This past week I spent some time running the newly painted Penn Central U-Boat 6557 in various assignments. Let's take a look at what the 6557 and friends have been up to;
A three unit set of U-Boats enters the West Side sidings and reverse curve.
This part of the West Side is usually reserved for four axle Geeps or switchers.
With flanges squealing the U-Boats surprisingly make it through the West Side
A three unit set of custom painted Athearn BB GP35s roll towards Terminal Yard on track 2.
A trio of PC Geeps holds on track 3 awaiting clearance.
A short time later a three train meet!
The EMD Geeps are still in the hole on track 3.
The GE U-Boats are slowly rolling towards a red signal on track 2.
Train NY-2 lead by an ALCO FA-FB-FB-FA lash up climbs up track 1
and a green signal towards Terminal Yard. Last time we saw the ALCOs
was on April 4th when they were headed towards Chicago with Train LS-1
The crew of the big GE Units are gathering in the slack on track 2
Last entry I talked about the dummy U-Boats being sleds and making them rolling better. Below is a U-Boat dummy truck with a metal electrical pick up bar. If you look closely you can see that the metal axles sit in plastic sleeves. This is a sled.
This is a corrected U-Boat dummy truck. The metal electrical pick up bars have been bent away from the wheels. The plastic sleeves that house the axles have been filed with an emery board to loosen their grip on the axles The axles and sleeves were oiled slightly. This was a huge improvement.
This is also a U-Boat dummy truck. No metal strap. No sleeves on the axles. The axles fit into the side frames much like an Athearn freight or passenger car. This unit rolled pretty well out of the box.
A five unit set of U-Boats roll across the Empire City Viaduct. The two end units are powered. The middle three are non powered / dummy units. All are Athearn BB.
Keeping with the six axle theme two SD35s lead a manifest freight through Empire City Station
on the lower level behind a wall of covered hoppers.
The five U-Boats measuring four feet in length lug a coal train through Empire City.
Note the new PC covered hopper from the March 28th entry at the lower right.
One of my last vivid memories of the PRR is of watching an eastbound U28C with an F3B in the consist, working a freight out of 59th St Chicago. I would definitely think about running first generation EMDs with the U-boats!
ReplyDeleteGood Info John! I'll definitely look to do that but there is a small obstacle at the moment. Lack of a decent B unit for this. None of my existing Bs would look right or work well in this lash up. Time to put in a call to the Purchasing Department!
DeleteLooking great! I also like the idea of a mixed consist that might include a B unit. Thanks for the tutorial about free rolling dummies. I have a couple of sleds myself!
DeleteThanks Ralph! It's unanimous...Need to mix up the consist with a B unit. Hope the purchasing department approves the request! and hope to see your newly free rolling sleds in action soon!
Delete