Santa Fe PA1 First Run

[Herc Driver]

Finally arriving, this recently refurbed Santa Fe PA1 makes its debut on the Christmas Excursion Train run on the Ballantyne Branch. Fresh from the shop, the smooth pulling powerful Alco rumbled down the tracks pulling three passenger cars of children and adults through the bright Carolina sunshine this day before Christmas.

Due to travel requirements, Christmas came one day early to the Ballantyne Branch and with no surprise, this Alco was the railroad manager's favorite.

 

[Ralph]

Man that is one beautiful locomotive!! I've always liked the PA's lines and the war bonnet paint scheme. Nice Herc!!!!!
Ralph

 

[Herc Driver]

Thanks...it just looks like it's built to get a job done...not graceful looking...more like classic power to me.

 

[TrainNut]

Is that the Precision Craft w/ sound? If so I have anxiously been awaiting mine (just like yours) for nearly 6 months now and have been told that the delivery date has been pushed back to January or February!

 

[Herc Driver]

Sorry TrainNut...this is the Kato unit... www.modeltrainstuff.com had them for only $49.99 and I couldn't resist that price. I too have a Precision Craft on order - the Delaware & Hudson PA2 and have seen the same advertising that they won't be delivered till sometime in Feb '07. Mine is without DCC or sound though. I'm guessing those with sound will be great. I am concerned though that this Kato unit's coloring is off, or faded. My question is (since I'm not well versed in Santa Fe coloring through the years) are the PA units supposed to have a faded red warbonnet look? The pictures on the internet seem to indicate that the red of the late 40's and 50's is not the red of today. But my Sante Fe FT units built by InterMountain are a very different shade of red than this Kato unit. I've never seen this particular Kato unit in any stores - so I have no other production unit to compare. Maybe the one I just bought is an older production run from Kato. I dunno. Still, it runs well and has that classic look I was wanting for my layout.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

The red is a little faded, but I wouldn't worry. Virtually all railroad paints fade from the sun. The only time a locomotive sees a "garage" is when they go into the shop for maint. The silver never faded on the Santa Fe PAs or F units because it was stainless steel. The new red and silver warbonnets both fade because all of the colors are paint. That PA set does look nice.

 

[doctorwayne]

Nice looking loco, Herc Driver, especially in that paint scheme. One question, though: the guy pulled over by the cop - was he tryin' to shoot a video while pacing that loco? Or is the cop a railfan too?

Wayne

 

[Iron Goat]

Wow, Herk... it was well worth the wait. That is one great looking locomotive !

Bob

 

[Herc Driver]

Got pulled over for parking in a no-parking area, but all was forgiven when the driver produced some digital pictures of the PA1 going by...nice cop only gave the driver a warning this time.

Thanks for the info on the coloring too. It seems pretty faded to me, but since this in the first Kato PA unit I've seen in SF colors, I have no basis of comparison. I wrote modetrainstuff and asked them the same question...we'll see what the responce is.

 

[UP SD40-2]

GREAT looking PA1 Herc!!!:thumb: i always like the too see shots of your layout too, REAL NICE!:thumb: -Deano

 

[cnw1961]

Very beautiful enige, Herc. And I am very impressed by your pictures too, especially as it is n-scale (it doesn’t make it easier to take good pics). :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Herc Driver]

Thanks for the kind words guys...I really appreciate it. I try hard to post quality pictures.

You're right Kurt - taking Nscale pictures for me it tough but it shows the flaws of the layout presentation really well (like dust, small fibers, ballast/track/coloring/weathering issues). One day, I'd like to have some sort of simple backdrop so I could take pictures at other spots on the layout without seeing the rest of the room as a background. I'll probably use a simple white sheet first and see how it goes and work to control the depth of field and forced perspective aspects of the shot. NScale Railroading magazine had a good how-to on taking layout pictures so I'm hoping to improve my technique over time.