Operation

Photo C&W-01a and 01b

I always liked the CF7 and was delighted when Rail Power Products produced the body.  Dana Stark at RPP did a really good job with this locomotive.  This one is an angle-roof cab in the original C&W paint scheme.  It’s powered with a small can motor with large flywheels and will coast forever.

Photo C&W-02a and 02b

This CF7 is a round-roof cab and painted in the intermediate paint scheme.  It’s powered with a can motor and flywheels and runs great.

Photo C&W-03a

Here is a pair of CF7s painted in the new C&W paint scheme.  One is an angle-roof cab and the other a round-roof cab.  Both ride on Overland Models chassis.  The Overland chassis were somewhat of a disappointment to me.  They run good enough, but they don’t coast and they are noisy.  Units that I repowered all run exceptionally well, have good coasting action, and are very quiet.

Photo C&W-03b

Here are two CF-7 units at the C&W Rebuild Shops.  One is painted in the intermediate paint scheme and one in the final paint scheme.  This photo was taken on my previous railroad, and this structure is not on my current model railroad.

Photo C&W-03c

This is a whimsical photo I staged when I lived in Colorado.

Photo C&W-03d and 03e

I took these two photos to show off the details.

Photo C&W-04

This unit was a pet project of mine.  It’s a GE U18B and well detailed.  It’s painted in the intermediate C&W paint scheme.  It’s powered with a can motor and flywheels, and runs great.

Photo C&W-05

Some of the details on the U18B include an engineer smoking a cigar (which I made), a hand brake chain and a scratchbuilt guide tube.

Photo C&W-06

Notice the conductor is reading a newspaper—a nice touch.

Photo C&W-07

The SW7 No. 125 dates back to the 1970s.  Back in the 70s I mounted the body on a Proto Power West chassis.  It runs as good today as it did back then.

Photo C&W-08a, 08b, and 08c

This is a SW1000 painted in the new C&W paint scheme.  It’s repowered with a can motor and flywheels and runs exceptionally smooth.  Notice the rolled up winter front at the top of the radiator grille and the broom.  Little details like this add a lot to a model.

Photo C&W-08d, 08e, and 08f

SW1500, No. 158 which has been re-powered with a can motor and flywheels.  The last photo is another whimsical scene I staged.

No. 704 is a custom built locomotive from a highly modified Athearn road locomotive using a switcher chassis.  It features a Cannon hood and cab along with many other details, including an SP light group front and rear.  I gave it the model designation GPS14-1 and is used as a switcher.  It’s powered with a can motor and flywheels.

Photo C&W-10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

These are my Alco road locomotives.  All were produced by Kato and marketed by Atlas back in the 1990s.  The first one in the photos was an early rebuild, so it’s painted in the C&W Phase 1 paint scheme.  The last one in the photos has also been through rebuild, but at a later date than the first one, and wears the new C&W paint scheme.  All of the others haven’t been through re-build yet, so they just have “C&W” and a unit number.  These are the mainstay of motive power for run-through intermodal trains.  Due to increased intermodal traffic on the C&W new GP40-2 power is just starting to come on property, but these Alco’s still see a lot use.

Photo C&W-16a, 16b

This is the Alco that began my love affair with the C-425 and also my love affair with Kato.  The re-lettering is as simple as it gets, and all per Timetable No. 4 and per prototype practices.

Photo C&W-16c

This is another photo I staged on my railroad in Colorado.

Photo C&W-17, 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d, 18e, 18f

Here is a pair of GP35s.  The high hood unit has Southern roots.  Both are well detailed and numerous Cannon parts were used.  Both are powered with a can motor and flywheels and operate exceptionally well.  These are used primarily on piggers as the pig trains aren’t as heavy as stackers.

Photo C&W-19, 20, 21a

The Burlington Northern SD40-2 is my all-time favorite locomotive.  These three represent my early efforts of detailing and weathering and are actually pretty good.  These are first generation Athearn units with the narrow hood, but won’t operate on my new C&W.  I have 3 places on the railroad where the curves are tighter than 24”, about 20”, and they bind up on my sharp curves.  They don’t de-rail, but do bind up to the point of not going through the curves smoothly.  The first one in the photo has a wheel de-railed.  I didn’t catch this when I took the photo.  These were built sometime in the early to mid 1980s.

Photo C&W-21b, 21c, 21d, 21e, 21f

Both of these locomotives were built in the late-1980s and accurate replications of two units used as helpers on southbound coal trains between Denver and Palmer Lake.  Both are detailed beyond all reasonable common sense.  If you bring up the enlargement of the first photo there is a brief description of the detailing involved.  They’re both dummy units and are mounted in a display case, which I still have today.

Photo C&W-21g

Both units feature a complete interior with an accurately detailed control stand.  The control stands feature accurate color, labels, levers, and hand-made glass lenses in the gauges.

Photo C&W-22

Fortunately Kato came to my rescue with these SD40-2’s.  Kato produced these sometime within the past several years, so I bought a pair.  I added some details to represent BN practices, but I didn’t weather them.  They are both white face units and the white face locomotives on the BN were relatively new during my timeline.

Photo C&W-24

No. 6770 has the same detail treatment as the other one.  These Kato SD40-2’s are sweet.  Gee whiz they run exceptionally smooth and go around my sharp curves with ease.

Photo C&W-25a

Another favorite locomotive of mine is the BN GP50.  I custom built this one for Gordon Cannon in the 1990s.  It’s lightly weathered as delivered and Gordon would add more weathering once a year—a neat concept.  I never got around to building any more GP50s for myself.  Finally Athearn produced it ready to run.

Photo C&W-26

During the timeline of my railroad BN was experimenting with several different paint schemes.  This is the tiger stripe scheme with new BN lettering on the side of the hood.

Photo C&W-27

This is one of two cabless B30-7A units that I built and wrote magazine articles on in the 1990s.  Both are very well detailed.

Photo C&W-28a

No. 3108 is another GP50 I bought in 2011.  This one is in the traditional BN paint scheme.  Both of my GP50’s are first generation of the “new” Athearn production.  They’re not detailed as well as today’s Athearn units, but they do run exceptionally well.  I added some details to represent BN practices.

Photo C&W-28b and 28c

These are the two cabless B30-7A units I built and wrote detailed articles on in the 1990s.  These are sweet and fit in with the scenario of my railroad very well.

Photo C&W-29

Wow, here we go.  This is a Kato SD70MAC.  I remember when this locomotive came on BN property in 1993.  They were painted in the BN executive paint scheme and were a good looking locomotive, and I fell in love with them.  No one produced a good model of it until Kato did it in about 2010, perhaps earlier.  The SD70MAC was just about the last good looking locomotive that EMD built.  The SD70MAC is powerful enough that it’s run as a single unit on intermodal run-though trains on the C&W.  I also use it on an inspection train and a business train, but more on that later.

Photo C&W-30

Here is a pair of GP15-1 locomotives.  I always liked the GP15-1 but no one made a good model of it, and finally Athearn produced it in their Genesis line.  These run super good.  Both are ex-Conrail units and used primarily in locals, although can also be found on a few run-through trains.

Photo C&W-31 and 32

Both of the GP15-1 locomotives represent quick and dirty re-lettering in order to get them in service as quickly as possible.  I left some residue of the Conrail lettering, which was common in prototype practices for second hand motive power.

Photo C&W-33a, 33b, and 33c

SW1500 No. 172 is painted in the first generation C&W paint scheme.  It rides on a custom-built chassis that the late Gordon Cannon built for me back in the 1990s, and it runs super smooth.  Gordon knew I was re-powering most of my locomotives and built this one to show off.  The motor rides in a machined aluminum housing with custom turned brass flywheels, and all of the wiring is plug-in connected.  It’s a true statement of machinist-art.

Photo C&W-114, 115, and 116a

Here is a set of Montana Rail Link units, an SD40 and a SD45-2XR.  The SD45 was re-built and given a new model designation.  The model of this unit was built per the prototype and I wrote a magazine article about it.  Both of these locomotives are Kato.

Being a bridge carrier for BN across Montana, the Montana Rail Link had a big influence on the design of my railroad.  I always liked watching them in Montana.  At times one could find MRL units in Denver as they brought trains down from Laurel, MT for BN.  Once in a while one could even find MRL units in operation on the Colorado Joint Line.

Photo C&W-116b

This photo (without the caption) appeared on the cover of RMC.

.Photo C&W-129 and 130

This RS-1 Alco is a tribute to my ongoing love affair with the old Alcos.  I always liked the sound of the old Alco units, but I really loved the smoke show they would put on when given throttle.  Kato made this unit in the 90s and it was marketed by Atlas.  Today Atlas owns the whole project, so I bought one.  It runs super smooth and super quiet just like the old Kato units, but it doesn’t coast as well as the old Kato units.  But I use GML throttles and I get very smooth starts and stops with it, so life is good.

It’s very doubtful that a Genesee & Wyoming locomotive would be found in Southern Colorado, but it’s my railroad and works for me.

Photo C&W-133c

This is the trio of GP40-2s that I built for the C&W.  Each one is weathered less than the previous unit to depict the time they have in operation on the railroad.

Photo C&W-140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, and 149

This is a pair of GE B23-7 locomotives I built and wrote magazine articles on in the 1990s.  Both were built per the prototype.  I use these as run-through power on intermodal trains, usually piggers, although they can be found on the point of stackers at times.  Both have standard Athearn motors and flywheels, and believe it or not, they run very well on mainline trains.  Whenever I used the stock Athearn motors I always changed the wheels to nickel silver and hard-wired the motor.

Photo C&W-150

A pair of Rio Grande GP40-2s on the point of a westboung pigger at Westcliffe.

Photo C&W-151

The lead unit is No. 3099.  This is a good looking locomotive, but the really neat thing is it has operating headlights and an operating gyro-light nose headlight.  By “operating” I mean it does flash just like the gyro-lights did on the Rio Grande.

Photo C&W-152

The trailing unit is No. 3104.  This one doesn’t have operating headlights.  These units sure make a good looking pair.

Photo C&W-153

Here they are coming around The Palisades on Phantom Curve—nice.

Photo C&W-154, 155, 156, 157

When General Electric changed from the standard cab Dash 8 locomotives to the Dash 8W units I fell in love with the body design.  The C40-8W model was closely followed by the C44-9W.  The Dash 9s had newer improved trucks and more power.  To this day GE maintains this body style.

Both of these units are Kato, No. 669 on the point and No. 606 trailing.  The C44-9W really looked good in the Santa Fe red and silver war bonnet paint scheme.  By the timeline of my railroad these units are brand new in service, so the only weathering I did was the exhaust stacks.  They look very nice coupled back to back.

These both have the gull-wing cab and fit in perfectly with the scenario of my railroad.  Per Timetable No. 4, my coal line is the Raton Division, Fork River Sub-Division and Kaiser Mine Sub-Division that runs from Fork River Junction to the Kaiser Mine west of Raton, New Mexico.  In real life these locomotives were used to load coal at the Kaiser Mine and the gull-wing cab was needed to clear the loading silos.  Since my coal trains frequently have BN and Santa Fe pool power these are a perfect fit for my railroad.

Photo C&W-158

Here they are on the point of a stacker at Durdy Dawg East.  I can’t wait until I get scenery in at Durdy Dawg because of the photo possibilities.

Here are some more switchers in my roster.  I always liked switchers and have quite a number of them.

Photo C&W-159

This Kato NW-2 switcher was quite the project.  It began life as AT&SF, then SCLN&TC, and finally C&W No. 135.  There is ghost lettering of the AT&SF and SCLN&TC owners.  Shown here engineer Jim Bob has the throttle out at West Pueblo.  This photo was on the cover of Model Railroading magazine back in the 90s.

Photo C&W-160, 161, 162,163

The detailing is pretty wild on this locomotive, up to and including engineer Jim Bob.  Jim Bob is a highly modified figure and a project within itself.  There is a storyline behind the bent horn, but too involved to go into here.

Photo C&W-165

Here is another Kato NW-2, No. 134, in the second generation C&W paint scheme.  I like the weathering on this unit.

Photo C&W-166

It’s not that I’m a big fan of the SD7, but when Life-Like Proto 2000 Series released it I had to have several.  Proto 2000 did a very good job with this locomotive and they run super smooth.  C&W No. 871 is a re-built Milwaukee Road unit in the final C&W paint scheme.  On my railroad these are used as switchers in local work.

Photo C&W-167

This is C&W No. 872 which hasn’t been through re-build yet, so it still wears the Milwaukee Road paint and lettering.

Photo C&W-168

C&W No. 873 is a re-built and re-painted ex-SP unit.

Photo C&W-169

BN No. 248 is a SW-12 that I built per a prototype unit that worked the Denver yard.

Photo C&W-170

BN No. 255 is another SW-12 that I built per the prototype.  Notice the one stack is shorter than the other one.

Photo C&W-171

BN No. 77 is an older SW-1.  This unit did not operate in Denver, but I modeled it after photos I had.

Photo C&W-172

This is Sacramento Northern SW-1 after being re-built at the C&W Rebuild Shops in West Pueblo.  This was a favorite switcher of Gordon Cannon and he asked me to build it and provided numerous photos for the project.

Photo C&W-173

Rio Grande SW-1000, No. 143 was built per a unit that worked the Denver yard.

Photo C&W-174

I built SP SW-1500, No. 2638 just for the fun of it.  Athearn did an outstanding job with this locomotive.  I have about as many un-built as I have built.

Photo C&W-175

LMX No. 8546 is a GE B40-8.  The LMX units were leased to Burlington Northern exclusively.  I caught 3 of these that were brand new holding at Palmer Lake waiting for a northbound.  So I took a lot of photographs.  These are a good looking locomotive and Dana Stark at Rail Power Products made the body shell, so I built 3 of them and wrote a magazine article for Mainline Modeler.  I built 2 LMX units as delivered without the red nose.  I also built a GECX unit with the red nose.  As seen here unit No. 8546 is northbound at Westcliffe with a cabless GE B30-7A trailing.

Photo C&W-176

Here is LMX No. 8509 and GECX No. 8000 on the point of a northbound stacker at Westcliffe.

Photo C&W-177 and 178

All three units are reasonably new in service, so they’re only lightly weathered.

Photo C&W-179

The Burlington Northern GE C30-7 is another of my all-time favorite locomotives.  Unlike the BN SD40-2, which were used on numerous different types of trains, the C30-7s were used primarily for coal trains, and were true workhorses.  Watching 5 of these units on the point of a coal train topping the summit of the Colorado Joint Line at Palmer Lake was an exciting experience.  In Run 8 at 10-mph the noise, sanding dust, high whine of the traction motors, and the ground vibrating, was indeed an awesome experience.

I loved building models of locomotives that I saw in operation.  Rail Power Products made this shell and I built this unit and wrote an article on it in Model Roader magazine.  I of course still have the model today and sometimes get it out and dream back when I watched these in operation on coal trains in Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska.

Photo C&W-180

Atlas finally made the C30-7.  Nit pickers picked it all apart, but you know what, overall Atlas did a fantastic job at capturing it in model form.

C&W No. 6000 is the class unit of C30-7 locomotives delivered to the C&W for testing and inspection in the mid-1990s.  Being brand new it was not weathered.  These were strictly coal train power on the C&W and I had originally planned on building about 10 of them, but never got past the class unit, so I never got to weathering any.  I believe they would look much nicer with weathering.

This is where I broke my rules on building motive power.  Per Timetable No. 4, Section 13, Mechanical Dept., Article 30, Detail Specifications, Item Two, Road Locomotives: “…cab, carbody, walkways, sidesills, pilots, and plows shall be painted Floozie Red…the undercarriage, below sidesill details, fuel tank, and sideframes shall be painted Foggy Gray…”  Since my initial plans were to build at least 10 of these units, I would need to adjust my paint and detail specifications to save time, work, and expense with the project.  Plus, these locomotives were to be built for everyday operation.  Simply put, detailing was kept to a minimum and painting was simplified, thus the rules were broken, and I believe it worked out very well.

Photo C&W-181, 182,183, 184, 185, and 186

These are three Rio Grande SD40T-2 locomotives that I built, all per prototype units.  All three are from different orders.  As I mentioned previously the older Athearn 6-axle units don’t operate well on my sharp curves, so these aren’t used on my new C&W.

Photo C&W-187, 188, and 189

These are two Rio Grande SD50s that I built using Rail Power Products shells.  No. 5503 weathered and No. 5516, being a newer unit is not weathered much.  The RPP shells were the starting point as I added numerous detailing parts, Cannon cabs, etc.

Photo C&W-190 and 191

This is Rio Grande SD45 No. 5335.  I forget now what body shell I used for the project, but I love the weathering.