Maybe the Great Northern modelers can point me in the right direction on this.
I have 5 locols and I’m wondering what time slot they would fit in (if any) for the Great Northern operation? The locos are SW8, 4-8-2 mountain heavy, 2-8-0 Consolidation, And ALCO PA1 A & B. I have scanned the Great Northern Empire site but there is a lot to cover. www.greatnorthernempire.net . My thoughts are 1950 plus or minus some number of years? My layout is in the mountains.
Then I want to find what rolling stock from other railroads would show up on the empire roads? [%-)]
A contemporary of the 10-wheel and a real work horse on the Great Northern was the 2-8-0 Consolidation. No. 1130, pictured here, was built by Cooke in 1901 and was classed by the GN as an F-7. Note the Stephenson valve gear, alligator crossheads and bay window on the cab. The tender carried 8,000 gallons of water and 19 tons of coal on arch-bar trucks. Working steam pressure was 165 pounds, superheated. The engine was equipped with power reverse gear. Ten of these inside admission engines were constructed in the F-7 class and numbered 1130 to 1139.
Heavy Mountain:
CLASS P * MOUNTAIN * 4-8-2
The long-limbed, racy locomotives numbered from 2500 to 2527 on the GN were classed as P-2’s, and were purchased from Baldwin in 1923 to speed up service on the crack Oriental Limited. The operation was so successful that it led to the inauguration, in 1929, of the first of the luxury Empire Builders. The P-2’s then performed distinguished service powering the Fast Mail and the renowned Silk Extras. Note that this 4-8-2 was one of the few Great Northern classes after the turn of the century not to be equipped with the Belpaire firebox.
Greetings. To begin with, the GN owned two SW8s, the 98 and 99, which were built in June and August of 1951, respectively. This pair of switchers was used extesively around Seattle as the King Street Station and coach yard switchers. GN had an extensive fleet of 2-8-0s. A few lasted into the early 1950s. Like most GN freight power, they were equipped with the squarish-shaped Belpaire firebox. GN also operated a fleet of 28 class P-2 4-8-2s. Distantly similar to a USRA heavy Mountain in appearance, these did not have belpaire fireboxes. These locomotives lasted into the middle 50s. The Great Northern Railway never owned any Alco PA units at all. As for rolling stock from other lines, just about any road’s equipment would be capable of showing up on GN lines at any time. Hope this helps.
Thats some good information exactly what I was looking for. I was wondering if it was possable for all of my units to be in service at the same time.
I may have some information for you. I am looking at a calendar picture of an ALCO FA #440 (A+B+B+A) sitting in the snow at LA Clede Idaho in 1949. I was thinking (this may be the part were I’m wrong) that the FAs were freight and the PAs were passenger. It is in empire builder green and orange. In 1950 it was sold to Spokane, Portland, and Seattle. Anyway my layout is too small for the passenger coachs so I’ll run PAs as freight. [:-^]
The ALCO FA was a family of B-Bdiesel locomotives designed to haul freight trains. The locomotives were built by a partnership of ALCO and GE in Schenectady, New York, between January 1946 and May 1959. They were of a cab unit design, and both cab-equipped lead (A unit) FA and cabless booster (B unit) FB models were built. A dual passenger-freight version, the FPA/FPB, was also offered. It was equipped with a steam generator for heating passenger cars.
Externally, the FA and FB models looked very similar to the ALCO PA models produced in the same period. Both the FA and PA models were styled by GE’s Ray Patten. They shared many of the same characteristics both aesthetically and mechanically.
My ALCOs are proto 2000 PA 1s painted in AT&SF but I wanted to repaint in GN colors. Im not strick proto. Just want a general look, and the ALCOs appealed to me. the price seemed reasonable, $119 for two powered units. [:)]
The ALCO FA was a family of B-Bdiesel locomotives designed to haul freight trains. The locomotives were built by a partnership of ALCO and GE in Schenectady, New York, between January 1946 and May 1959. They were of a cab unit design, and both cab-equipped lead (A unit) FA and cabless booster (B unit) FB models were built. A dual passenger-freight version, the FPA/FPB, was also offered. It was equipped with a steam generator for heating passenger cars.
Externally, the FA and FB models looked very similar to the ALCO PA models produced in the same period. Both the FA and PA models were styled by GE’s Ray Patten. They shared many of the same characteristics both aesthetically and mechanically.
HA! No, because the PA is my favorite diesel locomotive. None of the Hill Lines had them. Probably because of the CB&Q influence.
One of other other reasons I stopped modeling the GN is their (GNs) steam engines uniquness with all the home built stuff (2-6-8-0) and the Belpair fire boxs. The only route for accurate models is overpriced brass, or tons of scratch building.
Well, obviously I model the GN. And I do it with quite a bit of older brass steamers that were, in some cases, priced less than current plastic steam. I also enjoy their unique diesel fleet, what with long-hood-forward operation with first generation power, new and different details on F-unit roofs and a rarely surpassed color scheme. There’s some other things, too.[swg]
As the GN was one of the few US roads to interchange with Canadian roads, you would expect to see a few more Canadian cars (CP, CN, PGE/BCR, BC Hydro, private name lumber cars like CanFor and MacBlo depending on era) than on other US roads. These would add a nice mix to the same old Pennsy, UP, ATSF etc stuff [8D]
I do have a couple CN cars. I though that if the GN went north of the border that some of the Canadian cars would be on GN. I didn’t know what other types would be there around 1950.
My problem is that if the cars don’t have a build date on them I don’t know what era they fit. So I try to use the shorter 40’ or 50’ cars which also work better on my layout. I have a couple 18" radius curves.
It just dawned on me were I’ve heard of Merritt BC before. My wife and I were in BC for a couple of weeks last summer. Picked up a car in Seattle last summer drove to vancouver Kamloop, Golden’ Banff kelowna and Whistler. We passed through Merritt. I love the mountains, we have vacationed in Canada ever few years from Vancouver to Nova Scotia. [tup]
If your era is 1950 or so, a couple of PGE (Pacific Great Eastern aka Please Go Easy or Prince George Eventually [(-D] ) would add some unique cars. Standard 40’ would be fine. I will see if I can find some photos of that era. The map hearld is neat but a bit later:
No, because the PA is my favorite diesel locomotive. None of the Hill Lines had them. Probably because of the CB&Q influence.