Model Railroading > Throwback Thursday: F45s out and running

It is 1986 on my SWP and you can still find some F45s out and running.
Here the 6642 leads an empty grain train back east for another load, easing up the siding at Cascade for a meet with the pigs.
The 6642 is an Athearn bluebox with sound, glazing, and other parts, moderately weathered..

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Excellent Photo!

And look at that great track work and roadbed!  

They must have a great Division Engineer in charge!

I always wanted to see those great cowl units.  But by the time I got to Everett in the late 80's, they we're nowhere to be found.

kirk out

This is great!

Nice work on the blue-box!

Nice model. I had one of those Blue Box BN F45's too, but not as well detailed. I eventually added DCC and gave it to a club I belonged to more than a decade ago. Wish I had taken a good photo of it.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Very nice!

Saw cowls on the MRL sometimes and felt lucky whenever one would roll by.

Looks like the curved track is banked. Looks great!

Thanks for noticing the track.  There is 0.03" of superelevation on the main line (in the foreground), the siding is level.
This would be seen often on the prototype where the main has a higher speed limit than the sidings.
Remember trains will be restricted by the speed of the turnouts at each end.
Where I came from on the SP many sidings had No. 14 turnouts (good for 25MPH).  So if the main track had a curve good for 60 MPH it might have 4-5" of superelevation and the siding would be level.
5" in HO being 0.057"
However model train speeds do not scale to prototype speeds but model operations become sensitive to stringline derailments; I think 0.03" is a good maximum.
Not seen here are the spirals at each end, where the superelevation transitions to tangent track, in my case over a distance of 18".
Change of superelevation is a critical track safety parameter.