New Switchers For The Green Mountain Division

 CV and CP Yard Engines.....by Don Janes

           While in Arizona this past winter I purchased a couple of Atlas Alco switchers for projects I had in mind.  I wanted to model one of the three ALCO CPR S-2's that were built for and assigned to their Vermont operation and a Central Vermont S-4 to work in one of my CV yards on the layout.  Both are DCC/Sound equipped with ESU sound decoders.

          The first unit, CP 7098 was built from an old yellow box Atlas S-2.  I have always wanted to add a CP switcher in the early "Smiley Face" paint scheme used between about 1950 and 1954.  This older model required quite a bit of work to get it looking the way I wanted it.  I had to carve off all the molded on grab irons and other details and add new wire grabs.  There were other modifications I had to make to get it looking like a CP unit.  Once it was ready to paint I primed it with Tamiya gray primer then gave it a coat of TruColor CP Maroon paint.   The maroon went on very smooth and had a nice shine for decals. I ordered a set of Blackcat CP decals for the lettering and yellow panel areas.  The decals went on very nicely and once the decaling was done I gave it a coat of Tamiya flat finish.  I am very happy with how the engine turned out and it makes a nice addition to my CP roster of maroon and gray locomotives.   

Engineer's side of the 7098

Fireman's side view

This photo shows the details added to the front end of the engine

CP 7098 idles outside the roundhouse alongside sister 7097 in the later marron and gray paint scheme.

             

CV 8015 waits outside the roundhouse at WRJ for her next assignment.

          The other switcher I built was CV 8015, one of several S-4's on the CV roster. This model is late run Atlas Gold series model that came sound equipped.  It started as a B&M model which I stripped and repainted.  This model required less work as it already had separate grabs, cut levers and other details.  I added a few extra details to match the CV engines but most of the detail work was already done.  I painted the model with a mixture of Floquil Engine Black and Grimy Black paint.  All the decals came from an Accu-cal decal set for CN, CV and GT engines.  Any yellow paint was done with TruColor CN Yellow which is a perfect match for the decals.  Both models received new LED lights and ESU Mini Power Packs.

A view of the rear of 8015

8015 idles at the WRJ roundhouse

8015 and sisters 8093 and 8027 gather at WRJ over the July 4th weekend