The Arizona Southern is a work in progress, and it might be further along had not so many changes been necessary. It never seems to fail, but this private railroad has been through quite a few iterations since it began in 1987. The core concept is unchanged, an HO Scale, all Alco powered desert dwelling railroad, which interchanges with NdeM, FCP, SP, and ATSF along its lonesome route.
Sometimes it gets a little bit frustrating considering how much nicer today's models look compared to the stuff I started out with so many years ago. The budget can't afford to replace it all, so upgrades, things like new thinner running boards, come when they can, as they can; DCC being the new priority.
The big plus is, the hobby itself waited long enough for some really good sound chips to hit the market. I'm talking about Lok Sound ESU's Alco sounds with both the 244 and 251 prime movers being well represented among others. Nice!
The previous layout is being dismantled, and a new, smaller, version is planned which will be kinder to all the older folks who may not be as mobile now (or later) as they were when this all started. Wider aisles and a lot more switching to keep the few operators busy serving our customers, is in the works.
Much of our equipment is made out what's available at the time. Old kits rebuilt of kitbashed make up most of the rolling stock and structures.
Cement is big on the Arizona Southern, and we have a lot of that sort of hopper seen all over the region back in the mid 1970's, but just looking at the differences between these two cars shows the 1980's model vs one of today's cars. Just more things to fix!
That's all for now, comment if the mood strikes you.
Hello! Great to meet you! Enjoying your blog - Rick (by the way, it is missing the FOLLOW button)... http://modelrailroadluddite.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback Rick, but I looked for info on adding a FOLLOW button and did not see anything I could do.
DeleteTo add a FOLLOW button to your blog:
Delete(this doesn’t always seem to work)
Go to Dashboard
Be sure your blog name is showing in the dropdown at upper left
Click LAYOUT
Under SIDEBAR RIGHT 1 click ADD A GADGET
Click on FOLLOWERS gadget
slide it up and down in the list as desired
Click SAVE ARRANGEMENT
Found the FOLLOW button by accident, I have no clue how I did this, but now we have one finally.
DeleteWould #69 be an Alco 1000?
ReplyDeleteAZSO 69 is an Alco S-2, I believe AHM and others imported
ReplyDeletethat model calling it an "Alco 1000" as the Alco naming is confusing to some. An S-2 is 1000 HP as is the S-4, only difference is the trucks the engine rides on, S-2 uses the Alco "BLUNT" truck, and the S-4 used the AAR type B switcher truck.
The S-1 and S-3 work the same way, but are 660 HP, these
have a much narrower radiator intake on the hood.
That #69 was the first engine ever painted for Arizona Southern, it was used to switch a cement plant originally.