Oh no! I'm Having THOSE Kinds of Thoughts Again!

[davefoxx]

The CF7 was a creation of the AT&SF back in the early 1970s. The Cleburne shops of the Santa Fe essentially took its F-units and rebuilt them into road switcher configurations.  This was not as easy as one might think, because they could not just remove the carbody and slap on a new one.  The F-units' covered wagon body was like a truss bridge, and it contributed to its strength.  In other words, once the sleek body was removed, AT&SF had to build a stronger frame, which can seen above the fuel tank and trucks on the CF7.  In most cases, the cabs and the hoods are built from scratch.  Apparently, this saved the Santa Fe thousands of dollars, as it was able to rebuild a few hundred of these locomotives at a fraction of the cost of new Geeps.

DFF

[POVC]

I just picked up the TRAINS LOCOMOTIVE 2010 special edition and there is an article on the Aberdeen & Rockfish in it.  Titled "Stronghold in the Sandhills", it is the last article in the magazine (Page 92).  It discusses the history of the road and it's current engine roster.

A couple of interesting tidbits...
1. GP18 #300 has some unique features, including having 4-36" fans instead of the standard 2-48" fans.
2. They are performing (or have just completed) a complete rewiring of GP38 #400; GP18 #300 will go into the shop for it's own rewiring when #400 is done.
3. GP7 #205 is named the John Blue, GP38 #400 is named Duke Blue Crane, and both have the names painted on the nose.
4. GP7 #205, GP18 #300 and GP38 #400 were all bought new by the railroad in 1951, 1963 and 1969 respectively.  GP38 #405 was bought in 2002 from the Northern Illinois & Wisconsion; it previously belonged to LTV Steel Mining and Erie Mining.
5. The newest additions to the fleet are two SW1500 leased from GATX and the CF7 reassigned from Pee Dee River; these locomotives were added to service the new Clean Burn Fuels ethonal plant at Dundarrach, NC.  It is estimated that this plant will TRIPLE the yearly freight carloads on the A&R.

Tim

[RockGp40]

The CF7 was a creation of the AT&SF...

Did someone mention CF7s???



This above shot was from a moving CF7 also pictured here:

[extra7000south]

I just picked up the TRAINS LOCOMOTIVE 2010 special edition and there is an article on the Aberdeen & Rockfish in it.  Titled "Stronghold in the Sandhills", it is the last article in the magazine (Page 92).  It discusses the history of the road and it's current engine roster.

A couple of interesting tidbits...
1. GP18 #300 has some unique features, including having 4-36" fans instead of the standard 2-48" fans.
2. They are performing (or have just completed) a complete rewiring of GP38 #400; GP18 #300 will go into the shop for it's own rewiring when #400 is done.
3. GP7 #205 is named the John Blue, GP38 #400 is named Duke Blue Crane, and both have the names painted on the nose.
4. GP7 #205, GP18 #300 and GP38 #400 were all bought new by the railroad in 1951, 1963 and 1969 respectively.  GP38 #405 was bought in 2002 from the Northern Illinois & Wisconsion; it previously belonged to LTV Steel Mining and Erie Mining.
5. The newest additions to the fleet are two SW1500 leased from GATX and the CF7 reassigned from Pee Dee River; these locomotives were added to service the new Clean Burn Fuels ethonal plant at Dundarrach, NC.  It is estimated that this plant will TRIPLE the yearly freight carloads on the A&R.

Tim

I picked up a copy too and the article on the A&R is very good.
Some nice photos as well.

And....
Gotta love those CF7's!!!

[davefoxx]

I just picked up the TRAINS LOCOMOTIVE 2010 special edition and there is an article on the Aberdeen & Rockfish in it.  Titled "Stronghold in the Sandhills", it is the last article in the magazine (Page 92).  It discusses the history of the road and it's current engine roster.

A couple of interesting tidbits...
1. GP18 #300 has some unique features, including having 4-36" fans instead of the standard 2-48" fans.
2. They are performing (or have just completed) a complete rewiring of GP38 #400; GP18 #300 will go into the shop for it's own rewiring when #400 is done.
3. GP7 #205 is named the John Blue, GP38 #400 is named Duke Blue Crane, and both have the names painted on the nose.
4. GP7 #205, GP18 #300 and GP38 #400 were all bought new by the railroad in 1951, 1963 and 1969 respectively.  GP38 #405 was bought in 2002 from the Northern Illinois & Wisconsion; it previously belonged to LTV Steel Mining and Erie Mining.
5. The newest additions to the fleet are two SW1500 leased from GATX and the CF7 reassigned from Pee Dee River; these locomotives were added to service the new Clean Burn Fuels ethonal plant at Dundarrach, NC.  It is estimated that this plant will TRIPLE the yearly freight carloads on the A&R.

Tim

Tim,

I picked up that magazine from a bookstore a few weeks ago, and it was that very article that sealed the deal for me.  It screamed, "Model me!"  The next thing I knew I had ordered a few locomotives and freight cars and begun planning a new layout.  Good stuff.

DFF

[davefoxx]

UPDATE: I am closing in on a preliminary hollow core door layout track plan.  When I get something worth showing, I'll sketch something up and scan it into the computer to share it.

My thoughts are to model Aberdeen, NC on one side of the layout and Raeford, NC on the other.  Aberdeen has a small yard, which I believe was shared by SAL (later SCL/SBD), original NS (later Southern), and the A&R, and the road's three-stall enginehouse is located there.  Raeford has an interchange with the Laurinburg & Southern, plus a couple of industries to switch.

I'm thinking about trying to squeeze the 3.5% grade up Bethesda Hill coming out of Aberdeen, which could do a couple of things for me, if this will all fit: 1) adding a grade means short trains (accurate to the prototype A&R) and could be visually (scenically) interesting, 2) I may be able to squeeze a hidden loop in which will add a bit of length to the standard HCD roundy-round loop and could allow me to hide a connection on the Raeford side of the layout to a future yard on an adjacent 12" shelf representing Fayetteville.

Dave

[extra7000south]

That sounds like a plan to me Dave!! 

[davefoxx]

Please forgive the very crude (not-to-scale) sketch, but here is my preliminary idea of the A&R on a hollow-core door.  DISCLAIMER: I'm not worried about sharp curves and stiff grades.  They're prototypical!  Besides, the 2' x 4' layout that I have now has been a very good experiment for reliable tracking on 10" radius superelevated curves, including running full-length passenger cars.  Hopefully, I can get some 12-14" radii curves, but I won't lose sleep over 10-11" in the hidden loop.  Remember, this layout (as is the prototype A&R) is practically freight only and usually short trains.



I'm thinking of using 1" foam rather than 2" foam on top of the door.  Not only am I hoping that 1" foam is more consistent in thickness (maybe available in 4' x 8' sheets as opposed to 2' x 8'?), but, if I use 1" foam, I can set Aberdeen at +1" and allow the grade toward the loop to actually drop until it reaches the point it crosses under itself.  That will reduce the elevation at Raeford, although I'm not concerned too much there, because the prototype has a stiff 3.5% grade out of Aberdeen up Bethesda Hill, which would be the track between Aberdeen and Raeford on the end where the enginehouse is.

Things I like about this plan are: 1) it can be a reasonable facsimile of eastbound traffic out of Aberdeen, which heads north and then east (counter-clockwise out of Aberdeen); 2) the variety possible for different industries and commodities; and 3) the number of different interchanges to add operational variety and traffic.  FYI, none of the sidings are set in stone.  In fact, I really borrowed a few of these ideas from Gordon Odegard's A&R track plan in the 1965 MR article just to get something down on paper.

Oh, most importantly, you will notice the odd shape of the overall layout.  I plan to add some width to the door by adding approximately 4-6" in width on a portion of one side and one complete end to expand the door and relieve some of the optimism of this plan.

You can also see the provision for a future extension to a 12" shelf (staging yard) to represent Fayetteville.  This would be similar to the Yard-on-a-Shelf that I built for the Virginia Central and would likely have to wait until the next house.

I'll gladly accept any constructve criticism.  Thanks in advance.

Fire away!
DFF

[Dave V]

Door layouts are hot.  Time for a sandwich... ;D

[DKS]

I'll pop it into the old track planner and see what comes out, although by eye I have the sense that about 1/3 of the sidings in the yard would have to go...

[davefoxx]

I'll pop it into the old track planner and see what comes out, although by eye I have the sense that about 1/3 of the sidings in the yard would have to go...

DKS,

I appreciate your help.  That's actually a double track mainline (for the Seaboard System) cutting diagonally across the front of the layout with a three track yard (joint A&R/SBD/SOU) coming off the main.  Think about it this way: coming counter-clockwise around the layout into Aberdeen, the A&R comes to the SBD tracks, which it crosses over to get to the shared yard tracks.  I'm probably more concerned about the length of those yard tracks than I am getting in at least three tracks.  Since the track centers would be 1-1/4", there should be room for the five tracks in the first 12" depth of the layout.  That's also why I added width to the layout at then end of the HCD.  By the way, that angle of the SBD mainline can be shifted.  I was trying to get away from paralleling the layout edge and trying to maximize the radius on the left end of the layout.

Thanks for your help,
Dave Foxx

EDIT:  Here's the inspiration for Aberdeen's track layout.

[DKS]

Yes, I understood the general arrangement. I should have been more clear--up to 1/3 of sidings might have to come out of the yard area, or more accurately, the front half of the layout. But I've already started pushing the buttons, and it's possible to squeeze just about everything in. The harder part will be the back half of the layout, particularly the helix. Stay tuned...

[JDouglasFisher]

I know that doors are convenient, but why not just build a 3 foot x 8 foot tabletop?

average door is 30x80, It'd be a hard sell to me that you don't have an extra 16" of space to stretch (and comfortably) fit your layout plan on.

Just a thought. I like the plan, and am looking forward to following its progress.

J

[davefoxx]

I know that doors are convenient, but why not just build a 3 foot x 8 foot tabletop?

average door is 30x80, It'd be a hard sell to me that you don't have an extra 16" of space to stretch (and comfortably) fit your layout plan on.

Just a thought. I like the plan, and am looking forward to following its progress.

J

J,

I like the hollow-core door, because it gives a structurally-solid base in only about 1 1/2" thickness.  To build a 3' x 8' frame (or 3' x 7' in my case) would likely be much heavier and not as stiff.  Layouts that I built in the past with L-girder construction seemed like they could rack, when moved.  The sturdiness of the HCD will come in handy as this layout, like most HCD layouts, will be designed to be portable.  My local home center has 36" x 80" doors in stock.  I'm going to add a few inches to the length and width, but, unless the additional 16" is an absolute necessity to make the track plan work, I would prefer to stay closer to the 7' length, again, for portability purposes.

What I plan to do is screw one or two 2"x2"s to the side and end of the table to add length and width.  Once the base layer of foam is installed, you won't even notice the addition.

Thanks,
Dave

[wm3798]

You need to negotiate a modest land grant.  The L shape with the yard "off door" will go a long way to improving this plan.  It worked well on the Ceano, and will serve you well here.  Look at the leaps and bounds Herr Vollmer was able to make the addition of the Enola bit.

I have lots of 12" hollow core doors, and I owe you one anyway.  Go for it.  Give the missus a bunch of flowers, give her a little pickle tickle, then take over the other wall in the den.  It shouldn't be too hard... you're a lawyer afterall!

Uncle Charlie.