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The El Capitan – Train # 22 Eastbound Journals/Blogs
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Super User 753 posts jmt99atsf Super User 753 posts
jmt99atsf

 

This is the fifth of the named Santa Fe passenger trains of the past to show passenger and express switching at Union Station plus a short viewing of the train’s travel on the layout. This time we travel eastbound on the “El Capitan”, train #22, from Los Angeles (staging level) and arriving at Union Station.

This is the high level version of the train. The train consists of 11 passenger cars (all Kato) and is led by a Kato F3 A-B-B-A engine set. All of the engines have Digitrax DN163K0B decoders (non-sound) installed.

The train will arrive at Union Station on track #10 where one car will be dropped off and one added to the train. The last high level passenger car will be uncoupled and left on track #10 for switching into the coach yard after the train departs (not shown). The road engines will then move onto track #11 where a switcher has pre-positioned a mail storage/express car for pick-up and destined for Chicago. The road engines with the mail storage/express car will then move to track #10 and be coupled back onto the rest of the train. The train will then depart on its continued trip to Chicago (staging). Note - we will watch the train winding its way about halfway down the east helix.

Passenger train operations are fun setting up and I have spent a lot of time developing the consists for my layout using the following reference items: “25 Years of Santa Fe Consists” (Santa Fe Historical Society), “Passenger Equipment & Operation” (Andy Sperandeo – Kalmbach Publishing, 2006), “Model Railroading's Guide to Railway Express” (V.S. Roseman – Rocky Mountain Publishing, 1992), “Night Trains - The Pullman System in the Golden Years of American Rail Travel” (Peter T. Maiken – The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989) plus timetables for the various railroads (ATSF, UP, MoPac, Wabash, Milwaukee Road, CB&Q) that run on my layout.

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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txlarr Regular poster 382 posts
txlarr

Another Impressive Passenger Operation

John, Being able to run a long train like that without incident speaks highly of your car and track tuning. Those high levels make for a great looking train in another impressive video. Your LONG trains passing thru your layout really stand out in a freight dominated hobby.  Well Done !

Steve Gratke
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filip timmerman Super User 1,380 posts
filip timmerman

Indeed

Impressive John !

And I totally agree with Steve's comment ... plus I like the way you present this nice video with your sense of humor. The hand of 'God' coupling and uncoupling and even throwing a switch, a good laugh !

After all it is a hobby and your enthousiasme is stimulating and having fun is a key to enjoy our model railroads.

Thanks for sharing your passion John. Love the train.

Much appreciated... and truly enjoyed !

Greetings, Filip

Filip
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jmt99atsf Super User 753 posts
jmt99atsf

Passenger Ops

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your comments.  This particular train ran very well probably because it was an all Kato consist and engines. 

Another of the things that I have been doing with these trains is evaluating my passenger cars for reliability especially when traveling on the two helixes. I found a number of issues with my heavyweight cars from multiple manufacturers (wheelsets, couplers, and trucks) when I tried to run the California Limited, train # 3 westbound (all heavyweight consist), so some changes and repairs are now in work before I will give it another try.

John 
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jmt99atsf Super User 753 posts
jmt99atsf

Thank You

Hi Filip,

Thank you for your nice comments. They are very much appreciated.

I have a couple more trains to run so I can check the reliability of the remaining passenger cars.  As I mentioned to Steve, the heavyweight cars are having some problems since they are a mixture of old and new from various manufacturers, namely, Rivarossi, Lima/Atlas, Model Power, and Micro-Trains. 

John

 
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Backshophoss Regular poster 198 posts
Backshophoss

Back in the day,Clovis NM was....

....where ATSF did a lot of passenger car switching,with cars from various Texas Locations winding up on the SF

Chief,heading west to Oakland/SFO 
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jmt99atsf Super User 753 posts
jmt99atsf

Interesting

Thanks for the interesting information about the ATSF.

Sadly, I am unable to model all of the ATSF passenger trains that went through KCUS just due the lack of room.  As it is now, just to run the schedule that I have takes lots of engines and passenger cars (both lightweight & heavyweight) so I had to pick which trains I would run and the SF Chief was one that was not chosen but I did choose the California Limited (all heavyweight cars). 

John
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