[Coonskin]

Neat little engine, there Paul/Tim! I can fully understand the attraction to it in regards to models. I like box engines, too.

Looking at such a design through railroading eyes... I would have HATED working the ground off that thing!! The side doors would be your best option to avoid putting yourself in the "kill zone" every time you exited it for de-boarding on the roll. (Can you imagine coming out of that cab door and having to swing around and catch those vertical grabs, then lower yourself over the cut bar and make sure your first foot catches onto the footboard... all the while cars are rattling along just a couple of feet away?) And I assume getting to the side doors puts you walking along side the prime mover as it did in F units... which is quite noisy as well as slick will oil spills/drips/etc.

Railroading "then" required nerves of steel and the agility of a tree squirrel. :handsdown:

All fer now!

[timmuir]

charland, on 22 August 2018 - 03:15 AM, said:

Thanks for the nod Tim. If you even need to TSM files for the unit just rattle my cage!
Paul :-)

Thanks, Paul, I might take you up on that someday. :)

Andre,

I see your point, from a railroader's point of view. To a logger, it would probably be "all in a day's work" climbing down, or catchin' on on a roll. Still it could use more "user friendly" safety appliances. ;)

Here's one more fictional road, posed on a very old route I started wa-a-ay back in '03, or so. Ex- Pacific Electric 1615 class juice-jacks on the Willamette Valley Ry. hauling fresh timber for the mill at Shuteye.

[SD45T-2]

First off, thank you for comments. It makes my efforts regarding DMMC worth it.

I really need to justify a reason for a EMD E or F-unit. The as-delivered liveries for those CNW locomotives were a major inspiration for DMMC's final scheme. I'd also like to throw in a refrence to "My Life as a Teenage Robot", but I'm even less sure how to do that.

Tim, regarding the diesel swticher, I'd maybe suggest some sort of full-width platforms at the front and rear of the unit.



And speaking of switchers, here's one of DMMCs first switchers, one of the first units the railroad had, and one of the the first secondhand units. Soon to be DMMC 1000, and sister DMMC 1001

Still need to work on a few things, specificly the wide and narrow stripes, number placement, and a few other things.

[Zecora]

https://orig00.deviantart.net/de0a/f/2018/236/5/9/open_rails_cmt_sd70aces___otis__in_by_thorax_the_railfan-dcl0ngb.png
For the first time in a long while, motive power changes are coming to my beloved CM&T. It was announced a few weeks ago that the Mishawaka Route would be acquirring some PRLX SD70MACs (we're still unsure as to how many we're getting) and 6 PRLX SD70ACes, and in exchange, PRLX will be getting some of the CM&T's worse SD50s and SD40s. Here, we see one of the recently acquirred ACe's slamming across the abandoned ex-Monon Diamonds at Otis, IN, trailing of the CM&T's own first hand ACes. In due time, the 6 ACes are going to be cycled through the shops in Detroit to get repairs and CM&T Standard Blue paint.

[menchman]

Really digging the DMMC effort, SD45T-2 - right down the road from me. Those Dash 9s look really sharp! Running via the Spine Line or something else?

[SD45T-2]

menchman, on 24 August 2018 - 05:32 PM, said:

Really digging the DMMC effort, SD45T-2 - right down the road from me. Those Dash 9s look really sharp! Running via the Spine Line or something else?

Thanks. I'm using the LaSalle, Rockford & Central for my screenshots.

DMMC did co-exist with CN&W for a short while, before the UP merger.

This incarnation of the Des Moines and Mason City was based on family and childhood history. Some people on my father's side of the family worked for Chicago and Northwestern, and I've spent quite a fair amount of time in Mason City, where my grandparents lived for various reasons (M&StL 457 was the first steam locomotive I got up close to.). And yes, I've been on the BSVR, and ridden behind 8419.

I'm still working out some details, but it's coming together...

[menchman]

SD45T-2, on 24 August 2018 - 07:13 PM, said:

Thanks. I'm using the LaSalle, Rockford & Central for my screenshots.

DMMC did co-exist with CN&W for a short while, before the UP merger.

This incarnation of the Des Moines and Mason City was based on family and childhood history. Some people on my father's side of the family worked for Chicago and Northwestern, and I've spent quite a fair amount of time in Mason City, where my grandparents lived for various reasons (M&StL 457 was the first steam locomotive I got up close to.). And yes, I've been on the BSVR, and ridden behind 8419.

I'm still working out some details, but it's coming together...

Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with. Have visited places along the Spine Line here and there (namely Nevada and Iowa Falls) so if you need any additional information I'm happy to help.

[SD45T-2]

menchman, on 25 August 2018 - 12:48 AM, said:

Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with. Have visited places along the Spine Line here and there (namely Nevada and Iowa Falls) so if you need any additional information I'm happy to help.

Actually, I do need some help. I'd like to find a few sources of traffic. So far, I have grain and bauxite. DMMC also functions as a bridge road to some degree, but I want a bit more. I've considered inserting a brewery or two into the mix.
The main cites on the line so far are Des Moines, Mason City, and Minneapolis (Subject to additions.) I'm seriously considering some sort of interchange with the Iowa Traction Railroad, just because it ties in so well to the railroad's location, and creates some rather interesting operations.

Of course, it interchanges with UP.

[menchman]

SD45T-2, on 25 August 2018 - 07:39 PM, said:

Actually, I do need some help. I'd like to find a few sources of traffic. So far, I have grain and bauxite. DMMC also functions as a bridge road to some degree, but I want a bit more. I've considered inserting a brewery or two into the mix.
The main cites on the line so far are Des Moines, Mason City, and Minneapolis (Subject to additions.) I'm seriously considering some sort of interchange with the Iowa Traction Railroad, just because it ties in so well to the railroad's location, and creates some rather interesting operations.

Of course, it interchanges with UP.

Can never forget about the ethanol craze that has swept across the midwest - plenty of unit tank trains making their way out of production facilities. Also seems to be a good variety of plastics customers that receive pellets here and there. Even an occasional car or two of John Deere tractors lol. Shoot me a PM if you feel inclined to "scheme" further.

[ebnertra000]

All or part of the line may have been caught up in the oil boom a few years ago, too. Not to mention any coal traffic from Wyoming heading either to destinations on the route, or elsewhere. The grain rush ought to be interesting, as well, but agriculture is a good traffic source for most of the year. I've actually seen flats of tractors in manifests here on occasion, so that's a nifty little dose of realism