Layout Odds & Ends July-August 2026

 Greetings All,

Layout Odds & Ends July-August 2026

July and early August was a busy time in the train room with three projects completed and the purchase of some new motive power for the combined family fleet. What started as a continuing search for locomotives of a specific railroad ended with several purchases but not one of the road names I was searching for. Such is the life of a trainaholic...

The DJS Railway Locomotive Search

The DJS Railway, named after my nephew who sports those initials and who has entrusted my with his Southern Alco FA locomotive continues to run transfer trains between the DJS Sterling Yard and Terminal Yard providing important connections to southern railroads, manufacturers and markets.

A typical DJS Railway transfer from Sterling Yard with Southern FA-FB Alcos and leased FB-FA locomotives passes RA tower on its way to Terminal Yard.

For several months I have been trying to add another Southern FA-FB set to make this a four engine Alco FA-FB-FB-FA lash up. Finding Southern engines for this has been frustrating to say the least. There are few to be found so far on the typical model railroading internet selling sites and those that are listed are way over priced. Below the FA-FB set is starting to show some weathering from all their hard work.

Leased LV Alcos can often be found in the DJS motive power consists are are also showing some wear and tear. After watching an LV video that included their Alco fleet I noted they were extremely dirty from the soot coming out of the exhaust. I painted the vents on the Southern units above and the LV units with a black wash. They look better to me now with some grime.

DJS Railway Action July, 2026

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This feature is often included in the ebay email search notifications for Walthers Trainline Southern locomotives. This three engine ERIE A-B-A lash up like new in their boxes was offered at a Buy it Now price of $50.00 plus $8.50 for shipping.

My son the BINO man is also an Erie / Erie Lackawanna man so these will be added to his portion of the combined family fleet.

Here are two of the Erie locomotives leased to the DJS in July.

With the Erie engines running a PRR passenger train with a pair of E8As belonging to my other son made a nice layout companion.

The PRR E8A 5700 is mars light equipped and was actually purchased by my son when he was in high school. The 5700 became PC 4300 at which time the mars light was blacked out.

An Erie RR transfer powered by the new FA-FB-FA consist makes it way thru Empire City.

The Erie Alcos are ready to head back to their own railyard from Terminal Yard. Have to admit this is a good looking consist and was a great buy.

But Wait There's More

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A pair of used Athearn Blue Box EMD GP7 locomotives (one powered - one dummy) were also included in a you may like this email notification. A previous owner installed and painted the handrails. I added the black paint to the vents. CBQ #244 was in fact a CBQ GP7 however without dynamic brakes.

The powered locomotive is an old school Athearn with the silver flywheels and metal truck frames. I swapped that motor for one with a gold flywheel and it runs fine in multiple with my other BB engines. CBQ locomotives could be found in power pools with the NYC, PRR and PC which was the reason for this purchase.

The non powered CBQ GP7 also numbered 244 (pending a renumbering) was put into this consist featuring a Walthers BNSF GP9m and friends.

The friends are the two Santa Fe Walthers Trainline GP9ms below that found there way to the BINO mans portion of the combined family fleet in late July. I was looking for BNSF predecessor BN and ATSF motive power that I could run in multiple with the Trainline BNSF engine on my DC controlled layout. The search for a BN locomotive is ongoing.

ATSF 2050 in the blue & yellow warbonnet scheme is numbered for a similar looking GP7M. ATSF 2264 in the red & silver warbonnet scheme is a GP9M but in the blue and yellow paint. I blacked out the grills on all four units.

With new locomotives to test I put together several locomotive consists and trains from the combined family fleet like this early BN train with predecessor NP & CB&Q power.

The NP hi hood GP has been in the fleet for almost twenty five years now and fits right in with the new CB&Q GP7 on this train.

I bumped the era up to the BNSF and put together a few consists and trains. The BNSF GP38-2, an Athearn BB model, is another veteran of twenty plus years in the combined fleet.

The new Walthers Trainline GP9m and a veteran Trainline BNSF GP9m team up to bring tonnage to Terminal Yard. These three engines ran in multiple reasonably well.

Last but not least some of my Conrail fleet got into the action with a run thru BNSF GP38-2. The CR locomotives are Athearn BB and have been with me for well over two decades.

BN, CBQ, ATSF, CR and others enjoy their layout time.

Last But Not Least

Let's Try The Local Hobby Shop

On Saturday July 25th, 2026 I visited Trainmaster Models in Auburn, GA to pick up a parts order and look for some Southern motive power and rolling stock. I came across this Southern All Door boxcar and Central of Georgia boxcar in the football or blimp scheme. 

The CG is a subsidiary of the Southern Railway. 

Both cars are Bachmann products that came with knuckle couplers and metal wheelsets. According to photos on the Facebook Prototype Freight Cars page both are in fact prototypical.

The DJS Soldiers On

The DJS Railway continues to work the Sterling Yard-Terminal Yard transfer runs using leased power from his cousins locomotive fleet that provides an important connection to the southern markets and interchanges. It's become kind of a family affair reminding me of the short lived Family Lines after the L&N-SCL merger.  Here is the DJS in action in August

Final Thoughts and Comments

The search continues for that elusive reasonably priced Holy Grail of the Southern Railway, the elusive FA-FB set as of the writing. It appears that the longer the search goes on the more "you may like this" notifications I will receive. This will no doubt put my willpower to the test to avoid additional purchases. We'll see how that works!!!

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!!