SteamPower4ever

Bjorn, can we see a closeup of your Santa Fe F3 set? Both A and B units, please. Jens

Seeing you already have an airbrush, have a look at Vallejo colors. Their 'Model Air' line is made especially for airbrush, and I use them out of the bottle, or worst case with just a few drops of thinner added to the cup. The colors are really easy to work with, and they dry up with a very hard surface. I haven't tried, but I'd say they will be OK outdoors. Not to be left outside, mind you, but for a garden RR where the equipment is taken indoors, when the management is absent. Perhaps try it out on a yard shed or whatever, just to see how the color behaves long term outside. Jens

Ohh - vast subject. I use acrylic colors that can be masked after 24 hours. Even then - if my priming is not done well enough - I have experienced the paint coming off, but it only happens occasionally. If your paint says 7 days to dry, well, I'd leave it for 7 days. Without knowing your painting strategy or the look of the result, I would say you should be careful about the masking tape already applied. If you wait until the paint has dried to remove it, you could end up with some ugly edges. Do you have a picture of the prototype? Jens

Joe, it's a great looking engine, it's yours, and you are having fun pursuing a dream. Don't worry about it taking the time it takes. You should work on it whenever you feel like it or when you're inspired - that way the result will be much better. It can sit there for a year or two, and then suddenly the flame starts burning again and you start working on it. I know about the details when scratch building. It's the blessing and the curse of modeling large scale. You can make all the details the prototype has, but you reach a point where it's getting ridiculous, because nobody will ever see it. The tricks is - I think - to include whatever details are necessary for yourself to happy with the model. You know, so you don't afterwards go "I should have added ..." And even then, if you find out you stopped short of something that is or has become important, just add it and respray the whole thing. I think it's a totally cool project, and the result looks like it's going to be great. It always looks horrible without the paint, and the transformation of the model when I apply the primer is always most satisfying. Then it all comes together, and I can see minor flaws that need filler or whatever. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is just hang in there. You've got a great thing going, and if you need inspiration, call out to us. I'm sure we all have all kinds of silly ideas that you can reject, because listening to us, you may get a much better idea. Best regards, Jens

From the "2013" batch? Edit: Never mind - I got NP mixed up with NS ...

@Joe: The ATSF warbonnet unit in your earlier post - that's an F3 by MTH, right? It looks much better than any picture I've seen before ... Jens

Ray, Any clues as to when the ATSF warbonnet F7s will be released? If you don't know, a lie will do I found a video on YouTube with some UP F7s of the previous batch, and if I had a tail, I'd be wagging it by now Jens

Stop me if you have seen this before, but while surfing idly through the interwebs, I came across a guy who has converted a Märklin Maxi F7 to 'methanol-electric' power. There's even a video on the 'Tube: I guess this is as close as you get to 1:32 diesel-electric ... You gotta hand it to him for creativity Best regards Jens

Bob, Yes, I see that the E series had two 567s per unit. I guess it's a local thing. The F series was the direct predecessor of the MY class - the 'diesel that did it' here i DK - so that's as far as history normally takes us, unless we start digging into what happened next in the US. But with the Big Boy on the move to Cheyenne and my F7s on order from MTH, I've started reading about US locomotive types, and while the subject is vast, it's very interesting. I'd love to have an E8 consist eventually. They look absolutely stunning on your video. Did they run AB only or were they also used as ABA or larger? According to Wikipedia, ATSF didn't have a lot of them. Jens

Wow - it looks and sounds great Is the EMD E series a bit underrated? Here in Europe we mostly think of the F series when we think of EMD. Well, I do anyway ... Jens

Thanks, Ray. I guess the water tanks are on the sides because the third cylinder inside the frame does not leave room for a tank. Or maybe it's a matter of volume. Either way, from the fireman's view, the S class is nice, because instead of the normal two suction injectors, the S has one suction injector, one gravity injector and one feeder pump. Normally the pump is standby, but the gravity injector is placed below one of the side tanks (the two tanks are connected), and it floods immediately, and then you can just open the steam and blast water into the boiler. Works every time without problems. I am a certified fireman (as seen on my avatar), and I have fired and driven 736 on numerous occasions The S class engines did not have the massive smoke plates from birth. Very soon after they entered serviced, it was realized that the exhaust was too soft, and the smoke had a tendency to blind the crew. Thus, all engines were fitted with the large side plates and a shovel-like plate at the front, so the smoke and steam could really be blown upwards. I talked to the manager of the steam workshops, who was on the engine that day, and he told me they had narrowed the smokestack exhaust opening to get more draft in the firebox. This has indeed cured the engine's tendency to bake the coals when running backwards, especially when not using premium coal, which is hard to get these days. Incidently, the other one of the surviving S class engines - no. 740 - is a movie star. It was featured in the James Bond movie 'Octopussy', disguised as a German class 66 At the time, 740 was in England, but it's now back in DK, being overhauled by a club, but it's hard to tell when it will be operational. Jens

Hi all. Today the DSB Museumstog - the operating branch of the Danish Railway Museum - ran three trains not far from my home. First and last round trip was steam hauled, and I followed the steam train most of the day. The trains ran on the main line between the towns of Næstved and Vordingborg, which is a fairly short trip. The line there is hopeless for chasing and the train is relatively fast, so the name of the game is to pick a spot for each run and getting the most of it. Shooting video is very different from taking still photos, and this is my first attempt shooting 1:1 train videos. Also, my camera is not really a video camera, but a still camera that just happens to take reasonably good 720p video. So please excuse the wind noise in the mic. Other than that, I'm really quite happy with the result. I have my favorite spots along the line, but they are only tested for still photo. Using Google Earth, I got an idea about where to go for video, and as luck would have it, the places I picked were even better than I had hoped. When I can only meet the train on the line four times, every take must count. And they did. Also, I got some bonus shoots with the switching to and from the yard. This may have been one of the last chances to shoot a steam train on the 'old' line, because the main line is due for a speed upgrade and electrification. The S class is a 1C2 or 2-6-4 tank engine with three cylinders, originally built for commuter service on the short lines north of Copenhagen. After electrification of the suburban lines, the engines saw service all over Sealand (or Sjælland as we call it locally), so the line here is actually home turf for the locomotive. While the boiler of the S class is a little too small, it's a great engine, and it's steaming well. A little speciality is the double return crank on the left side of the locomotive, visible at 10:55 in the video below. The additional crank is for the center cylinder. Enjoy ... Jens

I have now ordered - through Ray - a Santa Fe F7 ABBA set, and the plan is still to convert it to DCC with all units powered and operating independently. That plan is subject to change, however, when I see how it's built. @Bart: You're not forgotten. but the LokSound decoders are fairly expensive, and with this set and a BR50 on order, it may take a while before the piggy bank recovers, so I can repower the F7s. Best regards Jens (Who is writing this while waiting for a steam train at an absolutely beautiful spot. Video here)

A couple of screenshots from this evening's stream (well, it's evening here, anyway ) The train has stopped in Moapa for greasing the bearings before heading out into the desert towards Caliente.

Outstanding photos. Sharp, crisp and well composed. Well done. Wish I was there, but the guys and me are saving pennies for a trip across the pond, once 4014 is steaming again Looking forward to more reports from the move to Cheyenne. Jens

Royal post, Ray!

Fleet Manager's Log, October 10th, 1958: Today we received from the workshop the open freight cars type PER no. 17689 and type PE nos. 17701, 17723 and 17731. All four cars have been rebuilt to new condition, and they are released for operation, effective immediately. Also, in exchange for a paint job for an other operator, the workshop has received type PE no. 17744, which - while not fitted with parking brake and steps for the yard crews - has been handed over to fleet. Due to the current shortage of rolling stock, this car is also released for operation, effective immediately, bringing the total fleet of short open freight cars in operation to a total of 19. Jens

Ah, yes - the operations dept. must make sure that a layout maintains a high WAF at all times to keep upper management happy. For those of you that don't know, WAF is the Wife Acceptance Factor, which is usually used by HiFi enthusiasts to classify loudspeakers, where a good sounding loudspeaker is often very large and ugly, and thus has a very low WAF. It would seem the size and condition of a model railroad layout - especially outside in the garden - directly affects the WAF also. Jens

Really good looking engine, there - and great work putting it back together. Well done.

Looking really good - nice smoke outdoors

Hi all. For years I have had a personal site, mainly to show my pictures of steam locomotives. Some time ago I decided the site had grown to a size where I could no longer be bothered to maintain it, so I shut it all down. Gone. Bye! I have taken some great pictures through the years, though, and I thought it would be a shame that they just sit on my hard drive, so I've collected the cream of the crop and opened an account on Flickr. So - with further ado - I present to you my best steam locomotive pictures. More will follow. I'm still trying to find my way around Flickr. Best regards Jens

Maybe those guys know something that is not mentioned anywhere, and I don't know what the different "subs" are, but from what I can see on the UP site, 4014 is indeed going over Cajon. First scheduled inspection stop is by Hwy 138 and Lone Pine Canyon Rd, smack in the middle of the pass. Next stop is Victorville and then Barstow, and from what I can see on Google Maps, any deviation from the obvious route would seem odd. But hey - it's a railroad, and there could be a gazillion operational reasons for doing whatever they choose to do. Best regards Jens

A scene from the paint shop. The undercarriages have since received a second coat, fixing the greyish areas, and they're all ready for lettering now. Best regards Jens

Have fun. As Ray said, we want to see pictures and video and ... and ... and ... Best regards Jens

The schedule for the move is posted on the UP web site. Over Cajon Pass on April 28th and arrival in Cheyenne on May 8th. Just follow the crowd of cars loaded with people with cameras and lenses. 4014 will be somewhere in the middle of the pile. On a YouTube video of the move to Bloomington, I noticed a couple of Union Pacific Police cars. UP has their own police department? Best regards Jens