Sunday Photo Fun for 6-4-06

[mitchelr]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pbjwilson

Wind-ups, Who said wind-ups?

Paul the Painter - Wow your windups are gorgeous. The ones I picked up are pretty beat, but I like them. I have a circle of two rail Marx track and I think I am going to lay the loop on a small circular table in my office and display one or both of the wind-ups.

Mitch [swg]

[FJ and G]

Great windups and tinplates; very colorful and metallic!!!!!

Love it!

Code 148 rail with cedar ties cut on table saw. Spikes are 1/4 inch staples also cut and pushed in with needle nose pliers

Now, come take a trip with me, please, from Union Station, D.C. to Crystal City, VA

No, that sleek Acela parked up there isn’t our train



AND, neither is that Amtrak freight locomotive on the left (I didn’t know they had big freight haulers; perhaps coal is a backup plan to passengers!). NO, it’s that sleek Coaster set coming up that we’ll be boarding today (actually this was yesterday evening when took photos)



We leave Union Station thru a long, long tunnel. I start to feel sick an nauseas because of the fumes and my eyes hurt really badly. Sure hope we don’t stop in here!

But out we pop, finally and there’s the Nation’s Capitol off to the right (thus the caution for trains carrying dangerous chemicals!). The building in front is the Library of Congress, where you must be a congressman to check out books.



Then, we pass an old PRR tower. Didn’t know towers still exist!



And, we arrive in D.C.’s Elephant Train Station (can’t pronounce the name so that’s what I call it). Eager passengers are clamoring to get their favorite seat.





Then we pass the Jefferson Monument and the Washington Monument; great scenery!



And cross the vast Potomac (populated with Snakehead fish). That trestle is the Metro subway yellow line. The far trestle carries the 14th street I-395, the site where a jet crashed a decade or two ago and where most perished beneath the ice except for a lucky few who got rescued by brave swimmer passers by



And finally, our arrival in Virginia (still under PRR catenary, minus wires) at Crystal City, where eager passengers are clamoring to find any seat at all if they are lucky.



And I hour later I arrive at the end of the line, Broad Run Airport, where this week a jet crashed into the railroad right of way.

Hope you enjoyed the trip; you’all come back now; ya hear!

[1688torpedo]

Dave- More interesting photo's you've got there. You could get a good job with the History Channel & use your photo's to teach history. It would be very interesting to watch as well.Take Care.

[FJ and G]

THanks, Keith,

But first, Houndzilla and I are planning on writing a history of the Beagle dating back from the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and the part that beagles played. She's a bit of an armchair historian.

[Birds]

Dave - great pictures! This is a great way to get in and out of DC for a day of sight seeing if one is visiting and staying near one of the two lines.

I used to ride the VRE (Virginia Railway Express) when it first started and only had the single decker cars pulled with GP-40 diesels. It's been great to see this commuter rail expand and grow over the years, and even better to see 3-rail versions of it being offered!

K-Line's First Edition 2005 catalogue (or catalog if you prefer) had the newer VRE trains with the newer engines you have pictured. They kept the Sounder paint scheme but put on VRE lettering (which I don't believe actually made it onto the newer cars in real life). Not sure if any were ever produced. Did anyone order any of these?

MTH (in 2004) also did the VRE Bombardier cars in the Sounder paint-scheme (with VRE on the side), but they didn't offer the GP-40 or the F59PHi diesels as the motive power. Odd decision. Instead they supplied an F40PH [:0]. Odd decision because MTH was offering the GP-40 in three roadnames in that very same catalogue.

Enjoy,
Birds

[FJ and G]

Thanks, Birds,

Was stationed with USMC here 89-92 before VRE so no enjoying NO COMMUTE ON 66 or 95!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jim F,

Don't tell anyone in the 2-rail O scale world but my ties are 2.5 per tie short (meaning that it would take 2.5 times more ties to make this prototypical). This is our secret.

[Birds]

Dave's pictures and the MTH and K-Line catalogues got me wondering, so I did more research into the VRE/Sounder trains and learned quite a bit. It's amazing how a railroad is constantly changing to keep equipment operational and to keep people moving.

The MTH and K-Line offerings do match what VRE ran/runs.

For those interested...

VRE equipment roster:
http://www.vre.org/about/equipment.htm

Here is a link to a VRE memo authorizing expenditures to repaint the Bombardier trains - removing VRE logos and putting the original Seattle transit (Sounder) paint scheme back on.
http://www.vre.org/about/Ops_board_items/2003_opns_bd_items/October_Ops_Bd_items/Action%20Item%208-B%20Sounder%20Restoration.pdf

Here is a link to a photo of some F40's used on the VRE in 2000
http://www.dcnrhs.org/union_station/union_trains.htm

And a link to 2000 VRE minutes discussing leasing F40's from Amtrak while the current roster of GP39s get overhauled.
http://www.vre.org/about/minutes/minutes-february2000.htm

Always learning...

Birds

[Anonymous]

I would post some pics if I could figure out how to do it. If someone wants to send me their e-mail I can forward my pics and you can post for me.

Marc

[mitchelr]

QUOTE: Originally posted by hobo79

I would post some pics if I could figure out how to do it. If someone wants to send me their e-mail I can forward my pics and you can post for me.

Marc

Marc/Hobo79

On the first page of this thread there is a posting by Spankybird. He has a link to posting instructions within his post. You must have pictures posted to a host site, but it is fairly simple to do.

Mitch[swg]

[spankybird]

QUOTE: Originally posted by hobo79

I would post some pics if I could figure out how to do it. If someone wants to send me their e-mail I can forward my pics and you can post for me.

Marc

Kinda hard to send you an email when you don't provide an email address in your profile. [:(]

here is another link that can help you

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20382

[;)]

[Brutus]

QUOTE: Don't tell anyone in the 2-rail O scale world but my ties are 2.5 per tie short (meaning that it would take 2.5 times more ties to make this prototypical). This is our secret.

[;)] You got it, man!

[Anonymous]

hope some one can help me im lookin for a clear shetches of a train to trace on a wall been looking everywhere no luck plz can some one help me trying to fix up the bedroom for set of twins ( boys) thanks again

[Demon09]

You could try going here http://www.railfanusa.com/drawings/sd90mac-ii.gif and printing it on clear overhead paper. Overhead paper is the kind of clear cellophane paper that teachers use on those old overhead projectors. One of these sheets is the same dimensions to fit into your computer printer. You could print this locomotive onto it and somehow trace that onto the wall.

[Demon09]

there are more locomotives on that site as well, and there is another site with about 50 locomotives drawn up like that but i wasnt able to find the site again. You can do a google image search of blank locomotive and it should find something like that