On Track, with Deano

UP SD40-2

Senior Member
I have to admit that some of my trains look better on layouts other than my own. :eek:ops: I'm glad that those layouts belong to a couple of real good friends. ;):-D:-D

Wayne
THANK YOU Wayne:mrgreen: , but speaking for MYSELF only, SOMEDAY, i can only hope my layout will be as FANTASTIC as yours:worship: , so it could live up to the statement you made:winki::smilie: .

Deano....you liking that camera any better? That last batch of pics looked sweet!
Steve!:mrgreen: , YES, i ended up liking the camera:thumb: , but as you can see from the shots below, since the cars are so big, the size reduction of the pics to get them on here is so great that the quality really goes down:frowns: .

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EG&E Passenger train, the "River Wind" makes its way into town heading to the Rock Valley RR Museum, on the RVS. Fortunately i was lucky enough to get some shots of it as it rolled by the outskirts of town:mrgreen: .

The "River Wind" will be one of the passenger trains now owned by the RVRRM that is available for excursion runs:thumb: . The whole train is in PERFECT running condition, and its cosmetics are in mint condition thanks to the GREAT CARE the crews at the EG&E continuously gave this train:thumb::mrgreen: . Fred, part owner of the RVRRM, is more then happy to add this OUTSTANDING addition to the museum:winki: .

A LITTLE HISTORY ON THE "RIVER WIND", PROVIDED BY Wayne:worship: ...
"...I named it the "River Wind", as the main line of the EG&E ran along the eastern banks of the Grand River in southern Ontario. The northbound train was called the "South Wind", and the southbound train the "North Wind", which confused a few folks until they remembered that the wind comes out of the direction for which it's named.
The locomotives are former New York Central units, rebuilt in 1966 at the EG&E's own shops - the 210 is an ex-E8, rebuilt to E9 specs, while the 212 is a Phase II E7.
This train was supposed to supersede the Grand River Chief, a heavyweight train, as the line's premier train, but after good initial response, ridership dropped. The majority of the riders were sightseers and railfans, and Windwhisper, a Pullman with 3 single bedrooms, a double bedroom and a cafe/lounge area was often left out of the consist. In 1971, diner Windstalker was set aside along with Windshadow, a compartmented coach/lounge/observation, and Windwhisper returned to the train, with the bedroom areas locked and unavailable to the public. The cafe area was available for light snacks and beverages.
Incidently, Winddancer is a 56 seat coach, with a smoking section, as was Canadian practice, with an additional 16 seats.
Ridership continued to fall, with the dome cars being used, in-rotation, one-at-a-time, and only enough coaches to cover the decreased passenger load. Headend business remained fairly strong, though, through the '70s, by which time the "Chief" had been replaced with RDCs (the "River Rocket").
With the creation of VIA Rail in 1977, The EG&E continued to operate the "Winds" under VIA, but the train succumbed in 1978, a victim of poor ridership and cost-cutting measures at VIA. What headend business remaining was either moved to other lines, under Via, or incorporated into fast freight trains on the EG&E itself.
As you know, all cars and locos were refurbished at the EG&E's own shops prior to sale/donation to the Museum, so they would have been ready for service upon arrival. Let's hope that Museum patrons get more miles of enjoyment from them than did the populace in this area."

**Wayne, i CAN ASSURE YOU, this train WILL be THOROUGHLY ENJOYED by all that visit the museum and are fortunate enough to ride it:winki::smilie: .

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jesso

Member
Great Roll-by! I like the back-story. Back-stories make the hobby even better. Your layout is very photogenic. You always take such great pictures on it!
 

cn nutbar

Member
Hi Deano---that sure is a beautiful consist and your pictures are excellent.While the passengers enjoy the luxury of your excursion runs,some of the head-end equipment from the EG&E continues to toil along on less glamourous assignments on my layout

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Nazgul

Active Member
Deano...Outstanding pictures! Wayne...what a beautiful train!
It certainly deserves to be preserved, enjoyed, and used at the museum.
I know I would wait in line for a ride!
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Thanks, Steve. It's very gratifying to know that these models, which are too modern for my '30s-era layout, have gone to good homes with two good friends. :-D

Wayne
 

steamhead

Active Member
Can't wait to get to Deano's to hitch a ride on that new museum train....Sure are beauties....
Meant to ask: What are those squarish structures on top of the locos..?
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Gus, those are icicle breakers - they're intended to break off icicles, especially in tunnels, to protect the glass in those dome cars. My basement, where the layout is located, is unheated, but it never got cold enough to actually try them out. ;):p:-D:-D

On second reading, though, you may be referring to the winterization hatches: these were placed over the roof fans to capture or limit some of the hot air being exhausted, and return it to the carbody. Most locos operating in cold climates used them - they could be removed in the summer.

Wayne
 

cnw1961

Member
What a beautiful train. Wayne, once again a fantastic job :inw:. BTW, I was wondering about the icicle breakers too – never seen them before, but they make a great detail.

Deano, this train must be the pride of the RVRRM.
 

steamhead

Active Member
Wayne...Thanks for the info...Not knowing one thing from the other, I believe it's the icicle breakers I was referring to....I think they may also come in handy at their new road...
Taking a second look, I think I've also identified the winterization hatches....
Two for the price of one....Go figure....:thumb:
 

UP SD40-2

Senior Member
Scott, THANK YOU:mrgreen: , for the VERY KIND complements:smilie: .

Wayne, THANK YOU!, :worship: , REALLY, if it wasn't for you, the photo shoot wouldn't have been possible:winki::smilie: , and i agree, your models couldn't have went to two better homes:thumb: , THANK YOU SO MUCH WAYNE:worship: .

nutbar, THANKS for posting the head end cars that went with the River Wind:thumb: . as you well know nutbar, we are BAR NONE, two of the luckiest guys around:winki: , we are so fortunate to be such good friends of Wayne's:winki::smilie: .
SPECIAL THANK YOU TO NUTBAR...
I want to give nutbar a SPECIAL THANKS!, for the UP calender he put in the last package i got from Wayne. nutbar, i have always liked the ice breakers on engines, but never seen any on a UP engine, TILL I SEEN THE UP CALENDER YOU SENT ME:eeki::mrgreen: , now i can prototypically put one on a UP GP40:thumb::mrgreen:

STEVE!:mrgreen: , THANK YOU for your very kind comments:mrgreen::mrgreen: .

Gus, THANK YOU!:mrgreen::mrgreen::smilie:

Kurt, you are right, that train IS the pride of the RVRRM:thumb::mrgreen: , but honestly, though i Cherish EACH AND EVERY ONE of the models i have bought from Wayne:worship: , the one that tops them ALL, even my Gas Turbine:eeki: , is #501:thumb::mrgreen: . (PIC BELOW:winki: )
From the moment i seen #501 i feel in love with it:mrgreen: , out of ALL of Wayne's SLAP FANTASTIC engines, i ALWAYS thought that was the most AWESOME engine of his WHOLE FLEET:winki: , i cant even describe how i felt when Wayne offered it to me:eeki: , TRULY A DREAM COME TRUE:thumb::mrgreen::mrgreen: .

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ON MY SIDE OF THE TRACKS...
Well, its Saturday, so of coarse i went to dads today:mrgreen: . after seeing the last roll-by i posted, dad decided to get out his northern pacific passenger train. the engine is an FM CFA, and the four cars are all Riverossi. we couldn't find the running CFA, only the dummy, so we put an NP F7 from an athearn NP passenger train that dad has on it to use it as the powered engine:winki: . i DCC'ed the NP F7, but no sound:eek:ops: . one of the riverossi cars still had repeido couplers on it:eek:ops: , so we decided to head to the hobby shop in Janesville for conversion couplers.

On the way to the hobby shop dad asked if i seen or herd about the NEWLY PAINTED WSOR ENGINE, it has the state of Wisconsin on it, i herd nothing about it, and asked dad where it was, he didn't know where the pic was taken, we figured it was at the WSOR paint shop up in Horicon.

as we passed WSOR's roundhouse i looked over at the engine yard, pretty bare, not much there:frowns: , i figured we wouldn't even stop in, not much sense in it since it was so barren:frowns: .

After we made our purchases at the hobby shop, we went out to the car, low and behold a WSOR train was going over the bridge right next to the hobby shop:mrgreen: . those tracks are owned by UP, but WSOR uses them too. the engine on the point was #4008, AWESOME!:mrgreen: , i have the model of this engine, and have never got a pic of it, its NOT a good pic, but still, i now have a pic of it:thumb: . (pics below)

i was quite surprised to see so many cylinder hoppers, they are common for Canadian roads, but not so much for these parts, looks like WSOR bought a few used ones.

Poor dad, you guys know i made him chase that train so we could get more shots:119: . ends up it passed right through WSOR's yard, it was headed to Chicago. well, we were in WSOR's freight yard and another train passed, full of fallen flag cars:eeki: , I'll post those pics in the "fallen flag" thread tomorrow:thumb: . (one teaser pic of an MKT below:thumb: )

OK, HERE'S THE GOOD PART...
As we were about to leave WSOR's freight yard, i quickly looked over and scanned the engine yard again, what was there?:confused: , WHY IT WAS THE WSOR ENGINE WITH THE STATE OF WIS. ON IT THAT DAD HAD MENTIONED ON THE TRIP UP THERE:eeki::eeki::eeki: . "DAD, DAD, QUICK, PULL IN THERE!! " :eeki: THERE IT WAS:eeki: , and it was coupled up to WSOR's most FAMOUS engine, #4025!:mrgreen: , now how COOL is that:thumb: . as we pull into the engine yard i notice the # on the NEW engine, it was #4053.

"Deano, so what if its #4053:roller: , whats the big deal? " :confused: , I'LL tell you what the big deal is, i took a picture of #4053 LAST SUMMER AS A UP ENGINE!:eeki::mrgreen: , THATS RIGHT, YET ANOTHER BEFORE/AFTER SHOT of an engine that i have:mrgreen: . (pics of both BEFORE and AFTER below:mrgreen: )

OK, now SOMEONE PLEASE dub me the "KING OF BEFORE AND AFTER SHOTS":mrgreen: . those that have followed this thread from the start know why i ask:winki: , for those of you NEW to this thread, if you follow this thread you will find SEVERAL UP engines that i have taken before and after shots of, CNW, SP, and Rio Grandes, all BEFORE they were painted in UP colors, and AFTER they were painted in UP colors:thumb::mrgreen: , AND...i have posted SEVERAL WSOR engines that were from assorted roads, mostly UP, BEFORE and AFTER shots:thumb::mrgreen: . NOT BRAGGING AT ALL FOLKS:cry: , just stating the facts:toug::mrgreen: .

SHEEW!! , all that was exciting:mrgreen: , hang on, i need a coffee and cigarette after that:119: ...OK, we got back to dads, and got his Riverossi NP passenger train going. i will try and post a roll-by of it next weekend:thumb: . that will be for Steve:winki::mrgreen: .

Till next time...Stay on track!:winki:

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#4053 BEFORE SHOT I TOOK LAST SUMMER:mrgreen:
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#4053 AFTER SHOT I TOOK TODAY!:mrgreen:
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UP SD40-2

Senior Member
Kurt, WOW!!!:eeki: THANKS for the trophy:thumb::thumb::mrgreen: (i saved the pic of the trophy to my hard drive:mrgreen: )

Gus, THANK YOU for seconding the nomination:thumb::mrgreen:

Deano, Master of the B/A - sounds like a university degree. sign1sign1
Wayne

Wayne,...ahh...perhaps i did go just a little to far on that one:eek:ops::119: , i just cant believe how many before/after shots i have taken:winki: . it really makes all those trips & pics i have taken over the last couple years seem worth the time it took, and all the pics i have taken:thumb: .

though really, ANYONE could do it, its just a matter of constanly going out and getting all the shots you can:winki::mrgreen: .
 

UP SD40-2

Senior Member
I've been doing so much rail fanning lately, i almost forgot i modeled:eek:ops:..:119:

i spent the day cleaning off the layout, put away about 40 engines i had out:eek:ops: , got all my freight car kits together so i can start working on building and weathering them, and i "beefed up" all my trees:thumb: .

i use Woodland Scenics trees because i think they look pretty darn close to whats here in Wisconsin, the problem is, when you get them they are to sparse:frowns: . i bought a big bag of clump foliage that matched the trees, took out my hot glue gun and added more foliage to all those trees, i think it gave them a better "Wisconsin look" :winki: .

i took shots of 6 engines with the "improved" trees in the back ground, here are 4 of the 6 engines i shot:smilie: , i havent weathered the other two engines yet:eek:ops: , so i opted not to post them:119: .

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