Weekend Update 9/22/19

[basementcalling]

Best part of my weekend was winning one of the N scale door prizes at he MARPM meet. Won a dozen Atlas coalveyor cars, a Walthers modern flood loading silo kit and an N Scale of Nevada multi track signal bridge kit. I think they all came from Bernie's basement as he is getting rid of his old N scale equipment.

Figure I could eBay the signal bridge kit and pay for my registration and raffle ticket expenses. 

[C855B]

... an N Scale of Nevada multi track signal bridge kit. ...

Figure I could eBay the signal bridge kit and pay for my registration and raffle ticket expenses. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/382480775823

[rickb773]

...
The fleet in staging awaiting dispatch.

From where did that Reading Company RS-3 come?  Did Atlas ever sell one in the plain green?  I seem to recall that it sold one in yellow and green, but I do not remember plain green.

I actually am fortunate enough to have (3) Reading RS3s. They were Reading's preferred power for taking coal over the PRSL to power plants on the Atlantic coast.
(It must have killed Pennsy that Reading had those contracts!)

The one peaking out from Bob's photo of my staging yard is a one I got off eBay and probably custom painted with extra parts and number boards.
I think it was from a later Atlas run of RS3s. It is marked Atlas and made in China on the bottom. It did not come with a box.

My other two are from an earlier Atlas run and came in an Atlas box marked "RS-3 Locomotive 4250 Reading" and the bottom trucks are stamped 17708 Japan. They are the Atlas stock color (with a touch of weathering). I have heard some Reading modelers complain about the color (most of Reading's RS3s seemed to be less "bright") but I have seens some Reading RS3 photos that seemed to be similar to the color Atlas choose.

They must have been a rarer Atlas offering. It took me years to find them on eBay and most Reading diesel engines seem to generate high bids.

[GaryHinshaw]

Track crews were able to schedule some overtime today to get the new track work at Kern Jct nearly installed.  Here they have spotted the new turnout set in place upside down while they inspect the power feeders (14 in all, including the frog feeders):



(Pardon the LED strip in the upper corner.  I'm trying out some new lower deck lighting.)  It took several cranes to lift the unit in place while the crews threaded the feeders underground:



Hopefully the surveyors marked the locations of the feeder conduits correctly! 

A sigh of relief was breathed when the unit was finally in place:



Thankfully all the bores were correctly positioned.  (Of course one frog ended up directly over a riser, so its lead had to be routed off to the side.)

Train crews will test this critical track thoroughly before it's glued down, but it's sure nice to have the most complex piece of track work on the layout nearly done.   

[jagged ben]

Lookin good Gary.

[brokemoto]

I actually am fortunate enough to have (3) Reading RS3s. They were Reading's preferred power for taking coal over the PRSL to power plants on the Atlantic coast.


The one peaking out from Bob's photo of my staging yard is a one I got off eBay and probably custom painted with extra parts and number boards.
I think it was from a later Atlas run of RS3s. It is marked Atlas and made in China on the bottom. It did not come with a box.

My other two are from an earlier Atlas run and came in an Atlas box marked "RS-3 Locomotive 4250 Reading" and the bottom trucks are stamped 17708 Japan. They are the Atlas stock color (with a touch of weathering). I have heard some Reading modelers complain about the color (most of Reading's RS3s seemed to be less "bright") but I have seens some Reading RS3 photos that seemed to be similar to the color Atlas choose.

They must have been a rarer Atlas offering. It took me years to find them on eBay and most Reading diesel engines seem to generate high bids.

I never have seen those freight units from Atlas/Kato and had no idea that they existed.  Further, I do not remember ever seeing the prototypes in that green or with that font for the road numbers.  The font for the road numbers and road name is different.  I believe your description, I just never was aware of the freight units.

I have seen photographs and prototypes of the green of the passenger unit.  If I read the number correctly, 472, that was, in fact,  a correct number for a Reading Company passenger equipped RS-3.

I am guessing that the green of the freight units was a later color?  Did it appear between the Pullman Green and Green and Yellow era?

Nice work on the PRSL.  I do not model that road or either of its parents, but, it is an interesting road nonetheless, so I always enjoy seeing it modelled.

[AlkemScaleModels]

Best part of my weekend was winning one of the N scale door prizes at he MARPM meet. Won a dozen Atlas coalveyor cars, a Walthers modern flood loading silo kit and an N Scale of Nevada multi track signal bridge kit. I think they all came from Bernie's basement as he is getting rid of his old N scale equipment.

Figure I could eBay the signal bridge kit and pay for my registration and raffle ticket expenses. 

I alerted everyone to the large amount of N Scale stuff in the raffle.

Bernie

[Ed Kapuscinski]

So here's what I'm thinking about the "light green" RS3.

That green looks like the green they used on their last scheme (like the MP15s, SW1001s, GP39-2s and GP40-2s): http://www.readingmodeler.info/index.php/articles/89-locomotive-reference/road-locomotives/189-emd-gp39-2

My guess would be that they wanted to do a Reading unit and were afraid to tackle the green and yellow scheme and found a very late repainted RS3 as a prototype.

Or...

That they were trying to do the correct dark green and thanks to the wonders of old-school global communication before Webex just got the color wrong: "You said dark green boss".

[DKS]

Here are all of the Reading locomotives I've been able to find:

http://davidksmith.com/modeling/new-jersey-railroads/rdg-locomotives.htm

If anyone knows of others, please let me know so I can update the list. Thanks.

[Point353]

Here are all of the Reading locomotives I've been able to find:
http://davidksmith.com/modeling/new-jersey-railroads/rdg-locomotives.htm

FYI, the MTL stock number for the Reading FT locos with roadnumber 250 is 992 00 041.

[DKS]

FYI, the MTL stock number for the Reading FT locos with roadnumber 250 is 992 00 041.

Fixed, thx.

[bnsfdash8]

BNSF Dash8 Looking great! Are the dynamic brake housings scratch or 3-d printed/cast and what was your source? I need about a half dozen of them.

It was scratch built with styrene and some parts from scrap shells.

If I ever decide to do another I'll draw one up and print it.

[OldEastRR]

About those MTL UP cabeese that were all yellow... I painted the roofs of a few for my friend. The visors should have been brown (I found out later), but that's for touch-up.





Also painted the stack, and red paint over the almost-translucent-red-plastic end railings/ladder helped the look. (the crud is adhesive left from the masking tape).

I'd have to say this would look better with a much thinner roofwalk.

[JanesCustomTrain]

(the crud is adhesive left from the masking tape)

What did you use for masking, cheap brown packing tape ?

Jane

[OldEastRR]

Some kind of soft adhesive medical tape that lifted off w/o tearing what it was stuck to. wanted to try it once. The crud easily wiped off with a soft cloth.