Yesterday four of us from the original 3985 Restoration Committee visited our old friend in the UP Steam Shop.
We had a good visit and it was good to recount the work we did on 3985 back in the late 1970's.
From left to right are; Bob Fryml, Bob Krieger, Rick Steele and John Boehner.
John was the spearhead of our group to get the restoration going.
At first we did all our inspections out at the display in the Cheyenne depot parking lot.
And then when we got the go ahead from the top officers we began prepping and lubing the 3985 for a movement to the roundhouse.
That was where we did all the difficult work. Fortunately 3985 was in good shape when the railroad parked it long ago.
So it wasn't that difficult to bring it back to service.
Now it is destined to travel to Silvis to be overhauled and place back on the high iron.
I wish Steve Sandberg and his group all the best as they take on this project among others.
I look forward to see it running again.
Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY
Thank you for you kind thoughts.
Yes, sadly 3985 will leave the home rails soon but it will be restored and operating again on rails I used to be a brakeman/ conductor on when I worked on the Rock Island.
They will have plenty of miles to operate on with the Iowa Interstate. It is my plan with Steve Sandberg's blessing to be there when they fire up 3985 again one day.
I remember how I had to hand fire that coal hungry locomotive on our first fireup to get enough pressure to get the stoker screw to turn. I earned my wings that day.
I look forward to seeing the Challenger operate. It is one of two in existence and the only to operate after the fall of steam operations on the UP.
It and the venerable 844 were stall mates for years. Actually under the UP steam program, 3985 operated 13 more years longer under the heritage program than it did in regular service. So we, the UP and its employees, did well.
I picked up a USAT 50' mechanical reefer recently for a great price and was wondering a bit about it. Did Charles Ro Supply decorate various pieces for USA Trains for advertising at train shows? I also seen some blue intermodal cars decorated for USA Trains though the seller wanted some serious money for those.
Guess just wondering if this was a USAT/ Ro in house decorating job or by some individual? Thought maybe some folks here that attend east coast shows may know?
Think they used stickers on this car and not actual decals. Painting was done very nice and car is complete. I may put a reefer sound module in it!
Chuck. It came out fantastic. How did you exactly do the decals and lettering
Hi, I make my own decals if I can using microsoft Word. Most all decals lettering uses a free CityOf font which comes close to U.P.s font "style". The script I stumbled upon in Word and is a Brush Script M7 font. The UP Herald was found online. I use MR Decal Paper which I found to be the best and ordered in from the UK. Decal paper makes or break a project as I've slugged thru some really crappy paper when I didn't know any better.
After making what lettering I need in Word then I convert the file to a .pdf and open in Adobe Acrobat XI Pro as can manipulate the words a bit such as grouping them tightly together etc. so use less decal paper. I've spent quite a bit of time over the years learning all that as it's the best to print decals at home if mess one up or just doesn't look right.
I use a HP CP1215 Laser printer and bought a Ghost White toner for it so can print white when needed.
I think next best way to print decals would be a UV printer but those are still priced way too high for me.
Thinking of painting and lettering a boxcar for the fictional Weyland-Yutani Corp. like this...
Back when I was into o gauge trains the 1999 MTH uncatalogued DAP (Dealer Appreciation Program) included a U.P. Big Boy along with a matching wide vision caboose. MTH dealers could only obtain 2 of each.
Here's a pic of the caboose that I always liked. I think it's a fantasy paint scheme but great non the less.
I always wanted one in G scale so I found a USA Trains Wide Vision caboose in New Have paint for cheap.
After stripping, painting and decaling I now have a Union Pacific Big Boy caboose.
I also removed the rear flashing red light that USAT used and replaced with their heavyweight marker lights as looks better with the era when Big Boys ran.
The Railroading Heritage of Midwest America will receive a bunch of trains from the Union Pacific. The RHMA is part of the famous Milwaukee 261 operation.
This is great news as 3985 does NOT deserve to be shoved into the corner of a roundhouse as she holds the records for both most tonnage and longest train to be pulled by steam in the 21st century. 3985 also ran 75+ mph all day.
Another great take on all this is these trains are to be moved to the huge RHMA location at Silvis, IL. and that is served by numerous railroads including the very steam friendly Iowa Interstate...I see great things happening at Silvis in the near future.
Sorry as I've never separated those 2 pieces. I've only removed body to service smoke unit etc. I did look into tightening a ditch light or see how it's mounted but backed out as looked like a project that I didn't have time for.
Hi, NO...don't plug any tender other than the original Triplex tender into the engine. The original tender is powered and the tether carries the signal lines to tell the electronics what to do. Plugging any other tender into locomotive risks damaging the PS2 electronics and costing more $$$ to repair.
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traveling G scale train set up?
in Indoor Layouts
Posted
The G Ga - National Christmas Tree Display Modular Layout comes up for auction on wed. Don't know how close you are to them but maybe worth buying?
https://cabinfeverauctions.bidwrangler.com/ui/auctions/84762