Picking On The Little Guys

[RI541]

Why do HO guys like picking on us N-Scalers? Do you realize how hard it is to detail in N-Scale? Try putting the numbers on a number board or end reporting marks.Thats just the beginning.


O.K. Now since I've got that off my chest I would like to Know what kinds of rolling stock George(IMRL393) has for his RI?

I do the Rock Island in N-Scale and when I first started the linethe only stuff you could get was that nasty blue which I dont allow on my rails.Now in the passed couple years Micro-Trains,Life-Like,and now Atlas is finaly coming around to giving us little guys a chance.

I there any other RI fans in here?I wont pick on you if you do HO.

shane

 

[rockislandmike]

Hhhmmm...let's see....judged by my name.....

Of course, unlike you, I **like** the old bankruptcy blue paint scheme. So the vast majority of my rolling stock is indeed blue. And about half my locos.

PS yes I model in HO.

 

[RI541]

Mike,

Well I'm glad there more than one RI fan here< I do have alot a the blue RI in N-Scale 3 locos and about 50 pieces of assorted rolling stock and 3 cabooses 2 blue and one white that I had to paint.


My whole "obsession" with the Rock Island started with one blue Bachmann caboose and went from there.

Its not that I hate the blue but it was a last ditch effort to save the Rock,maybe they should have put the money elsewhere, If the ICC would have let them merge with Union Pacific the Rock would still be here,The wage dispute didn't help much either.

I also have Rock Island in HO but its sitting on a shelf and some are put away in storage since I dont have room for an HO layout yet.

This is only my opion,The blue is nice looking but it was the sign of a great railroad falling apart.

 

[IMRL393]

Hi Shane -

I have nothing against N-scale - I might even work in that scale if I could see it!

HO RI rolling stock, I have...

For my "Quad City Rocket" (pulled by an E8 in Rocket colors):

1. Budd streamline coach (Walthers)
2. Budd streamline diner (Walthers)
3. PS streamline coach (IHC)
4. PS streamline observation car (IHC)
5. Budd Baggage car (Walthers)

For older boxcars (in, "boxcar red", various shades of course!):

6. PS-1 40' boxcar "100 years of progress" ca. 1952 (Athearn)
7. Pressed Steel 40' boxcar "Ship Rocket Feight" ca. 1949 (Athearn)
8. PS 54' boxcar "DF" ca. 1960 (Atlas)
9. PS-1 boxcar "DF2 - A soft touch for Freight" with speed lettering "Rock Island" (Athearn)
10. Greenville 87' auto parts boxcar "DFb" with lettering as per #9 ca. 1969 (Athearn)

Other color boxes:

11. PS boxcar in WHITE "Route Rock" ca. 1979 (Athearn)
12. PS-1 50' boxcar "The Rock" in BLUE (Accurail)
13. GARX 50' insulated boxcar in YELLOW ca. 1964 (Branchline)

Hoppers (both gray - wish they made the BLACK ones!):

14. PS-2 covered hopper, ca. 1956 (Atlas)
15. PS-2 CD 100 ton covered hopper ca. 1967 (P2K)

Other

16. 56' Gondola ca. 1965 (P2K)
17. 87' enclosed autorack "The Rock" in BLUE ca. 1977 (Walthers)
18. Extended vision caboose in Red & Yellow ca. 1964 (Athearn)

and have a WHITE "Route Rock" caboose on order!

I THINK that's all of them!

- George

 

[RI541]

George,
I was just trying to start a conversation with another RI fan I dont have to many people this far east that do the RI let alone know that it existed.
I do the RI in N-Scale and until a few years oga there wasnt much available.I learned how to paint real quick and detail.I saw your name in the N-Scale forum and thought i'd ask what you had.
Do you model the blue? or do you do both?
I do mostly maroon and the black and red with wings schemes I have an opinion about the blue even though it was a Bachmann caboose that got me started on the RI(its a short story i'll tell you sometime).
My loving (and very understanding) wife says that I'm obsessed with the line but I dont Know what she means.
Im going off to work on the round table talk to you later


Shane

 

[Drew1125]

Hi Shane,
Welcome to The Gauge!
Sorry, I'm not a RI modeler, but I am (currently) an N scaler.
I have a free-lance industrial switching layout that I call the Four Sisters Branch.
I haven't noticed anyone being picked on around here...but if someone does pick on you, I don't doubt that a bunch of us will come running to your defence.

P.S. You can see some pictures of my layout at
http://hometown.aol.com/cvdiv/fsb-1-160.html

 

[IMRL393]

Hi, again, Shane!

I've finished my last post with the cars.

By now, you might be thinking "What in the world is he modeling ??!!??"

Well, a funny thing happened to me on the way to a layout!

I got obsessed with the idea if getting a representative collection of Rock Island locos and rolling stock that would show the RI throughout it's history! So the wide variety of RI equipment.

OK - now that you KNOW I'm crazy (and can tell your wife - SEE! I'm not so bad!), I will go on to PROVE it by talking about my (in progress) layout!

In my world, the RI never folded, but became a regional RR, based in Illinois and Iowa (roughly todays Iowa Interstate RR, and the IMRL (soon to be the ICE).

The Quad City "Rocket" still rolls (and meets the AMTRAK Zephyr at a small fictional Iowa town). I am using the old E8 for the QCR, but am thinking of getting a undec. Walthers F40PH and painting it in RI colors (haven't decided on the color scheme yet - would prob be blue, if it were true).

The "new" RI services the same local companies that the Iowa Interstate and IMRL do today (chemical, steel, grain, coal). The layout uses the newer rolling stock (only a couple of blue, so far - but includes some of the newer BC red stock, too). Motive power is by Geep (7 & 9), SD40-2, GP 38-2 and GP40 mostly. With SW-9 switching.

My older locos also sometimes make an appearance (RS-1, S1, F7, BL2), and my RI "Mike" sits in a park in the town (it will also come out for "RR days" events).

So, as you can see, my layout is not exactly "typical".

But it's fun!

Please let me know how your RI collection and layout are going!

After all, us RI types gotta stick together!

Are you going to get the new N-scale Atlas GP7 ???
It's AMAZING how long the Geeps stay in service!

I got the Stewart U-25B on order - they say it will be out in another month (due last FALL)!

Take care!

- George

 

[rockislandmike]

In *my* world, Rock Island flourished, and actually expanded significantly to my "fantasy" location, an independent region that exists between British Columbia and Washington state (that way I can connect to Vancouver to the north, and Seattle/Spokane to the south).

Yes, strange. But mine nevertheless.

 

[RI541]

George,

I thought something was wrong when I first saw your list,I had to go off line to let my daughter do some homework(rules are rules and homework comes first then when I got back on your list grew I didn't know if I forgot to scroll down or not.
My collection will never be complete when something new comes out its a must have,I go to a train show in Springfield Mass. every year and stock up on the things I cant get localy.
My lay out like yours is fictious,Ive been working on it for almost two years and realy havent done much,the track is down most of the service area is done ecept for the turn table now that I finaly desided how I wanted to do it,and the round house.I just finished the lighting in the allied rail rebuilders,the back shop and the round house,I got the Atlas round house and its a very nice building but I had to put some personal touch's to it. I just ripped up the frieght and passenger staions in "Linnyville"(my friends wife who likes trains).What happened was I was coming home from work and I saw a barber shop that sat all by its self next to interstate 91 and rte 10 and I thought to myself that needs to be on a train layout so there went three months of work, half a town that was all sceniced ripped up for a lonly barber shop.
Ive got plans for this lay out but time is a problem I do construction and cover the tri states NH,VT,Mass so the only time I have to work on it is in the winter.I got laid off this year so I thought I could get some more done but the honey do list is longer than the wanna do list.
I'll take an invintory of my equipment and get back to you on that this note is getting rather long.

shane

 

[IMRL393]

Shane & Mike -

Will look forward to your list, Shane! I think you have me beat in numbers of rolling stock!

My RI loco list:

1. RS-1 (black with "Route of the Rockets" bubble) - Atlas
2. GP-7 (red & black) - P2K
3. GP-9 (Maroon, white pinstripe) - P2K
4. GP-40 (Maroon and Yellow) - Atlas
5. SD40-2 (Red & Yellow) - Athearn
6. F7A (Red & Black) - Stewart
7. E8A ("The Rocket" in maroon, red & white) - P2K
8. BL-2 (Maroon, white pinstripe) - P2K
9. S1 (Maroon) - Atlas
10. SW-9 (Black, white lettering) - P2K
11. 2-8-2 Mikato (Black, red herald) - Athearn Genesis
12. Doodlebug (Rocket maroon, red & silver) - Blochman

with a U-25B (Maroon) on order from Stewart.

Want to get soon a GP38-2 (Athearn, as no one else makes it!) in blue - a "backbone" on the ROCK in it's last years (along with the GP-40). Also thinking about the GP-18 that P2K will produce this fall (if I can save enough money for it by then!). And SOMEDAY a RS-3 (maybe I'll see one at a good price at the Galesburg show).

also have:

13. BN GP-38 (Green & Black) - Atlas
14. IMRL SD-40 (Blue & black) - Kato
15. AMTRAK F40-PH (phase 3) - Walthers
16, AMTRAK P40 (phase 4) - Athearn

What locos and rolling stock do you have, Mike? Having blue, I assume you have the Athearn GP38-2. If so, what do you think of it ???

- George

 

[rockislandmike]

Actually, I do not have the bankruptcy blue GP38-2's. They are on my list of must-get's, though. But, as my current job does not make me fabulously wealthy, and I only have $200CDN per month to spend on all extraneous activities (including trains), it'll probably have to wait a few more months. I need to start buying track and lumber for Phase II.

My current ROCK motive roster (I just started in this hobby last September, so the list is somewhat limited) includes the following...

#643 - IHC's EMD E-8A (A and B units, A unit powered only; maroon/yellow)
#4425 - Bachmann's GE U36B (blue/white)
#5884 - Pemco's EMD SD35 (blue/white)
#6675 - Unknown Plymouth DDT switcher (blue)

Interestingly, all locos to date for the Rock have been acquired through eBay auctions......

Current rolling stock (still small enough to list)...

three boxcars (two blue, one oxide)
two gondolas (both blue)
two cabooses (first is Athearn's ROUTE ROCK white that was mentioned earlier, the other has been painted blue, but yet to be decaled)

I also have five undecorated tank cars that I still haven't allocated out yet. I'm currently thinking two for ROCK (I have a good match for the blue paint), one for Samuel Roper, and two for Heather Valley (both fictional rail companies).

 

[rockislandmike]

PS - all of mine are HO scale.

 

[rockislandmike]

PPS - missed two railcars. Should be 4 boxcars, 2 gondolas, 2 cabooses, and 1 hopper.

 

[IMRL393]

Yeah, Mike -

I know about that cash problem - I get $60 US a month for trains. Problem is, I'm "in debt" to the house for ~ $90 right now!

Saw (and got) a RI RS-1 on e-Bay - also ordered a couple of rolling stock (a hopper and the white RI caboose) that were on sale. So I'm "broke" for a while!

Hope to gather the funds for the Athearn GP38-2 and then have some money for the Galesburg RR days MRR show this summer (maybe I'll find an RS-3 and/or a wooden-sided RI caboose for my steamer). Luckily, the Stewart U-boat is "paid for" - whenever they FINALLY get it out! THEN will need to save for the P2K GP-18 due out this Fall. This list will take almost all of my 2002 money.

What do you think of the IHC E8 ???

Does it have yellow "wings" on the nose ???
How well does it run ???

The maroon/yellow color scheme would be better (year-wise) for my layout than the older "Rocket" scheme - although I love the "Rocket" look! If it's a good runner, might have to save the coins for one.

I've decided that most of my hoppers and tank cars will be specific industry instead of RI. For my layout, that would be DuPont, ADM, Clinton corn, etc. Are you guys going to have a simular "mix" or have all RI cars ???


Later !

- George


PS I'm surprised Andy hasn't chimed in to this thread. He "flys" the RI blue flag for his icon, and is another RI crazy like us!

 

[RI541]

George& mike

Here is a list of motive power I'll list in three catagories,running on the rails,paint shop,decal shop.

1- MDC RSD15 low nose#7552
2- 2 LL GP18 painted as GP7 #'s 1271 and 1284
3- LL GP18#1347
4- LL SW9/12 #778
5- LL SW9/12 #541 Painted as Route of The Rockets
6- LL E8 #652
7- 2 LL E8 #654
8- LL E7 B-Unit #632b (repowered)
9- Atlas RS3 #497 former NH #555 painted black and red with wings
10- Atlas U25B #214
11- LL BL2 #429 (installed a flywheel for smoother operation)
12- Bachmann 4-8-4 Painted as #5113

Paint shop (locos that need touching up)

13- LL GP35
14- LL GP35 unpowered
15 Slug Unit kitashed from an Atlas RS1 and 2 donor bodies
16 2 Con-Cor B-units
17 Kato FA1

Decal Shop (locos that need decals)

18- LL GP40 #371
19- Arnold GP7 #4201 (this will be all black with yellow slashs on the rear and nose)
20- Mini-Trix F7

Thats the motive power so far,I have others but their just for parts and pieces.

I havent got a current list or rolling stock yet and dread having to but I need to bring it up to date for my insurace company so I'll do that over the weekend and give you a list.

You probrobly think Ive got a lot of money tied up in locos but I realy dont.Ive only bought maybe seven or eight brand new from the hobbie shops,the others I bought either new or used at train shows at remarkable savings (I love digging threw the "junk boxes")

be back soon
Shane

 

[rockislandmike]

E8: no wings, just a herald. Nice runner at speed, but doesn't like to go slow. Unfortunately, I don't have any passenger cars, and really wasn't planning any for the ROCK (I've given exclusive license in my 'world' to VIA Rail for passenger service), so the E8's are pretty much just standby motive power for the railroad.

 

[Drew1125]

Hi again, Shane!
Do you have any pictures of your models that you could post?
We'd love to see 'em!

 

[RI541]

Charlie,
I havent taken any pictures but Im going to start they'd have to be 35mm though and then I'd have to figure out how to post them,I'm not realy that good with this box of wires yet I know how to scan to e-mail but I havnt figured out how to scan to application and not lose it in this box of wires.I just got this computer at christmas. I am workink on pitures.

Shane

 

[RI541]

I'm trying
Shane

 

[RI541]

How do you put pictures in here?I seem to be failing real bad

Shane