Okay, got my BLI Santa Fe 2-10-2 after 2-1/2 years of waiting!

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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And it’s pretty much a honey! I picked it up at my LHS this afternoon, spent about an hour and a half running it in (NOTE TO AGGRO: BRUCE HAS TWO LEFT, I TOLD HIM TO HANG ONTO ONE FOR YOU!! ONE IS THE 2-10-4).

Okay, it’s LOUD! Not quite the ‘staccato’ from the stack that I remember from Tehachapi in my youth, but it’s nice and loud and I’m going to keep the factory default on the sound, because that’s how I remember them.

It’s a very sweet-looking loco, mine came with the traction tire already installed (haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to change it out yet), and it looks like it’s going to pull anything I want, behind it. I don’t reccommend much under 24" radius for this puppy, even with the blind center driver (I’ve got 34" min, so I’m okay), because it’s got a nice, long wheelbase and not that much side-play in the drivers (though that could change as I break it in). But it’s nicely detailed, and even though I’m DC instead of DCC, it seems to have a lower starting voltage than some other BLI’s I’ve got, so I’m going to hold off on programming to see how it breaks in.

But it’s a handsome little beastie, and HEAVY! I should think that it won’t have any trouble with about 24-30 cars up my grades, and it has a good slow to medium speed range. The whistle is typical shrill Santa Fe, the bell sounds like a gong (as I remember), and the detail is very nice (a little glossy on the paint, but I can fix that). All the proper ATSF stuff–Elesco deck-mounted FWH, precarious looking boiler-mounted bell, and a very handsome oil-tender.

Haven’t run her completely around the layout yet, since I’ve got a 3-foot section temporarily out of service to install new scenery and a new bridge (which will hopefully happen tomorrow), but I really like what I see and hear, right now.

Good looking loco! Nice running! Dang, it was WORTH the wait, LOL!

Tom[^][^]

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Oboy-O-Boy-O-Boy!

I’ll have to e-mail Teffy about this puppy. Though It sounds like a nice steamer I still want one of those GN 4-8-4’s[:D]

Fergie

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“All good things come to he who waits.” [:)]

I am happy to read about your excitement, and happy, too, because my preferred model loco supplier provided it to you.

-Crandell

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I am thinking about that GN norhtern also. Looks GREAT!!! BUT, the daylight, GS-4 #4449 is on the top of my list!

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I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. Been reading Beebe’s Central Pacific and Southern Pacific and seeing pic after pic of cab-forwards going over the pass.

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Crandall: It was kind of worth the wait, even though Santa Fe isn’t a primary railroad of mine. But I always liked there 2-10-2’s, especially that SOUND. BLI seems to have captured it pretty well. Funny thing, when I was a kid, my great-uncle Tom (namesake) who was a brakeman for the SP, remarked as we watched one of the big 'Deck" SP 2-10-2’s waltz into Truckee with about a mile-long freight: “Those danged things can haul ANYTHING–just as long as you’re not too anxious to get it.” After that, the wheel-arrangement has just fascinated me. Favorites:
SP “Decks” any class.
ATSF 3800’s
Rio Grande 1400’s
Colorado and Southern and Great Northern. All classes.
It’s just watching all those danged WHEELS, LOL!

Fergie: Who DOESN’T want one of those GN S-2’s? OMYGOD, what a beautiful 4-8-4! Can’t wait, myself. Meanwhile, check out if you can, this wonderful LOUD loco.

Natauraj: That GS-4 is drool-inducing, my friend, but since I’ve already got a really NEAT Balboa GS that runs like a Swiss Watch,what I’m REALLY looking forward to those Daylight articulated cars. I hear from my LHS that they’re going to be lettered “Southern Pacific Lines” instead of SOUTHERN PACIFIC, which puts them right IN the era I’m modeling. Hooray!

Chip: Isn’t that Beebe/Clegg book WONDERFUL, though? I had the distinct honor of meeting Lucius Beebe at a dinner party in Berkeley when I was a young, starry-eyed man, and let me tell you, he was as fascinating and witty in person as he is in his wonderful books. He hand a knack for getting under the dry facts and bringing to life the distinct personalities of anything or anyonehe wrote about, whether people or machines.
Another wonderful tome of his (among many) is RIO GRANDE, MAINLINE OF THE ROCKIES. Boy, after reading THAT one, you’ll want to move to Colorado and spend the rest of your life happily hiking abandoned (and active) rail lines FOREVER! Great writer, even neater person! On

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I agree with you, Fergie. I already have the 2587 on order. . . . .and am sorely
tempted to get a second one.[swg]

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southern pacific lines!!! AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW…

Southern pacific just looks and sounds much better than southern pacific lines…

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I know, I know, but the PCM “Daylight” is evidently going to be the pre-war model, and believe me, having grown up during that era, “Southern Pacific LINES” (which included Central Pacific, Southern Pacific, El Paso & Southwestern, Texas and New Orleans, St. Louis and Southwestern, Northwestern Pacific and a bevy of smaller lines) really captures the sheer EXPANSE of the railroad during that era, from Porland to New Orleans, and San Francisco to Ogden, Utah. It owned California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, most of Texas and a lot of Lousiana, Arkansas and Missouri. Gotta remember, SP was THE premier Western railroad, much bigger than the UP that finally gobbled it up. Southern Pacific LINES has a really NEAT mystique about it. Besides, after 1948–when the name was changed-- SP was starting to drop the GS-4’s on the Daylights in favor of Alco PA’s or EMD’S. I think that PCM is correct in offering the GS-powered Daylights with the original “Southern Pacific Lines” logo.

Tom [^]

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True … Ah well, long as it is orange and red, i’m all for it! [:D]
Summer 2007 right??

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Correction twhite. SP went from from Southern Pacific Lines to Southern Pacific (and changed the lettering size, and location on the GS engines) in June of 1946. When I went into the army in 1953 and until I took an all expense paid tour of the mysterious Orient starting in 1954 (june) the Daylight (and the Starlight which was my preffered mode of travel on week-end passes to LA from Ft Ord) were powered by red and orange Daylight 4-8-4s. The standard engines on #98 and #99 were 4458 and 4459. Alas!, on return from the mysterious Orient in 1956, both were dieselized!

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Jim, thanks for the info–I sort of remember it as being in 1947-48, and some of the equipment lasting with “Southern Pacific Lines” clear into the early 'fifties (a ride on the “Starlight”). I think it was kind of a long-term thing, the equipment being re-lettered as it went in for shopping (I remember some AC-6’s rumbling through Truckee with “Southern Pacific Lines” still on the tenders as late as 1948).
But whatever the date–I think PCM is going to be modeling the pre WWII “Daylight”, at least as far as the news that I’ve heard.
I’m surprised to hear that the GS’s were still on the “Daylights” at the dates you mentioned, since I heard that they became ‘standby’ power pretty early. Since I seldom made it down that way during the 'fifties, I’m glad to know that they were still running. Question, though–when the diesels took over, was the motive power predominantly PA’s or EMD’s? I’ve never really gotten a clear answer on that one. Just goes to show you how STUCK I was on Donner Pass, LOL!

[:)]Tom

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Argh! I am so jealous! I have added that one to my wish list for sure. Those engines look beautiful.