Towers, Dispatching : We hear on the Forums are lucky to have someone who has been allowed to photograph the loco cab that is in service on a major class 1 rail road. All of the roads in my aera Frown on photos taken whithout getting permission first hand, :P and It seems that the day that I am asked to ride up in the cab, I did not have a cam. ahhhh lol, but the photos you did are great, by the way, do you have any photos of any of the few Towers that are still in use in the New England aera, as much as I under stand the CTC system, and the Great tours that I have been on down in the Master CTC center across the street from Philadelphia 30st. station, I was blown away, that what looks like a flight control center for NASA, they are still phaseing in controls points BOS,NY,PHIL,WASH,HARR. well that was back in 2004. And a wee look at my Tower model and dispatch control of many rail roads hear in the US, Canada, and a few aeras on the Euro Rail system in the UK. The photos below are of the NEC north of New york border starting at Branford sta. in to Boston W tower south of the boston station.
Security is BIG. I spent my entire working days in "Vertical Transportation". I had, in the 1980s, worked at the Twin Towers. After 9/11, on 9/12, I was sent to the Prudential Tower in Boston to meet with the Building Managers on added Elevator Security. People, and people with cameras, are not always welcome in locations where you are moving the publc. Railroads, Elevators, and Airlines! On the other hand, photographing crew training, escorted by a Amtrak Manager, is an offer you jump at.
Access on railroad property is restricted for your own safety as well as security. Employed by a sub-contractor in the Boston Area, I have had to attend "Right Of Way" (ROW) Safety Training every two years to maintaine access. Also, to access secure areas in some High Rise buildings also required an FBI check.
On the up side, to be the guest of a BLE Officer or a NTSB member in a Diesel cab has also been great thrill. A retirement gift 4 years ago was a days training on a Mikado Steam Locomotive ("you've got 6 grade crossings, don't hit anything")
Don U. TCA 73-5735
You asked about the Locomotive behind the "Challenger".
Gilford Rail System SD45 by Aristo-Craft.
Garden Railroads are "G Gauge" or "1 Gauge", both run on 45MM track. This is about twice the size of "O" gauge. "G" Scale size can run from 1/22nd (Narrow Gauge) to 1/29th (most popular) and 1/32nd (true scale for 45mm track), "O" Gauge is 1/48th scale..
Buildiers in "G" gauge are LGB, USA Trains, Bachmann, Hartland, Aristo-Craft (like my SD45), and MTH Railking (My Hudsons, Challenger, and SP GS2).
Ridge Road is a fine dealer, I use them as well as others. Check Garden Railways Magazine in this "Trains.com" site for more dealers.
DMUinCT wrote: Garden Railroads are "G Gauge" or "1 Gauge", both run on 45MM track. This is about twice the size of "O" gauge. "G" Scale size can run from 1/22nd (Narrow Gauge) to 1/29th (most popular) and 1/32nd (true scale for 45mm track), "O" Gauge is 1/48th scale..Buildiers in "G" gauge are LGB, USA Trains, Bachmann, Hartland, Aristo-Craft (like my SD45), and MTH Railking (My Hudsons, Challenger, and SP GS2).Ridge Road is a fine dealer, I use them as well as others. Check Garden Railways Magazine in this "Trains.com" site for more dealers.
Sure, that's true enough, but LGB does not adhere to any known scale, including their own. There is a wide diversity of scales (and pseudo scales such as LGB's Gumby scale) that creates a major headache in the Garden RR world as something labeled "1/22.5" from one manufacturer may or may not be the same "1/22.5" from another. That is why most G gaugers don't go too much in for the fine scale modeling aspect of the hobby, but entertain themselves in other ways.
Now there are a lot of fine scale G'ers out there, don't get me wrong, but if you intend to go out and buy a fine scale G anything, you may be disappointed by what you find. BUT (caveat and disclaimer!) in the word of "outside" a bird or flower will always be 1:1 scale, so a train only needs to "look right" to be right.
There is so much more you can do in G than any smaller scale I can't even begin to cover it here. All I can say is to go outside and set up a train, you won't be disappointed!
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
Thank you both LOL, sounds to me this is A Matter Of Taste, than the tech, side of thing. :) fact is This Old House did a Garden RailWay TV Episode a few years back or that other PBS house building program, saw it 5 times, the tape i made is somewhere around, at one of my buds house :) I am just looking at the PDF Scale and gauge charts, from our home page.
This clip is cool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwRsnHh7R5E
One thing I notice how much nicer the controls of a North American passenger diesel fit into the hands compared to the deltic.
So I Gather You Have Never Been insid a Running F-40PH at Track Speed LO LOL, or had the Chance to sit in the Right hand seat at the controls of a GG-1 :) hmmmm I am not yet going to tell you what is't like ,only to say.... 1.after leaving the cab of a F-40PH on a 4 hour trip. It was Hard to Hear Anything anyone was saying. and 2. do not enter the GG-1 ... If you are clostrafobic :D, NOT comeplaning just the facts lol
Ahhh Thanks for That Sweet Vid.:D of Deltic's days gone by:)
Yeah I know that on the av US based designs of that period did have noiser cabs compared to European diesel locos. A good example of that, is in Australia where in the 60's/70's the various state systems had both British and American designed equipment in use. If you asked drivers which loco they would prefer to drive it was almost universal that Clyde/EMD or a Goodwin/Alco would get the gong ahead of an English Electric. After privatisation of the state systems you ocasionaly see English Electric relics around on work trains operated by South Spur railway services or hired out to other operators. But from drivers I know who have driven EE's, certainly don't have a very high opinion of them and one of the biggest complaints was the cab layout. As to the point about GG1's you are spot on.