Great Northern SD-9 #591 - Part I

GN #591 waits under the Willmar roundhouse sanding tower in 1969. Photo used with permission of GNRHS Archives - Cordell Newby Collection

Whenever I have some time after caring for my amazing, 3-month-old daughter, hanging out with my wonderful wife, working on my career, and doing a hundred other tasks, I am taking time to update one of my locomotives to a more accurate model. I am trying to more accurately reflect what GN locomotives were used in Kandiyohi, MN during the 1950's by modeling GN SD-9 #591.

In need of a wash at Minneapolis Junction in 1968. Note the winter bay window is only on the engineer's side of the cab and not the firemen's. Photo used with permission of GNRHS Archives - Cordell Newby Collection

I am beginning with a Proto 2000 SD-9 #589 that I received used and does not fit the Fall 1954 time period that I am modeling. At the same time, with a limited budget, I am flexible with my layout era and want my layout to have some additional motive power variety.

The Willmar Division of the Great Northern had a lone SD-7 in 1954, #555 for service on the St. Cloud line and no SD-9's. The first few that the GN did order in 1954 were used almost exclusively on the Iron Range. Not until the fourth order from EMD in April of 1958 did the GN send SD-9's to Willmar. This was in large part to replace the steam locomotive fleet that went out of service on the division in 1957-1958. According to the 1964 assignment roster, #590, #591, #592, #595, and #596 were all committed to the Willmar Division. I have decided to model #591 based on available photos that place it in Willmar during the 1960's and not elsewhere on the division. The locomotive also survived longer than most and became BN #6118 and BNSF #6118 which offers me the opportunity to model the locomotive later in life if I ever desire to do so.

This is a long project that I do not intend to finish soon. I hope to renumber it and slowly add details, a decoder, and sound to the locomotive as time permits. Updates will follow as I progress with this project.  

Backdrop Beginnings

I am trying to post a number of updates on my progress over the past few months and get caught up on the blog to where I currently am on the layout. I have the benchwork and the backdrop installed but I would like to cover where I am on one my favorite activities, painting.

While I considered multiple options for backdrops, I felt that my skill in painting was good enough to get the job done. Kudos to everyone who takes the time to do a photo backdrop but I wanted something that was less realistic and more loose. Plus, I wanted to keep the focus on the models instead of the backdrop.

To begin with, I would recommend that anyone looking to paint their own backdrop start with Mike Danneman's book on "Painting Backdrops for your Model Railroad." It is a great source for methods, technique and construction. https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/book/12425

Using this book and other sources,  I decided on creating a 16" x 10' backdrop made from a hardboard tempered panel. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hardboard-Tempered-Panel-Common-1-8-in-4-ft-x-8-ft-Actual-0-115-in-x-47-7-in-x-95-7-in-832777/202046928 The smooth surface turned out to be a great canvas for the acrylic paints that I am using and it is sturdy enough not to flex when attached to gypsum board and the wall behind it.

I wanted a typical blue sky with a light, hazy horizon. To accomplish this, I chose two colors for my sky. My two paint choices included Glidden 0824 "Blue Cornflower" for the darker, sky color and 0826 "Harvested Blue Pearl" for the lighter horizon color. Both colors looked very good under 3000K light and were more importantly, cheap. For two quarts, I spent less than ten dollars and I'm very happy with the results.

By laying both colors next to each other on the backdrop wet, I was able to go from a two-tone sky to a well-blended transition. I did this by taking a 5" brush and blending the two wet colors in broad brush strokes until I was happy with the results. This took some trial and error along with time for the paint to dry but it was incredibly easy to get right using my colors.

More pictures of my backdrop progress are coming soon!

April 1979 Amtrak Passenger Timetable

I wanted to post another one of my timetables. This one is from the last year Amtrak ran the Empire Builder on the Willmar line.

As a station on the former Great Northern main line, Willmar used to see the railway's highest priority passenger trains until the demise of private passenger rail in the U.S. at the beginning of the 1970's. With the creation of Amtrak, the Great Northern's successor, the Burlington Northern was relieved of its passenger service duties. The Empire Builder, the former Great Northern's premier passenger train remained in service under Amtrak on much of it's original route. Notable exceptions were the reroute through Wisconsin via Milwaukee and leaving the Steven's Pass main line in Washington.

Click the image to view the full timetable.

Taking a look at the timetable, the westbound Empire Builder was scheduled to leave Midway (Minneapolis/ St. Paul) at 8:45 PM, arrived at Willmar at 10:37 PM, and arrived at Breckenridge at 12:28 AM the following morning. The eastbound Empire Builder was scheduled to leave Breckenridge at 4:43 AM, arrived at Willmar at 6:58 AM, and arrived at Midway (Minneapolis/ St. Paul) at 9:00 AM. These times were far from ideal for many travelers in west central Minnesota and was representative of Amtrak mismanagement during its first decade.

The eastbound Empire Builder crossing the Great Northern Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, MN on July 9, 1977. In less than 3 years, Twin Cities passenger service moved to the new Midway station, the Minneapolis Great Northern Depot was demolished, and passenger train service left the Willmar line to be rerouted through St. Cloud. Photo Courtesy of Steve Glischinski.

The Empire Builder continued to run through Willmar through the 1970's until the St. Cloud main routed, North Coast Hiawatha was discontinued in 1979. With this reduction in service, it was determined that the Empire Builder would be routed via St. Cloud to fill the void. Nearly 40 years later, the Builder remains on the St. Cloud - Staples line and regional passenger rail service to Willmar and points beyond is set as a Phase II project by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. At the earliest, passenger service will not return to the Willmar line until after 2030.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/passengerrail/planning.html

October 1954 Great Northern Passenger Timetable: Part I

Despite being consistently dogged by other tasks, I was able to scan my October 1954 Great Northern Passenger Timetable. This timetable works perfectly with the time that I want to capture in Kandiyohi on my modules. While I will not have a passenger train anytime in the near future, identifying their schedules can help plan operation in a more realistic manner.

Click the image to view the full timetable.

Chicago and North Western Wreck - Maurice, Iowa 1949

Here is another photo that I received from my grandfather. I am not sure where he received it from but it may have been a local pilot from Willmar that photographed the wreck. As far as I know, we have no relations or friends in that vicinity of Iowa. It's a very interesting photo to look at though. The following text was on the photo's back.

At Maurice, Iowa taken by airplane, Monday, January 31 through February 7. Came home, morning 7:30. 1949.

A Long Break for Lighting

After a long winter and a long break from modeling, I have found the time and energy to move forward. I began installing lighting for the area of our living room where the module will eventually sit.

Our living room when we bought the house was without lighting of any kind.  While it was my plan to install lighting from day one, I wasn't sure how I wanted to go about it with 8' ceilings. Furthermore, lighting the layout with a valance that extended 26" seemed out of the question from an aesthetic point of view and it would overpower the space in our living room. Most important of all, I wanted the lighting to be permanent to the home so that when we do move, there is only the task of removing wall brackets for the modules and some minor patch and paint work.

I settled on this model for the module location through Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-Bay-10-ft-5-Light-Antique-Bronze-Retro-Pinhole-Flexible-Track-Lighting-Kit-EC6827ABZ/

With the default (6) GU10 halogen bulbs, I get an output of 500 lumens per bulb. Total lumens sit at about 3000. This puts about 215 foot candles on the layout space. This is towards the high end what is required for task lighting, although it is far short of the 1,000 foot candles provided by average daylight.

While I could have added more, priority was the ability to resell the house in the future without altering lighting at this location and having lights that balance with the remaining lights in the room. (5 recessed cans and an additional track light)

Overall, I am very happy with the results thus far and adding a dimmer switch for the track is a very nice feature to have. Negatives that I have found are as follows:

• The lights currently sit at around 2800K which is too warm for my liking, 
• The lights produce a bit of a halo effect.
• They run very hot.

I plan to change all of the bulbs to LED as they burn out as I have with all of the other bulbs in my house. I prefer the bright white bulbs that can be found at Home Depot that put out light at 3000K, yet experimentation will be needed eventually to find the right balance. The color control LED bulbs that are coming out now are very intriguing...

On to the next project!