Train sets!

First topic message reminder :

Thanks for the update Arthur

I understand your busy, it was just a suggestion, so we can see your progress.

BlackScorpion wrote:I understand your busy, it was just a suggestion, so we can see your progress.

It was a good suggestion, and I plan to act on it as soon as I can. 
There are a few other cars that in addition to that 25-ton industrial crane, but I will get into detail about this in a later post.
Speaking of HO Scale 25-ton industrial cranes, the green one that I found on eBay for $15 US recently was a bid item and I'm not a fan of online auctions.

anyways thanks for the updates art

Hello everyone!

As of 1:30 PM CST on 2/28/2020, I now have some new photos of the Phoenix Line (as requested by BlackScorpion)! I'll do what I can to get them uploaded to here from my now very old (and somewhat problematic) iPhone 5c over the course of the coming weekend.

Hello again, everyone!!!

Here are the first three pics of the Phoenix Line Railroad (as it existed at 4:45 PM CST on 2/29/2020)!!!



The passenger platform (and recently installed) water tower at the village of Hillside. The car in the middle background is an old heavyweight baggage car that proved itself to be uncooperative on the Phoenix Line's tracks. As a result of this, the railroad removed its couplers & wheels and turned it into a storage shed (the car sits on its original trucks). 

The 3 shipping containers (all of which are 40 feet long) to the left of the water tower are also used for storage, but will be pressed into use from time to time. The other cars in the background are in Hillside's interchange yard (the PLRX interchanges with CN and CP Rail in this area).  Hillside is also where the railroad's main yard is, but I didn't manage to get a photo of this.



The railroad's intermodal yard in the suburb of Stackville. Interestingly, this railroad uses older modes of intermodal transporting (which is Container-on-flatcar and Trailer-on-flatcar).  The former Soo Line locomotive is the assigned power for this area, while the old passenger coach in the background is used as a corporate office (sorry about the electric soldering pencil and its holder also seen in this pic, I forgot to remove it).



Last pic for the day here. The Cargill elevator in Rustyville is a busy place, loading four cars of barley and several cars of grain per week. The former ATSF unit is used as a switcher to move "empties" into position for loading on the elevator's loading track and the standby track as well as collecting "loads" and storing them in the car storage yard for pickup for the Phoenix Line's Grain Express operation. As i mentioned a long while back in this thread, the elevator's loading track can accept 3 cars without any physical clearance issues but only 2 cars can be loaded at a time. 

The tracks in between track 3 of the grain car yard (on the left) and the standby track (on the right) is the line that connects Rustyville with its suburb of Stackville and its inter-modal yard. The electric heater has a place in this room as it gets very cold in there during the winter months .

Please stay tuned for more pics people!!!

Thanks for the updates Arthur. I also like all of the pictures you posted. Looking forward to more pictures coming soon

Hello again everyone!

Here are a few more pics of the Phoenix Line Railroad as it existed at 4:45 PM CST on 2/29/2020!!!


The rail depot of Rustyville is a busy place, with the railroad's Phoenix Flyer (in its Autumn to Spring version) making a stopover as well as playing host to the railroad's track maintenance train (on the middle track) and a short string of inter-modal cars on the very back track (these tracks also allow access to Rustyville's passenger car yard, where the railroad stores its passenger equipment when its not in use). The aforementioned train may be getting a 25-ton industrial crane (to make the work done by its 44 passengers easier) at some point in the future, but nothing has been confirmed at this time. This same train is also supposed to receive the 3 former CP Rail heavyweight cars as replacements for its current head-end cars but this event has been delayed due to the truck and coupler issues. 



This is the passenger car yard in Rustyville. While there are only two cars in it at present, its filled up quite often as the railroad has a handfull of passenger equipment to store. Former Conrail GP35 3635 is permanantly assigned to this yard.

These pics are the last ones I have for now, but I will see what I can do to get some more when I can.

Cool pics there Art. So has your train setup been fully re assembled in its new home now then?

BlackScorpion wrote:Hey Art, you know what would be cool, if you post some pictures of your setup.

There are plenty of pictures of their setup actually. If you look in this section, there is actually 3 train set threads, all of which have pictures of their old set up, and this one has some pictures of the current one.

I believe they may have even posted a video of their old set up in one of the old topics.

Brandon wrote:Cool pics there Art. So has your train setup been fully re assembled in its new home now then?

Yes, this set up is in its new home. We are also in the process of planning how to design and then build a 2nd level, which I like to call the oakdale sub.

Brandon wrote:

BlackScorpion wrote:Hey Art, you know what would be cool, if you post some pictures of your setup.

There are plenty of pictures of their setup actually. If you look in this section, there is actually 3 train set threads, all of which have pictures of their old set up, and this one has some pictures of the current one.

I believe they may have even posted a video of their old set up in one of the old topics.

I'm pretty sure that we didn't post any videos of our old setup on here, but I do have at least two of them on my old iPhone 5c. I also have at least two videos of the new setup on this but both are a little hard to acces.

Cool pics Art, looks good.  I bet it takes time to set up huh?

It took about 6 months of work to get the setup looking the way it is. We did manage to get the railroad operational in this past November (and in time for a party) however. As of 6:30 PM CST on 3/3/2020, I am working on the following things.

1.) Finding a 25-ton crane for the track maintenance train.

2.) Getting someone to change/modify the coupler gearboxes on work service cars 404910, 411296 & 411297 so that they will be able to operate on the railroad's track without any problems whatsoever.

3.) Finding crew cars (more specifically a kitchen and bunk car) for the railroad's wreck train.

Hello everyone, here's another short update.

     As of 9:50 AM CST on 3/8/2020, The railroad has managed to move another 4 carloads of barley and several carloads of grain as well. While one of the Barley hoppers has started to calm down, one of the grain hoppers continues to act up a little bit. The railroad is also looking for a draw bar so it can operate is 4-unit well car in its true form.

    In addition, it continues to have talks with a rail equipment company in order to purchase 40 former boxcars converted into a kitchen and bunk car so the workers of its wreck train can have dedicated meal service and sleeping space. As for the railroad's other work service cars, they remain in storage at New Roanoke due to issues with their coupler gearboxes.

Please stay tuned for further updates as the Phoenix Line's story continues.

Hello everyone,

Here's another update on the Phoenix Line Railroad (as of 1:05 PM CST on 3/14/2020)!!! I've discovered that some of the information I had about this railroad's work service cars was wrong, and had to update some of it. I have decided to share the updated info with all of you here.

404910

Ex-CP. Car built as 70' Baggage-Mail Storage car by Pullman-Standard (car number and exact build date unknown). Sold to CP Rail (car number and exact date of sale unknown). To work service as tool & cable car 404910 (repainted into work service brown, new car number and 1960's lightweight information and "Service" markings on alternating ends of car sides) in August 1960. Received CP Rail's "Large Block" lettering by Oct 1979. Retired from service with CP Rail (exact date unknown) and stored in Ogden Industrial Park (Calgary, Alberta) in 2011. Sold to Liptonville Central Valley Railroad in December 2013 but colors and markings not changed. Entered service with LCVR (in new role) in April 2014, but removed from service (due to coupler gearbox and truck issues) in following month. Body and trucks separated, and then taken to railroad's equipment storage yard at New Roanoke by road-going flatbed trailer in June. Inherited by Phoenix Line in 3/2018 but colors and markings not changed. Body and trucks reunited in following month, but car not removed from location. Still in open-air storage at New Roanoke as of 11/2019 due to coupler gearbox and truck issues, but scheduled to be used in PLRX's track maintenance train (as a replacement for train's current tool, cable and kitchen car) after receiving modifications to its coupler gearboxes. Car still wears the colors and markings of CP Rail's MOW service as well as late 1970's CP Rail lettering.

411296


Ex-CP. Car built as 82' sleeper with 12 open sections and 1 drawing room by Pullman-Standard (car number and exact build date unknown). Sold to CP Rail (car number and exact date of sale unknown). To work service as sleeper 411296 (repainted into work service brown, new car number and 1960's lightweight information, "Service Sleeper" & "Do Not Hump" markings on alternating ends of car sides as well as railroad's "Script" lettering underneath side windows. New car number also applied to alternate sides of body ends) in August 1960. Lettering changed to CP Rail's "Large Block" lettering under side windows by Oct 1979. Retired from service with CP Rail (exact date unknown). Sold to Liptonville Central Valley Railroad in December 2013 but colors and markings not changed. Entered service with LCVR in April 2014, but removed from service (due to coupler gearbox and truck issues) in following month. Body and trucks seperated, and then taken to railroad's equipment storage yard at New Roanoke by road-going flatbed trailer in June. Inherited by Phoenix Line in 3/2018 but colors and markings not changed. Body and trucks reunited in following month, but car not removed from location. Still in open-air storage at New Roanoke as of 11/2019 due to coupler gearbox and truck issues, but scheduled to be used in PLRX's track maintenance train (as a replacement for train's current worker's coach) after reciving modifications to its coupler gearboxes. Car still wears the colors markings of CP Rail's MOW service and late 1970's CP Rail lettering.

411297


Ex-CP. Car built as 82' diner with 36 seats by Pullman-Standard (car number and exact build date unknown). Sold to CP Rail (car number and exact date of sale unknown). To work service as diner 411297 (repainted into work service brown, new car number and 1960's lightweight information, "Service Diner", "Do Not Hump" markings on alternating ends of car sides and CP's "Script" lettering underneath car windows) in 1960. Received CP Rail's "Large Block" lettering by Oct 1979. Retired from service with CP Rail before 1985 (exact date unknown). Sold to Liptonville Central Valley Railroad in December 2013 (colors and markings not changed). Entered service with LCVR in April 2014, but removed from service (due to coupler gearbox and truck issues) in following month. Body and trucks separated, and then taken to railroad's equipment storage yard at New Roanoke by road-going flatbed trailer in June. Inherited by Phoenix Line in 3/2018 but colors and markings not changed. Body and trucks reunited in following month, but car not removed from location. Still in open-air storage at New Roanoke as of 11/2019 due to coupler gearbox and truck issues, but scheduled to be used in PLRX's track maintenance train (as a replacement for train's current tool, cable and kitchen car) after reviving modifications to its coupler gearboxes. Car still wears the colors and markings of CP Rail's MOW service as well as late 1970's CP Rail markings.

Unfortunately the railroad has not been able to assign workshop space to these cars in order to get their coupler gearboxes modified yet (as of 3/14/2020), but remains confident that it can be done at some point in the very near future. 

Please stay tuned for further updates as the railroad's story continues!!!

thanks for the update art

Thanks for the updates Arthur

Hello everyone,

Just wanted you all to know that there is an official handbook for the Phoenix Line Railroad available (and has been for quite a while now actually), but there is NO obligation to download it to your PC. I will also admit that I update it as much as I can.

Hello everyone,

There hasn't been a lot of activity on the railroad as of late (3:15 PM CST on 3/19/2020) due to Covid and other priorities but I will do what I can to keep u all informed of any and all updates.

Thanks for the updates Arthur

thanks for the update art

Hello everyone, here's another update (as of 6:15 PM CST on 3/25/2020)!!!

There has been some talk about how the setup's 2nd level will be constructed now. but such work is delayed due to the crisis that's happening in the world at present.

Please stay tuned for further updates.

cool thanks for the Update art

Thanks for the update Arthur

Hello everyone,

Don't have much to share here today (10:45 AM CST on 3/28/2020) but I have managed to make a few discoveries.

1.) The railroad continues to move barley and grain from the Cargill elevator in Rustyville as of 10:40 AM CST on 3/28/2020, but such has been greatly reduced due to current events in the world.

2.) The railroad's heavyweight sleeper (411296) was built according to Pullman Plan 3140-A (men's lounge/restroom at front right of car, 12 open sections with 2 fold-down single beds, a private restroom for the car's drawing room on car's left side, a drawing room with 3 beds followed by ladies' restroom), while the heavyweight diner (411297) was built according to Pullman Plan 7020-A. I will do what I can to find links for pictures of these plans and post them in this thread as soon as possible.