em - run 'em on your layout.

It is, yours.

 

Tom,

I can relate to your challenge: Finding the "sweet spot" where the prototype did certain things exactly the way we like them to be....

In your example: When the RSDs came I am sure that the steamers were not retired the next day: The diesels would need to be set up, evaluated (probably with a dynometer car to test their performance) and test run. After that they would be send out on their first couple of runs, then pulled back to the shop to check if nothing was broken. All the while the steamers worked on. So there must have been a period where the RSDs were frequently seen on their evaluation and first runs, and yet the steamers were still around.

I face a similar situation: I love articulateds, and I love FTs. But when the NP bought their first FTs they replaced the Z3 2-8-8-2 as helpers on Stampede Pass and the Z3s were send east to do branchline service.
But there was a "sweet spot" when both operated on the pass, and before the prototype police comes rushing in there is even proof:


So for me the sweet spot would be modelling February 11, 1945, the day this picture was taken.

Note: The Z3s came back to the pass a few years later when Mullan tunnel in Montana caved in and all NP freights were diverted over the high-line at Homestake Pass. NP needed all FTs they could get in Montana, so they moved the FTs away from Stampede Pass and brought the Z3s back.

Have fun finding the "sweet spot" for the SD&AE.

Cheers
Dirk

 

Instead of trying the single 'magic date' idea, why not do what Dave Vollmer does and simply pick two eras? He does both PRR steam transition and Conrail diesels, and pulls off the entire era-change thing quite well as nothing much else but cars and billboards changes in Pennsylvania anyway.

You've got the steam era pretty well beat already, I'd keep the modeling challenge going by learning how to scratchbuild diesel bodies. And if you can figure out a way to do the Baldwin louvers right, I'd be the first to want to do a resin shell. I never thought I could do it either until I did the GE 44-tonner, about eight shell projects later it's become routine.

I have to admit that if one of my good friends hadn't helped volunteer on one of the Carizzo Gorge excursions down there, and brought back a ton of pictures, I'd be clueless about even where the railroad was. Like it or not, you're in a pretty small club of people that would EVER detect any modeling error up to including putting SPSF power over it!

 

This is what I'd designed for the Atlas Alco truck:



It's not perfect for axle spacing, but it's as close as you'll find for an 'out of the box' source today. That isn't what stopped me cold, it's the louvers. If you've got a way around that that doesn't involve expensive tooling, hey, PM me!

 

Well, if I were to scratchbuild an as-616 body to fit an atlas rsd-5 mech, I'd simply model the louvers by cutting horizontal lines with a sharpened flat chisel blade, maybe held at a 45 degree angle to the plastic so it will cut and "pull" some of the plastic up to model the louvers's profile. That won't work for mass production, though. Maybe just score lines in the side of the shell.

 

Louvers may not be such a great problem now. Have a look at the Archer range of rivet deacls and LOUVRE decals. These are waterslide decals that have three dimensional epoxy items printed onto the decal film.
The louvres are catalog numbers AR88040 14" wide louvres and AR88041 6" wide louvres.
Have not bought these as yet but a friend has got some of their O scale rivet decals.
Just fantastic!
Gary

 

Personally, I'd like to see a few Kyle geep's pulling freight through Jacumba, maybe with an occasional SP GP9.

 

AUGH! Now I'm off onto another SD&AE modeling tangent! The KYLE years. Those engines were GP-9 chop-noses, ex-UP I believe and painted KYLE blue and white with blue SD&AE lettering. I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO MAKE THEM!!! I have an N scale gp-9 and may consider giving it a nose job and some blue and white paint. But then I'd need 3 more of them and a handful of SW-8's, not to mention oodles of '80s-era freight cars. Would it be worth it? Absolutely. Do I want to see them on my layout? YES. Do I have the money right now?

...:tb-confused:crap

Well, better start saving. I guess I could possibly model Jacumba in the '80s, and run my SD&AE steamers as Pacific Southwest Railroad Museum excursion trains.

OK... what do I need...

At least two more atlas GP-9's, blue & white paint, microscale gothic blue & white decals, a dozen freight cars, and an SP caboose.