SSW Morning Star

[Sokramiketes]

Who's the local Cotton Belt expert and what do I do with the new Rapido Osgood Bradley coaches and the 2018 Micro-Trains Cotton Belt heavyweight pack?

I have very few references in my library for Cotton Belt.  But the color guide for St. Louis shows a neat PA (daylight) and FT b-unit (black) combo in the TRRA engine facility.

Where did they run the PA's and where did they run their single FP-7?

[squirrelhunter]

You need Steve Goen's 2 books- his Cotton Belt Color Pictorial and Passenger Trains of Texas: Cotton Belt.

They had the St. Louis- Dallas Lone Star and the Memphis- Dallas Morning Star. I think both trains had connecting locals to Tyler (and there to Waco), Shreveport and to St.Louis for the Morning Star.

Basically the 2 PA's were originally used St. Louis to Pine Bluff, with RS-3's working the trains from Pine Bluff to Dallas/Tyler. IIRC, the FP-7 was ordered for extras and as protection power for the PA's.

In 1954 or so SSW rationalized things down to a St. Louis to Tyler train that combined with a connection to Dallas an Mount Pleasant TX. Then the PA's and FP-7 started working the whole way St. Louis to Tyler, with RS-3's on the Mount Pleasant-Dallas run. I think by 1959 or 1960 SSW was out of the passenger business and the PA's worked freight with FT's briefly before going to SP's lines west of El Paso.

A BLI PA, an IM FP-7 or sn Atlas RS-3 or a big 4-6-0 would work for power. I think SSW dropped their diners after 1952, and a lot of the phots show more than 2 head end cars,     

[Point353]

[Sokramiketes]

Passenger Trains of Texas is on the way. That color pictorial is going for big buxs so still looking.

Two coaches enough??  I moved the couplers inboard on the MTL set. Really wish they would took a second hole for the 1015’s to make that easier!

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[wazzou]

Good to see that you still have that layout.

[squirrelhunter]

Two coaches should be good for the Dallas Section, if you want it to be the train north of Mt. Pleasant I think there should  be an extra coach and at least 1 extra baggage.

When they did the consolidation of trains, the train north of Mt. Pleasant had a Bag-RPO, 4 baggage cars and 2 coaches. They split the train there with the Bag-RPO, 2 baggage cars and a coach going to Dallas and the rest to Tyler.

I forgot to mention that if you want to use the diner and do an early 50's version, SSW still used 4-6-0's and 4-8-2's until about 1951 or 1952 to power the trains to Dallas. The 4-6-0's were big engines unlike anything in N. But the 4-8-2's were ex FEC Alco built engines. They had 73" divers, but you could probably dress up a Bachmann Light 4-8-2 to look the part.

[nkalanaga]

I second the MT mounting holes!  The only MT passenger car I have is the GN's "Fire Instruction Car", and had to drill new holes to move the couplers in.  WAY too far apart for good appearance, and not needed unless one has very sharp curves. 

I put my 1015 screws 0.25 inches from the outer face of the diaphragm, and they work fine through 16.5 inch radius curves, and Peco 18 inch (Medium) crossovers, pushing and pulling.  (Yes, I have one sub-minimum curve, that just happens to be on the passing track at one station, so that's my passenger minimum)

I run a mix of body and truck mounted couplers, and the 1015s work fine with the truck-mounts.

[brokemoto]

PA's worked freight with FT's briefly before going to SP's lines west of El Paso.

The FP-7 wound up in SF Peninsula Commute service.  By the late 1960s, it was on its last leg.  Its usual assignment was #110, which used to be the all stops local/accommodaiton train until SP stopped running local mail and express on the SF Peninisula.  Despite the absence of the head end cars, the train soldiered on as an all stops local and had pretty much become the Early School Bus on Rails, as the boys of St. Francis and Bellarmine used to ride it if they had extra-curriculars that met before school or had to do some work in the library.  The train was down to one Harriman sub; occasionally two if one of the schools notified the SP that there would be a bunch of boys on the early train.  I do not remember its northbound counterpart; #131(?), perhaps.  Even in the era of heavier passenger traffic, it usually carried a Harriman baggage, Harriman baggage/mail and one Harriman sub coach.  You almost never saw a bi-Level on it.  Up until 1956 or so, the power was usually a ten wheeler, mikado (almost all SP mikados had steam lines and signalling devices) or the occasional pacific.  After 1956, or so, it was that FP-7 or a GP-9 (either a torpedo boat or one with dB).

 I never saw the GP-7 anywhere.  If I saw either of the PAs, I do not remember.  They usually ran on the Daylight, Lark or #96.  I do not recall ever seeing a PA that worked a Peninsula commute.  Officially, SP retired its last PA in the mid-1960s, but I saw a few after that.  They were sitting at Bayshore or Mission Bay and had not been whitelined, so I assumed that they were still on the active roster.  I do not recall ever seeing a PA on the Del Monte.  The power for that one was usually a pair of GP-9s:  torpedo boat or those with dB or sometimes a mix.  Only three or four cars ever continued to Monterey, so the train was overpowered between Monterey and San Jose.  It did carry commuter cars between SF and San Jose, which were switched in/out as appropriate.  There was usually an FM yard goat assigned to San Jose station.

[altohorn25]

I swap all my MT heavyweight car couplers out with Z scale 905's.  The only cars I still need to move the mounting hole are the mail/baggage and baggage cars.  All the other cars you can use the stock hole and the 905's shorten up the distance nicely. 

[Sokramiketes]

Good to see that you still have that layout.

It's still there in dad's basement!

[wm3798]

I gotta say, I'm really enjoying this series.
In a world where we get hung up on modeling a place or a piece of rolling stock, it's nice to see passenger trains assembled and run the way they were.
Those shiny old ConCor box sets were nice, but looking at these trains you're putting together really brings home the the idea that they actually went somewhere, and connected with other lines to get somewhere else.
Really nice work.
And a perfect fit for the current environment that is so reliant on traveling modular layouts.  Every train looks the part regardless of the scenery its passing through.
Looking forward to the next installment.

Lee

[Sokramiketes]

I gotta say, I'm really enjoying this series.
In a world where we get hung up on modeling a place or a piece of rolling stock, it's nice to see passenger trains assembled and run the way they were.
Those shiny old ConCor box sets were nice, but looking at these trains you're putting together really brings home the the idea that they actually went somewhere, and connected with other lines to get somewhere else.
Really nice work.
And a perfect fit for the current environment that is so reliant on traveling modular layouts.  Every train looks the part regardless of the scenery its passing through.
Looking forward to the next installment.

Lee

Thanks Lee!  I guess it is turning into a series.  I should document some other consists that are complete in the case too.  My favorite projects combine RTR with a couple key kitbashes to really highlight the railroad in play.  They each took a special approach to amenities and service cars, which goes back to what they were marketing to travelers at the time.  Some sleek and matched, some a conglomeration of multiple builders and construction techniques. 

[brokemoto]

I guess it is turning into a series. 

I should document some other consists that are complete in the case too.  My favorite projects combine RTR with a couple key kitbashes to really highlight the railroad in play.  They each took a special approach to amenities and service cars.........  Some sleek and matched, some a conglomeration of multiple builders and construction techniques.

I have enjoyed your topics on the various passenger trains, as well.  It is a series.

While you are on the SSW, you might want to move to the Parent Company and do #96-97, The Coast Mail or, as the SP men used to call it, "Sad Sam".  It was one of the ugliest mail trains that I ever have seen, particullarly in its last years when it was a mix of green, silver, Daylight and grey cars; and those were just the SP passenger cars.  There were cars from other roads as well as the assortment of express box cars from SP and other carriers and even  an Overnight box car or two (SP had a small number of Overnight box cars that had pass-through steam lines)  The power was also a mixture of colors when the diesels worked it:  mostly Black Widow and Daylight.

[Sokramiketes]

Ok, lost out on an eBay bid for an Intermountain FP-7, so we move on to plan B.  Reletter a Kato SP PA.

I figured I'd try a video to document a technique to scrape factory pad printing.

[thumpernickle]

Would you mind sharing the name or source of the handle you are using the video?