Side shot Saturday - Starting 8 June | O Gauge Forum (2024)

This is a curve ball thrown in the context of the main side shot theme of this thread. It’s partly about what trains we model that we have actually seen – or maybe more likely, at least in my case, haven’t.

As I’ve mentioned here recently, I’m currently engaged on building a car never before produced in O scale, whether 3 or 2-rail or in brass or plastic, and which I have never seen in the flesh (or sheet metal). As this project slowly/painfully goes on (see below), it’s made me realize how very few prototypes of the model engines/cars I have that I’ve actually laid eyes on. An even smaller number is of classic passenger I have been inside.

However, on my tracks at the moment is a true classic, the Burlington Zephyr in Lionel’s early 2000s TMCC die cast and chrome plated version:

I have seen/worshipped at the shrine of the Pioneer Zephyr where it is preserved in Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry but of course I never travelled on any of the versions of this train. Like everyone else (I suppose), seeing the 4014 Big Boy in person pulling the UP Heritage Fleet Excursion Cars is high up on my bucket list but 11 years ago I rode on a true railway classic, and reviewing/researching that led to some strange connections/insights.

The railway in question is “Perurail” and is actually owned by the Belmond Group who also run the London-based version of the Orient Express and other historic passenger trains in Africa and Asia. In addition they run the hotel in Cape Town that I’ve mentioned before.

Back in 2013, while chasing down our backpacking son and daughter-in-law in South America, Mom and I found ourselves in Peru’s Inca Sacred Valley and heading for the site of Machu Picchu to rendezvous there with the kids. At that time there were various ways to get there including on foot or by helicopter (!) but there’s a 46.5 mile rail line from Cuzco that appealed to me because of the named and themed train that runs over it through truly spectacular Andean scenery. This is a narrow-gauge mountain train called The Hiram Bingham after the Yale academic who explored and largely restored the Inca site.

My photos/video from that trip do not include any decent side views but some research disclosed these although the indistinct lower panorama may be of yet another Perurail passenger train, The Andean Express:

The interiors of The Hiram Bingham cars are a sight to behold on their own:

AFAIK, no O scale model of this train has ever been made; I won’t be the first to try because it’s narrow gauge, all the real interest for me is inside the cars, and I am certainly not up to scratch building a whole train of cars like these. Anyway, the route through the Andes is a wonder at every turn and so are the main cars:

The diesel pulling these caught my attention because superficially it looked like an ALCO-built model that I knew had been used in freight service on other Peruvian lines. I’m pretty sure that #533 (top photo) is the one that pulled our train; one of the newer diesels I mention next is shown below it:

When I looked up what’s in service on this line now, I found that (1) the diesel(s) have been replaced by something built in South America specifically for Perurail but (2) the passenger cars are still in service. Most surprising to me was that they were acquired in Singapore but were originally built in South Africa. I found this pretty strange as a trip to that country is the original source of my interest in the wider subject of CIWL passenger cars as well as Beyer-Garratt steam engines.

My current project on the UP 2066 auxiliary power generator car goes on and is written up on another thread:

o-gaugeforum.com/thread/9966/scale-union-pacific-auxiliary-generator?page=2

This won’t appeal to any but the most dedicated UP fans but viewed side-on the strange “humpback” roof structure over the diesel generators has progressed to this stage:

This is the first time I have engaged in serious modelling of a utility car rather than a passenger diesel engine or car. It’s all more than a little challenging – but I have started so I’ll finish it.

Good stuff, as always. The power car project appears to be making good progress; I, like yourself more than likely, look forward to seeing it in its final form. It will be quite an addition to the collection/roster.

Was to Peru once, some three decades ago when the Shining Path people were still raising hell randomly. Nothing like coming down the stairs exiting the Pan Am 727 to see a couple guys with submachine guns looking everyone over. I once thought it'd be great to see Machu Picchu, but I suspect that time may now be in the rear-view.

For many years we had no Flying Yankees here other than a Consoli/Western Coil Zephyr that The Old Man acquired a few years before his passing. It's a monster with a number of eccentric features, not the least being its origami-like vestibules and a motor that reaches operating temps approaching that of the sun's surface after 10-15 minutes of run time. My daughter finds the Consoli a hoot, so I've passed that on to her, replacing it in the fleet with one of MTH's Lionel Corp. final versions:

I did lament not having an original FY on the roster, even if it was pretty far down the wish-list. This would change, however, in the last 2-3 years. A two-rail friend of mine came into possession of a battered old example that had belonged to an acquaintance of his, one that hailed back to the guy's childhood. It's in rough shape, but it deserves to be brought back into service. Then two more turned up in a box of stuff that came out of the attic of a neighbor's parents' house, deposited on my doorstep with a note to "disposition as appropriate". They are in marginally better shape than the first. Two of the three are early examples, having the "strap" pick-ups on the undersides of the vestibules (all of which were missing). The search for replacements was long, but I eventually found them on David Laughridge's (Dr. Tinker) parts list. Other parts such as missing number plates, grabs, sockets, etc., were a bit easier to find. I think I now have everything to bring them back to operation...the debate over what to do with them cosmetically rages.

I've not visited the Zephyr in Chicago for many years. From your pics, it looks to be in better shape than I recall. I've been monitoring the efforts of the New Hampshire-based Flying Yankee Association to take possession of and eventually restore the Flying Yankee to operability. My understanding is they've recently acquired the train from the State of Massachusetts. I'm doubting this thing hits the rails before I've got six feet of dirt on top of me, but take satisfaction knowing it's in the hands of folks that care about it and have it inside out of the weather.

Another project is the glacial effort to refurbish a 1098 set from the late 1920s. The 253 loco was in really rough shape, so that was stripped, soldered back together (where only broken tabs remained), then repainted with a dark green that didn't quite match the original. After that was done (it still requires its pick-up roller assembly's replacement, but I'm deferring that), I move onto the three cars (610/610/612). First up was the 612 observation. We soldered the platform railing back into place, replaced a broken latch coupler, then stripped the badly rusted roof for repainting. We did not repaint anything else, as I didn't want to give up the faint New York Central markings. Further search for a paint match proved futile, but I eventually settled on Train Enamel's 428 Dark Green:

It's still off, but we'll go with this until something "better" turns up. The expectation that one might exactly match 100 year-old paint is likely greatly misplaced, lol.

Ah Yes, the Burlington Zephyr. The big producer of Burlington Zephyrs for the toy train market was American Flyer.

Their various offerings of the Zephyr were cataloged from 1934-1938 and included both cast aluminum and litho sheet metal version as well as electric and clockwork power.

The first version in 1934 was just a three car sand cast aluminum set - power unit, baggage/passenger (combine), and observation.

In 1935 they added a coach and, for a short period of time, offered a combine with an on/off switch for the car lights.

combine with side switch

This version was short lived, however, it does appear Flyer had plans to make more of these and then changed their mind. The end result is you can find the combine with an odd hole in the roof (location indicated by arrow in the above picture) in consists from 1935 to the end of production.

My GUESS is the process for drilling the hole and milling the slot for the light switch lever were two separate operations and the milling was the second step. The reason for stating this is I've seen a number of these cars with the hole in the roof and no side slot but never the reverse. As to the why for this kind of car, again my GUESS is it was to preserve battery power - given the time frame and given where the Zephyr ran there would have been any number of households where and electric train would need to run on batteries and not on a transformer thus, turning off the car lights would be one way to extend battery life.

The main problem with the first offering was the manual reverse. Because of the complaints surrounding the manual reverse on the power car, (it is located on the underside and reaching it with the train on the tracks is/was a real pain) Coleman ordered a redesign of the head end power car to include a remote control reverse. Zephyrs with both types of head end power were offered in 1935 - the 4 unit set as above and a 5 unit set with the new head end power.

Zephyr with remote control

In 1936 they offered a whistling combine car along with the 4 rail track needed to power the whistle - this was a one year only item.

The first offering of a lithographed metal Zephyr was in 1935 and it came with either an electric motor or clock work power.

The lithographed versions were connected and supported in the manner of the real Zephyr with cars sharing trucks - this in contrast to the aluminum offerings where each car had its own set of trucks. The first versions had the arrangement such that the power car was supported in the rear by a passenger car which was, in turn supported by the observation which had two trucks. The later versions changed the order of support and truck locations so that the power car had the truck and rest of the cars had a single truck.

Later litho Zephyr set

...as for riding the Burlington Zephyr in the museum of Science and Industry - I can claim that I did...the problem is I don't remember the occasion because I was all of 2 years old.

Healey36, when you say "pitting" do you mean the rough area on the inside of the casting like this?

If this is what you mean then this is the way all of the cars look on the inside. This is because the Flyer Aluminum Zephyrs were sand cast. Once the casting arrived at the factory they had to grind off the mold line across the tops of all of the cars/power units and then they had to work over the entire exterior with polishing wheels. Somewhere in my references I have a description of the polishing room where they had a fair sized group of people who did nothing but sit at polishing wheels and work over these shells all day long.

Numerous small craters/pits in the aluminum underside, maybe no more than an 1/16-1/8 inch across, typically toward the center, gradually diminishing to the outside edge. Definitely not a result of the casting process, at least it didn't appear to be. I seem to recall it looking something like this:

Rolling Rock Brew time.

Bill

Well, that’s good to know, actually. I figure you’ve seen quite a few over the years, so whatever we were looking at must have been quite unusual. I’ve seen similar “damage” on aluminum marine castings, but those get exposed to weather and salt air/spray. No idea, but I’d still like to find a nice one.

Dammit, now I’m thirsty and all I’ve got in the fridge is a couple Miller Lites.

Hey guys!!!

Great pictures you put up every week, the passenger cars and trains are some of my favorites.

So if it is ok with you please keep your side shot Saturday going every week and ill keep the Photo fun thread starting on Friday evening of next week then every week from then.
Let me know if that is ok!

Dave

It's fine by me to keep these photo threads running but I am finding that I don't necessarily have something to show every week, more like every other one. Anyway, anyone is free to start this thread if they wish!

Ok, how about you guys keep the side shot thread and I'll use the photo thread every week also as af3020 suggested not using a date.
Anyone can add to them at any time.
Lets see how they work out and go from there.

Dave

Btw, lets think of this as having some fun, not a job!!