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THE WHISTLESTOP NEWS – March 2008 Edition
The Official Newsletter of the Central Operating Lines Model Railroading Club 90F Raynor Avenue, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 * (631)-737-4634 * www.trainweb.org/centoplines
Don’t forget the March 14th Business Meeting. Please make it a point to attend and participate in your Club’s business. Starts promptly at 8PM.
Diamonds No Longer In the Rough!!!
If you run on the COL layout, you may have noticed that your trains are running much smoother through the crossover of the Red and Blue Mains with the Passenger station leads. That’s because Victor Giordano, Mike Iorio and Terry Shirlow spent time reworking and re-installing these Diamond Crossovers. This is an intricate repair and we are grateful to Victor, Mike and Terry for letting their talents shine in completing this needed upgrade. Thanks!!!
Electrical Happenings; Scott Firestone and George Pritchard at work!!
New tortoise switch machines for the cross over between the red siding and the red mainline on the northwest corner of the layout near the passenger yard are completed. The red and green indicator lights were converted to red and green LEDs at the same time. The red indicator melted and burned out due to a short in the twin coil machine. The turnout from the passenger yard to the red mainline at the southwest corner was completed a couple of weeks ago The crossover between the blue siding and blue mainline on the north west corner of the layout near the passenger yard was completed a month ago. This should allow easier running at Open houses without continued failure of these turnouts.
Additional switch electrical upgrades are contemplated so please help identify the trouble spots for this Committee’s planning.
Legacy Presentation and Demo by LIONEL LLC. Friday April 11th
Mark your calendars for Friday April 11th. Tom Nuzzo, Events Manager for Lionel LLC., will be at the COL Layout demonstrating Lionel’s New Command Control System, Legacy. Tom will be here at 6:30Pm to show you all the features of the Legacy System as well as demonstrate the new features in several Lionel Legacy Locomotives.
Mike Heindl and I tried Legacy on the layout. We operated with Legacy handhelds together, running two engines independently on one line. Each operator was able to toggle to the other’s loco and to have the Legacy display show that loco’s status. Next we ran TPC from Legacy, enabling operation of other than TMCC and Legacy locos from the Legacy handheld. Next we want to try connecting in the existing TMCC command base and run a Legacy handheld simultaneously with a TMCC cab-1.
Upcoming Dates to Remember
Topics for March 14th Business Meeting
So Where Did The Cat Come From?????
Thirty-five years ago, the Chessie System was created from the Baltimore
& Ohio, Chesapeake & Ohio, and Western Maryland railroads. The line's
name and corporate logo reprised a publicity campaign that was started by the
former C&O in 1933. It all began when C&O executive Lionel C. Probert
visited an art gallery and purchased a copperplate etching titled "The
Sleeping Cat" by Guido Gruenewald, reportedly paying $5 for it. C&O
liked the implication that its Pullman berths were so comfortable that even the
most finicky passenger could rest in total contentment. C&O's January 1935
timetable revealed that the cat's name was "Chessie" and that she had
two kittens, "Nip" and "Tuck". When concerned customers
asked about the kittens' father, C&O created one in June 1937 and named him
"Peake". Advertisements during World War II often depicted Peake
in an army uniform, sometimes giving up his berth to a weary GI.
Lionel-Fundimensions #8359 (1973) was one of the first toy trains to wear the
Chessie logo. The gold-colored GP7 was lettered "GM50" to commemorate
the fiftieth anniversary of General Motors. According to "Greenberg's Guide
to Lionel Trains 1970-1991", only 9000 pieces
were made. Demand quickly outstripped supply, and for a time, mint #8359s
commanded prices several times the MSRP. Throughout the mid-1970s, subsequent
Chessie engines sold briskly, no doubt partly fueled by speculation that they
too would become instant collectibles.
On November 1 1980, Chessie System was merged with SCL Industries to form CSX
Corporation. Its corporate name supposedly combined the first letters of
"Chessie" and "Seaboard" with an "X" that
signified multiplying the combined strength of the two predecessor railroads
Well that’s it for now! Happy Railroading to All,
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