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The Grand Canyon (#23/123) Westbound Journals/Blogs
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Super User 755 posts jmt99atsf Super User 755 posts
jmt99atsf


The Grand Canyon (#23/24 & #123/124) was one of the Santa Fe Railroad's named trains of the past. It was one of the unique trains that upon arrival at Kansas City Union Station (KCUS) traveling westbound from Chicago as #23 that it was converted into two sections, namely, #23, which continued west with the informal name of the “The Grand Canyon - South” and #123 as the “The Grand Canyon - North”.

Train #23 would continue traveling west from Union Station on the ATSF Eastern Division's 2d district while train #123 traveled west on the Eastern Division's 1st district. The 1st district is modeled on my layout around the center peninsula where it rejoins the mainline at Michaelson (Ottawa) Junction and then continues to the west helix and down to staging. The 2d district is the mainline along the wall thru Paradigm (Holliday) and Michaelson (Ottawa) Junction to the west helix and down to staging. (NOTE: The staging level was shown along with its functionality in a video tour of the layout about a year ago.)

The returning the Eastbound trains, #24 & #124 (not shown in this video) at KCUS, they would perform passenger and express switching, and then be rejoined into one train #24 to head back to Chicago.

Modeling the ATSF Paradigm Division in N-Scale 

‪https://www.youtube.com/user/tanzj
Blog index:  https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/jmt99atsf-blog-index-12219303
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TexasSP New member 6 posts
TexasSP

Thanks, that was very

Thanks, that was very enjoyable!  Really like the Union Station setup.
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txlarr Regular poster 382 posts
txlarr

Fantastic

John, your videos and explanations of your passenger operations are fantastic. I envy your accomplishments. Everything you do reminds me of the following that Andy Sperandeo included in an editorial on passenger ops years ago. You do contribute well to the realism that Russ Larson brought up.

The passenger train is model railroading's neglected actor. Its operating potential (and interest) are seldom exploited, and it generally plays a bit part behind the lead of the freight's more obvious operating possibilities. But if it is run properly, the passenger train can contribute immensely to realism in the railroad." - Russ Larson, former Editor, "Model Railroader"

Steve Gratke
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jmt99atsf Super User 755 posts
jmt99atsf

Thank You

I am very glad that you enjoyed it.  I really like passenger trains so they are the primary factor that drove the design of my layout.  I was able to create my Union Station with the information provided by Dr. Nick Muff.  

John
Blog index:  https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/jmt99atsf-blog-index-12219303
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jmt99atsf Super User 755 posts
jmt99atsf

Passenger Ops

Steve,

Thank you for your comments I really appreciate them.  I enjoy running passenger trains and have them, along with Union Station, as the primary focus of my layout.  I do use these ops to practice how to do the switching, which can be problematic at times with turnout and/or dirty track issues. I have been a member of the Santa Fe Historical Society for quite a while and have used them for research on the consists of the various ATSF passenger trains. 

Next week I plan to post the Westbound Kansas Cityan (#11/111) and the Tulsan (#211) switching at Union Station.

John
Blog index:  https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/jmt99atsf-blog-index-12219303
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splitrock323 Prolific poster 1,364 posts
splitrock323

Thank you for sharing.

Neat operation. Nice to follow prototype practice with passenger trains. I really enjoy seeing passenger trains being worked and spilt. I also enjoy trains like the Grand Canyon because it is not a typical ‘squeezed from the tube’ western streamliner. It has a lot of character. 
Good luck on making it run without issues. Long cars from different manufacturers are tough. 

Thomas W. Gasior MMR

Modeling northern Minnesota iron ore line in HO.

YouTube: Splitrock323      Facebook: The Splitrock Mining Company layout

Read my Blog

 
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jmt99atsf Super User 755 posts
jmt99atsf

Passenger Ops

Tom,

Thank you for your comments.  Most of my passenger trains have cars from Kato, Con-Cor, Walthers, Lima, Atlas, and a couple from Pecos River so they definitely can be a lot of fun getting them to play together. I have also discovered that many of the several steam engines, principally the Con-Cor 4-6-4s (with the Kato motors) have some difficulty pulling any passenger trains over 6 cars up either helix (< 2% grade) so I have relegated them to mainline and down to staging travel only. 

John
Blog index:  https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/jmt99atsf-blog-index-12219303
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