2 replies to this topic

[Blackcloud Railways]

I have been testing my old US N gauge locos and, surprisingly after a long time in storage, they all work. This means that, in addition to the two new SD7s, I have a useful roster of motive power to operate Sand Creek with. The first two, both Union Pacific engines, are normally rostered for use on San Vince de Rey but they are also available for Sand Creek if required.

Fairbanks Morse switcher #1340


GP30 #729

These two locos and the former Santa Fe machine pictured below date back to my original US N scale layout, 57th Street, which was built in the 1980s.

Blackcloud Rail #2926, a GP9, carries a "bandit" style livery with the former owner's name painted out.



Blackcloud Rail #38 is another loco dating back to 57th Street. Not a particularly good paint job so it's kept in reserve for passenger duties when the doodlebug is not available.


Blackcloud Rail #36, EMD BL2, is preserved in Monon colours for no better reason than it looks good.


Blackcloud Rail #M-32 provides the enigma of a daily passenger service on the Sand Creek branch. An ex-Union Pacific doodlebug, still in the former owner's yellow paint job though with the UP lettering removed.


Amtrak #702 - If the daily passenger service is a puzzle the sleeper service that backs down the branch on Thursdays and Sundays is definitely unexplained! This is another old model, dating back to a layout I built in the early '90s and donated to Glossop MRC when I moved to Sandbach.

[chris66522]

Absolutely love #2926 Bob, loving the bandit style!

[Blackcloud Railways]

Cheers Chris. I like it too.

2926 is an old Atlas model. The crude handrails give its age away but it is a beautifully smooth runner. I was a bit wary of daubing black magic marker ink on it at first but to result is very effective. Second hand locos are often treated this way, sometimes as a temporary measure until they get a proper repaint and sometimes just as a cheap way of hiding the former owner's logo... Probably because the former owner does not want to be associated with industrial and shortline railroads using outdated equipment.

The same can be seen to a lesser extent on our railways where a train very obviously in the livery of one operator carries the vinyl logos of another.

Edited by Blackcloud Railways, 13 February 2012 - 02:17 PM.