Tangible Growth in the Hobby - Case Study - CSXT 2009

It is Thanksgiving morning in 2018 (Fall vibes!)... and Nelson Acosta and I are venturing about the area railfanning our way up to the US Sugar Fields meeting a railfan, Laurence, who visited from the UK. The first catch is in my wheelhouse - CSX Y322. Miami Iron and Metal and Ferrous Processing and Trading can only put out up to about a combined 10 loads of scrap metal due to size, and push this arbitrary limit with the graveyard shift job in addition to there being a cut of empties from Sungas and Family & Son. This leads to making heavy work of CSXT 2051, a GP38-3. The acoustics become one for the books as the engineer throttles the 2000hp locomotive out of the spur proper onto the RTA mainline, sparing no minute to get the job done swiftly. 

CSX's GP38-3 is a railroad unique rebuild analogous to the SD40-3 and GP40-3, using new electronics and a Wabtec cab, affectionately nicknamed the "LEGO Cab". Aside from the frontal rebuild, the rear receives a new ratchet brake in lieu of the brake that used to reside on the nose. Several GP38-2s got rebuilt to these new standards, with many of them having variations that traced back to the original railroads from which they came. 

Precision Railroading definitely did a number on the captive fleets, causing a power shakeup systemwide as units were stored or reassigned. The Florida Business Unit was a captive base for GP39-2s for a long time, but other roster types really began to scramble in. Several GP38-2s, GP38-3s, GP40-2s, and GP40-3s unfamiliar from the earlier "golden" days of railfanning came and went from the area.

In 2020, with travel limited due to the COVID pandemic, and not much to do anyhow, I emphasized a lot of local railfanning, seeing CSX ops particularly in the Miami terminal including on the Downtown Spur, East Rail, and Homestead Sub. Granted, this series of railfanning had a lot of -2 types, but -3s occasionally trickled in. Before and during the pandemic, GP38-3 #2009 made a frequent presence. Other remarkable numbers were #2004, #2055, and #2041. 

In 2021, Michael Thornton brokered me to sell an Atlas Trainman GP38-2 painted in P&W red and white. I figured the unit might have a hard time selling due to the road in which it is painted, and realized that the features of the GP38-2 (anticlimber, modern style radiator, slanted exhaust roof) overlapped with not only some of CSX's GP38-2s, but also the GP38-3s. The decision was ultimately made to pick a CSX GP38-3 and model it with this shell. 

In Fall 2022, among a series of other projects, the decision was made to model the 2009 with the matching features, and work started with stripping the paint off of the Atlas donor. A Scale Sound Systems speaker and Decoder Buddy with Loksound v5 rig were promptly installed, and over the winter, the engine slowly got painted. It took two tries to get a good 3D printed cab - the original attempt shattered when failing to unwarp it - but the process was not too bad. Akin to my other FEC projects, by which I had done two GP40-2s with considerable success at the time, this unit received ditchlights, separate lighting for the numberboards, and beacon lights. It took a few tries to get the cab properly painted, and oftentimes there was residue of one of the two CSX colors that got activated when the other - get this - complementary color - came in, resulting in an ugly blend. The Microscale decals were very uncooperative. The final result was good, but not great. 

CSXT 2009's first ever run with a full sized Y322 "Downtown Spur Switcher" train.

The momentum was riding with the Downtown Spur operation. I had completed two Miami Iron and Metal gondolas in parallel, using Walthers SIECO bulkhead rescues bought from an estate through an ECHOES member. Not to mention, the rare daylight catch of a Miami Iron and Metal switch which I feel is the most interesting customer on the CSX Downtown Spur. It was cool to actually show the conductor that day, who is a friend of several of us railfans, progress pics of the scrap gondolas he was literally hooking up, as the models were sitting on the paint booth back at home. 

The 2009's Winter 2023 finish completed the entire present day Y322 consist and eyes were starting to turn toward taking my consist and running it on Lance Mindheim's layout in DC. In February, I didn't feel that my models were ready for the task when making the two week trip to Virginia, but after a couple shakedown runs on the ECHOES layout and at a friend's house, it was time to go for it....

Except that I found the 2009's cab completely damaged when taking it out of the Atlas Trainman box I tried to modify so it could be taken. Likely my mistake was in checking the bag, but even with all the padding, the cab was the only thing damaged. Every other car and detail part made it just fine, or in the same state as before (not sure about one of my LPG tanks' catwalks, but I think it was in mild shape before). I like to say that the 3D-printed material, which appears to get brittler with lower temperatures (think of it snapping at room temperature versus being more flexible at higher temperatures) contributed to this, as the cargo hold is 20-25 degrees colder than room temperature. Or the lower air pressure. Or something. Oh well. Fact of the matter is, the cab was wrecked. But was this the end of the world? Of course not.

Since the 2009 was completed initially in January 2023, I did lighting and DCC for a Kansas City Southern de Mexico AC4400CW, DCC/sound installs for two FEC GP38-2s, and scratchbuilds, paint, and detailing for two FEC SD40-2s and a GP38-2. Arguably the most challenging project came when finally making a CSX CM44AC (blog on that later). What is the lesson here? Each project came with its own trial and error, or finding new and better ways to implement the technique. That is the growth in this hobby. 

They say "in order to do good push ups, you have to do more push ups." It is evident that one cannot be proficient at something without a true first hand experience, and it is very true for model railroading. Let's dial back to when FEC GP40-2 #412 was built. This was my first ever locomotive project, another Michael Thornton rescue.

These were the features of the 412:

• attempted use of Atlas light blocks for the numbers and headlights (potentially flimsy)
• Crude ditchlight technique with a 603 LED stuck behind the housing. Obvious light bleed ensues. (I still have a small issue with that today)
• Wrong A/C units (well, Wallace Locomotive Works rectified that)
• 28mm TCS speaker (ICK!)
• The 0603 wires run with thick silver wire, from which it is more challenging to determine which side is + or - -- look at the length of the lead. But when curling it through the locomotive, this information gets lost easily.

The initial build of 2009 had a lot of firsts.

• First use of Scale Sound Systems speakers
• First use of heat shrink tubing, although minimal on the rear headlight (this begins to fix a huge flaw I've experienced with certain Atlas units)
• First heavy modification of a locomotive shell

From January until September, these are all the things I've come to practice or learn when working on that half dozen or so locomotives.

• Use of Walthers Solvaset as a setting agent. Still figuring it out, so I'm limiting it to large decals only while using Micro-Sol for small decals. It is hungry for decal film and paint, so be careful. One neat thing about this is with the continued use of this, being able to tweak decals and pop bubbles or bulges as the solution works.
• Hand-drilling pilot holes more so for more careful application of details. While not applied to the 2009, I have the BLMA template for grab irons.
• Realizing the two spikes on a set of A-Line sunshades have a purpose and that involves simply drilling two pilot holes using the included sprue as a template. this was done on 2009's fireman side in the original version, but the engineer side still had the rookie job of just CAing the shade flat.
• Use the holes on the Decoder Buddy's pads to guide LED wires for a stronger bond (though, the possibility of the wire snapping still remains and changes to wiring schemes like as was done for this unit require either the use of wick or just soldering on top of the pad anyway)
• Make several Decoder Buddy solders with the wires trending inside the board, not outside (this was learned when working on a LokSound direct decoder for the CM44AC project)
• Realizing instead of soldering every LED's U+ wire into an individual pad on the Decoder Buddy, just run one or two wires as a feeder to make things easier. Use Heat Shrink to insulate the joint though. 
• Kristal Klear. Perfect for small windows and ditchlight housings. Also useful for numberboards. It also bonds well to 402 or 603 LEDs.
• Usual improvement of paint masking and management. Improved handling of decals with practice and time.
• File, file file. Know what needs to be filed or cut on the shell or frame. 
• Use thinner wires where appropriate!
• Use DURO Super Glue. Best bonding CA in my experience. It even got the shell of FEC 507 stuck when building a speaker housing!
• The LED wires with red and black for + and - save a lot of time and headache.

ECHOES member James McVea had a spare cab he was able to sell me once I got back from Virginia and in less than a week, it was painted into YN3 and placed atop a rewired CSXT 2009. A lot of the techniques noted above were used, and one wiring change was made with the beacon lights. Now, they flash out of phase and once instead of twice and in-phase (unless two of my AUX anode wires end up touching). This reflects better off the prototype than the previous iteration, a nice opportunity taken with the rebuild.

CSXT 2009 "version 2" hangs out on my Commerce Park layout with new cab and a few touch ups.

All in all 2009 got upgraded from "good" to "a little better than good" with these changes, and I'm happy that things worked out. Two things are for sure though: I am not flying with this unit no matter what, and in the spirit of the hobby from a skills perspective, practice will continue to make things a little better going forward.