# IE&W Fall Steamup Video #3: The SP



## Alan in Adirondacks (Jan 2, 2008)

Hello All,

Finally here is a video from the SP portion of Dr. Rivet and Jo Anne's IE&W fall standard gauge steamup. An added attraction was some recently acquired MTH 1:32 "black widow" paint scheme Southern Pacific F3 dummy units. Just perfect for operation with steam helpers.



As I have observed before, the San Joaquin Daylight was the "Rodney Dangerfield Daylight." The Coast Daylight always had perfectly matched train sets, but on the San Joaquin Daylight if you anticipated more passengers, the folks at the Oakland Yard or the Los Angeles Taylor Yard would grab what was available and add to the train. So at various times you would see extra Daylight painted heavyweights, or yellow City of San Francisco or City of Los Angeles coaches, or grey Lark coaches, or green Cascade Daylight coaches, or even just green heavyweights (like the diner in my consist).

Here are some pictures:

An F4 2-10-2 helper on train 52, the San Joaquin Daylight:









And a prototype picture of Train 52 from 1957 showing the "black widow" paint scheme F3 units (the helper could have been a steam engine instead of another "A" unit!):












And an AC-12 as the helper:









Stretched around the curve:









And a closer view showing the Train 52 number boards on the #4294:









And a going away shot of the lighted San Joaquin drumhead sign:









Dr. Rivet and Jo Anne survey their new F units in a consist:










At speed with a 2-10-2 at the point on a cloudy and cool Friday afternoon:










And stretched out on the grade with an AC-12 on the front:









The diesel dummy units provide the visual interest of a double header without the complication of operating two live steamers. And while I did not get pictures, Jim and Jo Anne also now have powered 1:32 Alco PA units in Daylight colors. I understand they may also be dummy units for we live steamers to pull at some point.... 

Here are a some links to David Corsica's site on the San Joaquin Daylight and Karl L. Swartz's specific consists from 1954 and 1957:

 http://espee.railfan.net/san-joaquin.html

Karl L. Swartz's 1957 SJD link


 http://www.kls2.com/~karl/rr/sp/sp-sjd-1954.html

My final (non-SP) shot is to show Tom Rowe firing his Pennsy K4 and heavyweight consist.









Tom always shows up a day or more early to help Jim get ready for a meet. And the fall meet involves picking up thousands of walnuts.

Thanks again to Jim and Jo Anne for hosting and letting all of us run their equipment, and thanks also to Tom for assisting.

Best regards,

Alan


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## Mike O (Jan 2, 2008)

Alan, 

Great video and images. it was refreshing to see a specific prototype consist where not all of the cars are in the same paint. That reflects the reality of rail travel of the period. it was a great idea to run the Fs as dummies with steam as the helper. 

it was also nice of you to give credit to the better half of the IE&W ownership. 

Mike


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Alan
You are spot on with the acknowledgment of Tom Rowe; many of us express our appreciation of Jim and JoAnn yet those who work in support of IEW steamup, such as Tom, sometimes go with being noticed for the tasks at hand prior to the big event.


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Alan 

DOCTOR Rivet speaking.... the F units from MTH are F7s NOT F3s. NIT...NIT...NIT!!! LOL! 

For you SP fans seeking to do something like this, the BAD news is that MTH SOLD OUT of the Black Widows [all versions] within less than six weeks. The good news is that there are still some 1:32 F and GP Black Widow decals available in the "Bargain Bin" at www.microscale.com 

Thanks again for the great pics and video. 

Mike O... Jo Anne does her best to promote my train addiction and makes sure the "trust plates" identify her as the REAL owner of the COOL stuff. I would like to take all her passenger trains to Marty's [they ARE 1:29] but I don't think I can afford all the battery conversions. 

Charles... My hat is off to Tom Rowe, Mike O, Chuck N, and Roy G. They are the core group that put in the extra time to help get the layout and grounds ready for each meet. 

Regards


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## Larry Green (Jan 2, 2008)

Jim, er, Doctor Rivet, are all those walnuts for sale? If you take them out of those messy outer coverings, maybe we could trade them for some of that great VERMONT maple syrup. Or, Cabot sharp cheddar. 

Larry


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## ConrailRay (Jan 2, 2008)

Funny, I recently saw the Dirty Jobs episode about walnuts, but they have a little bit easier automated system!! 

Dr Rivet, any plans for putting an automatic sound system in those dummy units?? Nice! 

-Ray


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Larry / Ray 

They are NOT for sale; BUT you can have them for FREE if you come to VA and get them. You can harvest as many as you want. A mechanical harvester for black walnuts that attaches to a small tractor is about $25k. Better have a whole grove of trees, not just 50 scattered around the property, to make that expense pay off. So mine get hauled to the woods. My Billgoat lawn vac [a small walk behind] will pick up about 75-80% of them, a big savings on my back. 

In regard to both the MTH SP Fs and PAs. I think in a previous post I indicated that I have powered units [and therefore Protosounds 2] that will be in use once I do the battery/DCS conversions. The batteries and MTH TIU will go in the B units. These can then run with the steamers as other than dead weight. This last meet was just a "visual experiment", but it got Alan hooked. 

Regards


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Alan 

Jo Anne just looked at this thread and the video. She wants to know who the woman is in the picture with me on the left and Chuck N in the middle. She says the lady with the sun glasses could not possibly be her. I suggested that she needed new glasses for the 'puter. WRONG ANSWER. Thought you might get a laugh.


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