Road/yard slugs

[long island jack]

Looking for help in locating articales on modeling road/yard slugs.

 

i've a couple of gp35 which could be donors,what other types of loco's were used?

 

Any help would be appreciated

 

Ray

[The Bigbee Line]

What roads are you modelling? 

 

CSX had some GP-35 road slugs, just remove the doors and all bar the dynamic brake fan, job done

 

http://rdg5310.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2490757

 

I'm sure that a Southern GP-30 was rebuilt to a slug after a wreck, the GP-35 frame and walkways would make a good basis.

 

The Southern used yard and road switchers so almost anything will do.

[Glorious NSE]

These days road slugs look at first glance rather like the donor loco they were converted from - but as Ernie says, usually with removed/plated fans and grilles. (Some retain dynamic brakes though.) 

 

Yard slugs generally look rather different, with a cut down body for visibility. (But as they are intrinsically home grown, lots of variation - so there are examples of lowered, cabless road slugs (NS) and lowered, cabbed yard slugs (BN) for example!)

 

Often the slugs are paired with a specific "mother" unit, as the pair need to work as one loco electrically, so more connections between the two than is usual, some slugs also act as a fuel tender for the "mother" unit.

 

Again as Ernie says, GP35s have been used as donors for road slugs by CSX and in the same programme were GP30s (which means the distinctive shape lives on in the modern YN3 scheme on CSX!)

 

NS's Altoona shops are turning GP50s into road slugs at present, they were previously using GP38s, other railroads have done so on GP40s or similar.

 

Some examples:

 

Sandersville 91 - cut down switcher, pretty good example of what most yard slugs end up looking like, almost irrespective of what the donor loco was!

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=433757

 

INRD3001/INRD301 is a newly converted set for the Indiana Railroad, and in most ways seems to be a good example of a modern road slug set - the slug retains it's side grilles interestingly (mostly they don't) - but no fans on top however - Looks to have been a GP40 donor in this case, and it looks to have kept dynamic braking and fuel carrying capability.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2576788

 

RSR807 - nice high angle shot of this ex Geep - if you're freelancing this is a good example of what to plate over and what to leave alone!

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2197192

 

That ultra-modern GP30 look on CSX

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1838124

And the '35 equivalent

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2432126

 

Before the recent cabbed conversions NS had these, I think they were originally Geeps, heavily cut down, but with a curious "hump" for the DB, a different approach to the modern road slugs which keep a working cab.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1572198

 

BN converted a number of old SD9s into what they called TEBUC-6s - built to work with SD38s or similar on yard hump work, they had a cut down body and a brand new switcher-style cab, making them look rather like an SW1500 on steroids - There's no less than 3x of them in this image with no powered loco, meaning that none of them are going anywhere!

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=542136

 

Santa Fe use the more conventional way of having a hump slug, i.e. no cab, this unit had been a former Illinois Terminal SD39 in a previous life! (Conrail also used the same concept for humps, theirs included ex Alco RSD units cut down...) - again, paired with something like an SD38 or SD39...

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=510045

 

IHB has a couple of these freaky looking things, which they call "PB" for Power Booster - donor loco in this case was an SW7 (some were NW2s) and it's pretty much chopped down, with a big boxy ballast weight added - the tall thing the other end is a headlight for when the slug is leading on the road.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=409075

[Adrian Wintle]

Conrail had RS-11, RSD-12 and RSD-15 based slugs - NS inherited a bunch of them.

http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/misc/miscindex.html

 

The MT-6s were later rebuilt with trucks from redundant SD7s and SD9s.

 

CN used something that looks like an MT-4 (but was likely GP9-based) paired with a GP9 to run the Toronto-area local from the Langstaff yard to the nearby industries on the Newmarket sub.

 

Adrian

[Glorious NSE]

Forgot i'd got these, Adrian's post has just reminded me - shot them at Conway yard, Sep 2000. NS (ex Conrail) hump slug set PRR3802 (SD38) and PRR1112 - PRR1112 has the EMD trucks on the Alco conversion as Adrian notes. 

 

 

(Edit - and in the background you can just make out a similar pair in NS paint...)

[roundhouse]

Here is a CSX slug converted from a GP35.

 

Taken in 1993 at Wildwood in Florida on a local freight.

 

 

[Adrian Wintle]

I have enough GP35 parts lying around that I might attempt one of those. It looks like a fairly simple task.

 

Adrian

[roundhouse]

Adrian

 

I suspect yours will be in N?

 

 

For my HO layout I used an old Athearn GP35 with the wide body then cut the hoods off, fitted new Canon ends , short hood, and cab,then used styrene to do the blank long hood sides and top. The old Athearn dynamic housing was cut down in width and a new fan fitted on top.

 

The 'mother and slug' were the first locos to get sound. The void in the slug was handy for the sound only decoder and large speaker

 

Ian

[Adrian Wintle]

Adrian

 

I suspect yours will be in N?

 

 

For my HO layout I used an old Athearn GP35 with the wide body then cut the hoods off, fitted new Canon ends , short hood, and cab,then used styrene to do the blank long hood sides and top. The old Athearn dynamic housing was cut down in width and a new fan fitted on top.

 

The 'mother and slug' were the first locos to get sound. The void in the slug was handy for the sound only decoder and large speaker

 

Ian

 

Yes, in N. I'm thinking I can get away with minor mods to the long hood - the Stealth paint is pretty easy. Of course I would then need something to pair it with - I do have a GP40 in YN2 paint that would probably work (although I might have to put yellow ends on the slug).

 

I got a job lot of shells at one of my local stores - two each of undec Atlas GP35, undec Atlas GP30, CP Kato GP38-2, CR Kato GP38-2, plus a bunch of other bits.

 

Adrian

[alastairb]

A few photos of slug units taken on my travels in North America. First from Vancouver BC

 

 

The lead loco is a CP Rail GP35 based on slug. Unlike many other slugs it has retained its doors and grilles. However, it has lost the radiator fans at the rear of the long hood and the exhaust stacks are capped. Building a model of this is on my ever-lengthening to-do list.

 

Next up a BNSF Slug attached to a GP7U in Oklahoma City

 

This is another example of a cut down yard slug, but here being used in local / transfer service. Not sure what the slug was converted from, possibly a GP7 or GP9.

 

Taken in Dayton Ohio a CSX GP30 based road slug

 

 

Apologies for the quality of the photo it was a grab shot on a wet dark March day. The loco consist was 2 GP30 slugs and 3 GP40s

 

Alastair

[DanielB]

Nice, I'm loving the looks of these.

[TotalLamer]

Keep in mind that you're going to need to add a bunch of electrical cabling between the slug-and-mate. Unlike the usual jumpers and MU hoses, this cabling is NOT something that can be separated... at least not without tools and whatnot.

[pH]

The Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy) had a yard slug, rebuilt from an F7A: 

 

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3169704

 

and also this road slug, built from a wrecked GP40 (#222):

 

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/mkt/mkt501abp.jpg

 

501 operated between GP40s #226 and #227 as a single unit, which was split up only for heavy maintenance:

 

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/mkt/mkt227cbp.jpg

 

 

[Talltim]

Somewhere in my to do list is BM 100 in Guilford paint

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locopicture.aspx?id=6930

I think that the truck at each end was powered from its respective loco, the slug always ran as part of a three unit set

[Prof Klyzlr]

Dear RMWebbers,

 

NB that IHBs PB1 was a SW9, with a fueltank from a GE planted on top.
I have a P2K frame, pair of Bullant Trucks, and an Atlas GE tank
(eBay seller "soo-much-stuff", highly reccomended for Atlas/B'mann spares, and detail parts!)

 

which are going together into this combination as we speak...
1x Ath SW1500 "orange" unit already acquired as the "Mother" for PB1,
 

and 2x IHB "brown" SW1500s mistakenly acquired that are NIB looking for a new home if anyone's interested...

 

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

[dave_long]

Does this count: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=453746&nseq=24

 

You could use the new Kato spares traction motor style motor for this, although you'd need to sort it with the Blomberg B's. I like the painted F.

 

All good fun

Regards

[trisonic]

It would be useful, I think, for someone who really knows (i.e. not me) to detail exactly what equipment  is left onboard Slugs. Looking at the photos it appears to be obvious that the specs are different. Why and how?

 

Best, Pete.

[doctor quinn]

Seaboard Coast Line had road slugs built new by GE to match their U36Bs, which they called MATEs (Motors for Added Tractive Effort) there was an article in the 80s in Railroader.

 

From memory they had traction motors, blowers, fuel tank and pump to extend the mother U-boat' range.

 

Nick

[Prof Klyzlr]

It would be useful, I think, for someone who really knows (i.e. not me) to detail exactly what equipment  is left onboard Slugs. Looking at the photos it appears to be obvious that the specs are different. Why and how?

 

Best, Pete.

 

Dear Pete,

 

Slugs loose their diesel prime mover and generator/alternator,

and usually have it replaced with something heavy, like a concrete block.

 

For "yard slugs" they keep their traction motors, a basic traction-motor-transition system

(only needs power at low notches, cuts out above say notch 3),

their train-brakes, and maybe a compressor (for brakes) and maybe a blower (for firing cooling air at the traction motors)..

 

For "road slugs" with functional cabs, they may get a more-advanced traction-motor-transition system

(to try and eek gains from those extra traction motors at higher throttle notches/speeds),

and a functional set of MU/throttle/brake/horn controls.

 

Extended range fuel tanks and associated Slug<>loco piping is only considered when a given loco "mother" and slug "mate" are semi-permanently coupled together. If the slug is commonly moved between locos, then the extra engineering and safety issues of connecting a linked fuel line tend to render it impractical....

(The fueltank is  also a prime location for that added concrete ballast weight, esp as it keeps the weight down low and stable...) 

 

Hope this helps...

 

Happy Modelling,

Aim to Improve,

Prof Klyzlr

[shortliner]

A bit of info from Wiki  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slug_(railroad)  similar to what the Prof has said

[trisonic]

Cheers, guys. It's useful to literally spell it out....

 

Best, Pete.

[long island jack]

plenty of food for thought there,is there any modeling articles to show where to start,and what with?

 

like the low profile type slugs,though the CSX GP35 looks a easier option.

 

Ray

[Prof Klyzlr]

Dear Ray,

 

Funny you should ask, May 2012 Model Railroader Page 52 (which I found today in an otherwise severely disappointing visit to a LHS) has you covered.

(CN based GP7 slug, inc retaining the stock Atlas drivetrain, but the overall concepts are easily transferrable...)

 

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

[woodenhead]

So to test if I get this notion of what a slug is, if DB Schenker took two class 66s and made one a slug, would they then be able to perform the heavy haul of a 60?

[CraigZ]

CSX uses SD40-2s and cut down Geeps (or at least that's what they look like based on the hood ends and the Blomberg B trucks) at Hamlet, NC both on the hump and often as yard trimmers.

 

CSX 2407 at the north end of the receiving yard prepares to shove a long train of cars over the hump.

 

One of the slugs - note no headlamp on the end coupled to the mother.

 

And another slug from the 'free' end - headlamp is present.