Two New Equipment Deliveries - GP40X's Arrive

Equipment Deliveries 8/31/15 and 9/17/15

I did not post the equipment received on 8/31/15 so I will combo the that delivery with the one received today in this single post.  Greg McComas has an Athearn RTR GP40X which I was fortunate enough to operate on his railroad.  I have to say I was quite pleased with the way it ran!  This has changed my perception of the suitability of Athearn RTR models in the operating environment. 

So, I decided to get on of the GP40X's for myself with an order placed in August.

Equipment received on 8/31/2015:

Athearn RTR GP40X ATSF 3800
Atlas 60" Double Door Boxcar CNA 598536
Atlas ACF 23500 Gal. Tank Car SRAX 23942
Atlas ACF 23500 Gal. Tank Car SRAX 23947

I was quite pleased with the Athearn model of the ATSF 3800!  Not perfect, but very good looking none-the-less.  This model includes some of the Santa Fe features of my era including the lowered headlights in the nose and removed classification lights.  

The particular locomotive represented by this model is one I have become particularly fond of.  While I was assigned to work in Lincoln, Nebraska, two BNSF GP40X's were assigned there for use in local service on the Nebraska Division: BNSF 3030 and BNSF 3035.  These units began life in 1978 as ATSF 3800 and ATSF 3805.  The BNSF 3030 (Ex ATSF 3800) is the subject of one of the photos I left hanging on the wall in the Lincoln Yard Office and is also the image that has been my screensaver for some time:

This photograph was taken in Omaha, NE on February 1, 2013.  It was paired with a B40-8 working the Y-OMA1011-01 industry yard job which services customer out on the Omaha Subdivision.  This is one of my favorite photographs that I took while living in Lincoln.

Being quite please with the Athearn model of the ATSF 3800, I decided that I just had to get the ATSF 3805 while it was still available!

The above pictured equipment arrived today (9/17/2015): Athearn RTR GP40X ATSF 3805 and three Atlas ACF 23500 gallon tank cars: ADMX 23017, DOWX 40033, and DOWX 40040. 

These two GP40X's will fit nicely in my fleet of Santa Fe locomotives intended to power Richmond and Los Angeles to Atlanta hotshot intermodal trains across the Meridian Speedway!  And these two have special meaning for me.  

Below is a shot I took of the BNSF 3035 (Ex ATSF 3805) shoving an empty coal train set onto the Palmer Branch off of the Ravenna Subdivision in Aurora, Nebraska on January 9, 2013:

As for the freight cars, the videos from the 1990's that I am now digitizing and uploading to YouTube show trains full of generic tank cars and hopper cars.  The tend to be the "Meat-and-Potatoes" of manifest trains in the south at the time.  The tank cars in this release from Atlas are a perfect fit.  You just cannot have too many tank cars......  As for the CN boxcar, I just like it!

Chris

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