RMweb Gold Scottish Modeller Posted December 9, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 9, 2012 Hi all, I made an impulse buy (off Jez) for a RailAmerica Genset with SDIY road markings..... Now - what the H*** am I going to do with it - I mean I'm modelling the NE of America after all! I did have a thought to take an 'It's my model railroad' attitude and rebrand it to run on Haston. You neve know - one of these tight fisted Railroads in the NE must spend money and buy some up to date kit soon? They can't keep on buying old GP40s and SD40's or SD45's to keep on going (or can they?). Sooner or later they will run into the 'Official Block' and be told that this sirt of power does not comply with an updated set of Federal Ragulations for emmisions etc So -- I was intending to pre-empt that situation with the gen set and give it new road marings for NECR or Vermont Railway. . Then I got cold feet.................. Thoughts and suggestions appreciated Info on railraod operations in the San Diego area appreciated Just in case I decide I need a completely new layout featuring that location! Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
long island jack Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Think a new layout called for :no: Ray Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supaned Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I think a field trip is called for to do some research... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted December 9, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 9, 2012 San Diego is definitely worth a visit. Spent quite a bit of time on various trips to the city. Superb weather, craft beerwith loads of small breweries not to mention the light rail system that has freight operations in the small hours, Coaster commuter services aling with Amtrak. I have plans to model San Diego station complete with light rail in N scale so have quite a few shots of the station with a few in the industrial areas. I will dig out some photos that may be useful tonight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gwinnett Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Not to hard to imagine the UP Gensets in the OC offloading cars for the SD genie to deliver Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave1905 Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Not to hard to imagine the UP Gensets in the OC offloading cars for the SD genie to deliver Actually it is since the Surf Line through San Diego is ex-ATSF BNSF. The only other line that went to San Diego was the San Diego & Eastern Arizona, a former SP property. The SP abandoned it and it became the shortline. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWB Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 This book has come up here several times as a very good source for rail operations in Southern California: http://www.amazon.com/Southern-California-Locals-Railroad-Enthusiasts/dp/1475166788 The SDIV operates mainly on trackage that's electrified and used during all but the early-morning hours by the San Diego light rail trolley system. On the other hand, RailAmerica has many operations over the US, including New England Central. They routinely operate locos sublettered for one line on trackage belonging to other lines. Their San Joaquin Valley Railway has had locos for several years lettered for Minnesota Northern, Esquimalt and Nanaimo, and Florida East Coast, all Fortress Capital/RailAmerica operations at one time or another. The one possible sticking point is that the purchase of gensets is heavily subsidized by various agencies, and there may be restrictions on moving them out of a particular jurisdiction. However, there have also been errors whereby the locos got shipped out anyhow! It would be easy enough to explain the loco in New England, and I would say that foreign power almost anywhere is so routine that hardly anyone notices any more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted December 9, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 9, 2012 When my wife and I stayed there a few years ago an enormously long train of auto-racks went north late every night. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWB Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 That would be BNSF. A lot of this is in the book cited -- there's a daily Barstow-San Diego manifest and auto rack trains as needed to wherever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gwinnett Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Actually it is since the Surf Line through San Diego is ex-ATSF BNSF. The only other line that went to San Diego was the San Diego & Eastern Arizona, a former SP property. The SP abandoned it and it became the shortline. Oh I don't know, allowing reality to crush our dreams of transatlantic ignorance Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 When my wife and I stayed there a few years ago an enormously long train of auto-racks went north late every night. Mexico is often forgotten as being a major vehicle manufacturer- my Chrysler was made there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted December 9, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 9, 2012 When my wife and I stayed there a few years ago an enormously long train of auto-racks went north late every night. Yes that was much the same in our recent visits. We normally stay in the Holiday Inn on the Bay and if you have a city facing upper level room you can normally see the station and any trains although the new high rise condos between the hotel and the station will partially block the view. We often heard the shortline local in the early hours og through the station but we didnt get up to look. Last new years eve there were private hire cars parked in the platforms. These had come down on the rear of a Surfliner and stayed there till the next morning. The owners even gave us a guided tour around them - very friendly!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold John B Posted December 12, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 12, 2012 GM, especially, make a lot of vehicles in Mexico. Also the port of National City, just south of San Diego, is a major entry point for Japanese and Korean cars. Lots of autoracks on the Surf Line.. A recent addidtion to the local scene is the "Sprinter" commuter service from Oceanside to Escondido (run by North County Transport District, operators of the Coaster), on the old Escondido branch (which was relaid in it's entirety). It uses European (Siemens?) "Desiro" DMUs - not to be confused with the much larger Desiro EMUs used on the LMR, etc. Another recent addition is the Pacific Sun RR - a Watco subsidiary - which uses 4 GP35s in a smart black / yellow livery to switch the Escondido sub, the Miramar industrial sub, and San Onofre Nuclear Power Station, with trackage rights over the Surf Line. Recent Amtrak sightings have included at least one F59 in "Cascades" livery - a long way south of Seattle - and some venerable Amfleet single deck cars topped and tailed by Genesis P42s - one presumably converted to slave cab operation - a change from the regular double decker Surfliner push-pull stock. Oceanside (where I live) is a fascinating location for traffic, being the junction for the Escondido branch, as well as the point where Metrolink service from LA, and Coaster from San Diego, ends (both sets of stock are serviced at the NCTD yard), also there is rail traffic for US Marine Corps Camp Pendleton (there's a resident US Military switcher often to be found lurking around the erstwhile Fallbrook Junction). If you need any pictures, let me know! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 John, I don't know anyone on here that can resist photos!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted December 13, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2012 The Escondido branch is well worth a rdie on the Sprinters. We have used it a few times and more recently to do the Stone brewing not too far from the penultimate stop plus other breweries along the route. This line has some very interesting platforms with extensions to meet up with the DMU's doors but fold up to allow the extra width of USA locos and freight cars to pass by.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Scottish Modeller Posted December 13, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2012 Hi all, Looks like I may not have the Genset much longer! I've had a swap offer for a much more likely EMD product that is very suitable for a New England/Guilford layout... Watch this space However - I just saw the photo of the Sprinter above and think that's a nice way to be able to model freight and passenger service. Decisions, Decisions - What to do for the best! Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted December 13, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2012 Not quite sure how you would make the platform extensions move but yes it would be an interesting model. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supaned Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Perhaps as a compromise , have the platform on a passing loop/siding track , with the extensions left out , so any freight traffic uses the main track. Piko do make a Desiro DMU in HO scale, though not in Coaster paint ; that said , Ottawa in Canada has "O Train" which uses similar DMUs in DB red , presumably with a few local decals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Scottish Modeller Posted December 13, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2012 Not quite sure how you would make the platform extensions move but yes it would be an interesting model. Hi all, I was thinking that resistance wire could lift up the platform extensions triggered by opto detectors? Or fit freight power with a magnet to trip a reed switch to power up some sort of actuator mechanism? Plenty of ways to do it. Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWB Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Some lines in the Chicago area had a similar issue with narrower passenger equipment using the same trackage as standard freight equipment. One solution was a gauntlet track that routed the freight trains over rails that were offset toward the center at the platforms. I believe the reconstructed Pacific Electric cars that operate on the Pacific Harbor Line require similar platform extensions, which are manually operated by the interurban crews. But on many Amtrak and commuter lines, the handicapped ramps also need to be extended when people board trains in wheelchairs. It seems to me that a Tortoise switch machine would be the easiest way to power such extensions on a model. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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