I am in the planning stages of my first serious attempt at a model railroad layout and have finally decided to loosely model the railroad that I grew up watching. The now abandoned Oregon & Northwestern RR. Here is my dilemna. When the railroad was in operation 1934 -1984 they used two types of locos, Baldwin AS-616’s & Alco S-3’s, I am not particularly fond of the S-3 and the 616 is in very limited supply, so I thought I would try modeling this flag as if it had never fallen. Now to the meat of the question. At what point do you think that this RR would have replaced or upgraded these loco’s and what type do you think would have been the most obvious choice? I know that there wer probably several different directions that they could have gone but I want opinions on what you guys think would have been the most likely choices. Thank you in advance.
I would guess that rebuilt GP7’s or GP9’s from several sources would be possible. Paducah (IC) or Cleburne (ATSF) rebuilds would be likely since they have turned up on several shortlines. If you’re feeling ambitious, CF7’s might be an option. Derated SD40’s would be possible if the track is up to the weight.
As a part of any scenario concerning this railroad would be some large purchase of stumpage - just for fun lets say 1.8 billion bfm. Now that we have provided a new source of raw material for the mill at Hines, Ore we can enjoy speculating on newly purchased motive power for the railroad.
One scenario to consider is the Oregon and Northwestern turning to MK for newly rebuilt locomotives from its Boise Works. Some former Rock Island equipment makes sense, since in the early 1980s they had on the property returns/repos(?) from that railroad. 2 SW 1500 and 3 SD40s? Take a look at what MK was turning out during the early 80s and shop from that list.
Jim - Lawton, NV MP235.5
Seems I remember that during 1981 or so, BN was selling off surplus SD9 at $5,000 to $6,000 a copy. Some of these units did infact run at that fire sale price.
Jim - Lawton, NV
Here are some photos from the Weyerhauser’s operation at Sycan, Ore. and MK locomotives.
[link]http://home.att.net/~lassen.logger/wtc-gallery.htm[/link]
Your railroad could also run some used GP38s or GP40s.
Thanks for the great advice guys, i was thinking possibly gp-38’s or 40’s going to have to try the scheme out on both to see wich i like better, although the SD-9 is closer in appearance to what was originally run. Hmmmmmmm…
The ONW only bought one unit new that I know of, and that was Baldwin demonstrator they numbered 1. And, unless they really needed more that four units, the four AS6-6-15 and AS616 units they had would have done the job. Empties up hill and loads down hill. One unit per train. I think all of the other Baldwins they had came from the SP either directly or from the McCloud River.
ONW 1 ex BLH 1601 demo Jan 1955
ONW 2 ex SP 5239 1964
ONW 3 ex SP 5274 1968
ONW 4 ex SP 5253; ex MCR 34 Aug 1969
All of these were 6 axel units and the SD9 would have been easier on the track than the Baldwins.
This is fun to speculate on power for your model railroad. Actually the reason that I suggested the BN units was as rebuildable units. Either rebuilt at the shop at Hines with remanufatured major componites, or turned over to MK or some other 3rd party for a complete “capital rebuild.”
For this type of service, log hauling, the 6 axle would be much better at slow speeds than the GPs. Also it would provide better axle loading on light-weight rail and structures than the GPs. Since O&NW had been very satisfied with the 6 axle Baldwins, a newly remanufactered SD9 makes lots of sense, and of course with chopped noses. But then again used GP38s or SD38s for that matter would make sense too. Have fun with your project.
Logging railroads were never commonplace or mainstream, but were home to many exceptions to the rules. That’s what makes them so exciting, they’re different. And shortlines also provide a great un-commonplace.
I only witnessed one train on the O&NW and it was powered by two of the four Baldwin AS616s, that was about 1980.
Jim - Lawton, NV
CN swore by the six-axle A1A trucked GMD-1’s for their operations on Vancouver Island, and other light branch lines. Apparently the wheelbase on the GMD-1 trucks were the same as the Flexicoil trucks on the SW1200RS’. Apparently, though I could be wrong, the GMD-1’s did less damage to the track than the 4 axle G12’s or SW units CN also used here.