Wednesday, December 7, 2011

AO-5 has been dieselized

AO-5 came through New Britain with a thirty car train hauled by an FA-1/FB-1/FA-1 set. The locomotives are so new they haven't even been painted.


This is the first time I've tested the P2k FA-1/FB-1 sets. These are the undec version which will be painted in the delivery scheme. I have to add dynamic brakes (available from Bowser/Cal Scale), get rid of the Mars light which also requires filling in the headlight in the door, and install DCC sound.

To give you an idea of the scale of this train, the locomotives are just over Main Street in the picture. On the layout, the station is about 6' away from Main Street (where the single stub siding is). If I modeled it 100% to scale it would beabout 7' 9" long. So the layout in this area is only compressed about 23%.

AO-5 hauling loads and empties to Maybrook (and the only scheduled train to do so in late '47) typically hauled 80-100+ cars. So a 30 car train is compressed over 50%. But it has the right sense of scale, since it blocks all of the grade crossings on the layout.

The white building mockups are the Russell & Erwin factory, plus the Embassy Diner (just past the end of the box car).

I haven't decided if I'm going to run this train this length, but it will look considerably longer than the other through freights if I do. It is stopped in New Britain to pick up additional loads and empties for Maybrook (blocked at two different points in the train) and comes through town after the switchers are off duty. YN-1 coming eastbound is due in about 25 minutes to pick up additional cars bound for Cedar Hill. Following only 20 minutes behind YN-1 is train #472 to Hartford. It will pick up the storage mail car that has been loaded on the station siding and is the last train of the session.

If I follow the 1947 schedule strictly, then this is the only Maybrook freight that will operate during the session. OA-6 drops off cars at about 1:00 AM. I might add OA-4 which ran at various times from 4:00 PM, 7:25 PM, 10:30 PM, and 12:30 AM. If I do, this train will be the shorter of the Maybrook freight and hauled by an L-1.

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