NEW FEATURE!!!

Lately I have been working on two major structures that provide the main sources of revenue for the CSRR. One of them is the American Forest Products lumber mill in Woodfords. This is quite a large structure nearly 30" long and 14" wide at one end. It is able to hold three 60ft woodchip gons as well as five 50ft boxcars under roof. It is the main focal point in Woodfords. This building is mostly scratchbuilt from styrene sheet goods with parts from a Walthers Lumber Mill kit.

The other building is the Sierra Co-Gen plant in Martell. This structure is really two parts, the turbine building and the incinerator building. Both buildings were kitbashed from a Walthers Papermill kit. The brick portion of the kit makes up the turbine building and the metal portion the incinerator building. This building also provides a focal point, this time for Martell.

Recently placed into service are a pair of Walthers GP15-1's. These units are decorated for the UP and are based out of Indian Hill working everything from yard service to road service. They are also equipped wih Digitrax DH121 decoders.

I am building a small fleet of these units from Atlas/Roco/ConCor GP38's. These stock units were heavily modified and are decked out in typical SP regalia. I will also be building a another unit as a 'snow fighter' with all the appendages that these units were equipped with to fight snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. These units will also feature Digitrax DH121 decoders

Also "on the workbench" is a fleet of Southern Pacific GP9E/R's that are being superdetailed and DCC decoders installed. An Athearn GP9 provides a starting point. Each unit represents a slightly different version of the basic unit, but each are easily recognized as being in the same locomotive class that has undergone rebuilding at slightly different times. This was true on the prototype SP as well where light groupings varied greatly among units. Some units are equipped with Lenz 103XF DCC decoders and some have Digitrax DH series decoders. The lighting options decide which decoders will be installed. SP 3702 pictured at right is equipped with the Lenz decoder.

Recently I discovered some photos of protoype SP GP9E/R's that showed notches cut out in the side sills above the fuel tanks. I also discovered I couldn't find any shots that had winterization hatches on the rear of the long hoods. I removed the hatches from the two units shown at right but not from the #3702. I decided that I could live with the hatch on this unit. I will remove winterization hatches from any future Athearn units. I replaced the hatch area with .040" styrene and installed dual 36" fans from Details Associates atop the new panel. During rebuilds SP replaced fans in this area using either dual 36" fans or single 48" fans of various styles ('cap-top' or 'pan-top') depending upon what the shop forces had on hand at the time of the rebuild. If you model these units of the SP, I would suggest that you consult prototype photos.

Below is a list of some of locomotives that I have in my collection. Some of these are already completed and some are in various stages of modification, detailing, painting or DCC decoder installation. It is my hope to include these locomotives to the roster as they are completed and post pictures of them here.

Future locomotive projects include:

 
SP          GP9E/R's   (2 completed & 1 yet to be decaled.)  See pics ---->>
 
SP          SD7E/R's   (P2K's yet to be detailed- 'Black Widow' scheme)
 
SP          SD9E/R's  (P2K's yet to be completed)
 
SP          SW1500's (Athearn- 3 completed, 1 w/DCC)
 
SP          GP20         (P2K still in the box, yet to be started!!)
 
SP          GP35's      (1 Athearn, 1 Spectrum- we'll see how that works out...)
 
SP          GP38-2's  (2 Atlas/Roco completed, DCC equipped, 1 Athearn
                                     dummy yet to be decaled, 2 Athearn units still in the box)
 
SP          GP40-2's  (2 units yet to be purchased)
 
SP          SD35's      (2 Atlas Master Series w/DCC, 5 Atlas/Roco units in
                                    various stages under construction. 1 unit to be an SD35E)
 
SP          SD40's      (Railpower shells on RPP frames or modified Athearn
                                    frames. All will have Athearn drives with can motors. I
                                    haven't even started these except for the Athearn frame
                                    modifications.)
 
SP          SD40T-2's  (Athearn's- 2 completed, 1 needs correct decals. All need
                                     DCC decoders)
 
SP          SD45's       (yet to be purchased)
 
SP          SD45T-2's  (Athearn RTR, all 4 need DCC decoders)
 
SP          U25B          (Stewart Hobbies- needs detailing, DCC equipped)
 
SP          U33C's      (1Atlas Master Series- still in box)
 
DRGW  GP30          (Spectrum-needs final detail and new decoder)
 
DRGW  GP40          (2 Atlas/Roco- both need Cannon cabs, details & DCC)
 
DRGW  SD40T-2's  (yet to be purchased)
 
UP          SD40-2      (Athearn needs a few details, DCC equipped)
 
UP          SD45          (Athearn still in box, candidate for  better version)
 
ATSF     GP-38-2    (Athearn needs a few details)
 
MP         SD40-2     (Athearn- UP paint scheme, MP reporting marks)