# My New Railroad: The B&O



## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

When I got into modern trains, I figured I could limit my spending by just getting trains from one railroad…the Pennsy. I bought only PRR engines, got some books to read about the Pennsy, and got mostly PRR rolling stock. * PRR was my railroad!* That worked for about 9 months.

Then I saw a D&H RS-3 and thought the blue and gray lightning strike paint job was fantastic. So I got D&H engines for a while as well as D&H books and D&H rolling stock. And I kept buying PRR stuff as well.

Next was the Lehigh Valley and then the Reading. Both have great colors. The LV with Cornell Red and the Reading with yellow and green. A few months after I got a Reading F7 ABBA with matching passenger cars, I saw the B&O equivalent and started wishing I had gotten that instead. The Reading F7s are green on green. Not a bad looking combination, but not near as nice as the B&O gray and blue.

I held off getting into B&O for a while, but what got me was a NOS PS2 B&O Mikado at Pat’s Trains for a price I couldn’t resist. I don’t like the PS3 drawbar and I had been looking for a new or lightly used PS2 steamer. So I got the steamer and a book on B&O history and one on B&O cabooses. I have been looking for a wood sided cupola caboose to go with the steamer, but haven’t come up with one yet. Unlike Reading that had one standard caboose design for many years, B&O caboose design was all over the place.

I had to get a cab unit diesel with those great colors. I was looking for an E unit, but the first thing I saw was an FM C Liner. I wasn't sure I would like the looks of the C Liner, but it's a nice looking engine. Seemed to run great at first, but it has some problems so it needs to go to Hennings backshop. Their primo MTH technician is busy moving I hear. I hope they have a good backup guy.

B&O had a few different color combinations on their passenger cars and there are several sets on ebay. I had a hard time deciding which scheme I wanted, but Lee’s thread on the Shenandoah pushed me to the blue and gray with yellow stripes. And since the C Liner is bad order, I just ordered an F7 AB to pull them.

I need a new strategy to limit my spending on model trains. Maybe if I limit myself to just northeast railroads.


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

Nice Mike
B&O. :thumbsup:
The oldest rairoad in America. Their wagontop caboose were nice.


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## mike kennedy (Sep 30, 2013)

Yeah, B&O was the start of every thing...but to answer your question, how to limit spending, use my approach. If I see something I like, I buy it. It's that simple. Try it


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2018)

As a native New Yorker (state) I limit myself to roads that ran in the state. I have NYC, PRR and Erie.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Country Joe said:


> As a native New Yorker (state) I limit myself to roads that ran in the state. I have NYC, PRR and Erie.


Well you should get some D&H stuff. And B&O went to Rochester and Buffalo. Better get some of their stuff too.


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

Interesting (and probably expensive) history of your accumulations, Mike.

Out west and from the get-go, I have only 2 railroads I'm interested in. The also historically-rich Union Pacific and Santa Fe. 

But I like your B & O passenger cars.


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2018)

I consider the B&O Columbian to be in the top ten American Passenger Cars. No wonder, the colors are beautiful. Not surprised with your decision, Lehigh.

And yes, we are proud to have his train in our collection. It would not be the same without it.


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## Spence (Oct 15, 2015)

It's an addition & sickness, these trains.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Welcome to the real model train world. Very few people seem to be able to stick to only one RR, me included.


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## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

I favor Pennsylvania Railroad, but all railroads pull cars from other railroads. So I get what I like.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Cool. You don't see too many C-liners, so it's worth going to some expense to have them repaired so they run well. They are interesting locos with their 2,400 HP, even if they weren't made in big numbers and were unreliable in the real world, I like them alot - good looks and as much power as an E9.

You inspired me to run both my B&O passenger trains this week. They are arguably as beautiful if not more beautiful than any other ever made. I love them. So I took my Shenandoah down (off the highest shelf I have, took me a whole hour!) and set it up. A-B-A E6s with nine 18" cars now - the whole eight-car original set plus the new RPO car I recently repainted. It's all Premier and really nice. 

I also took down my other B&O passenger train (which was on the second highest shelf - I like them up high where their beauty can really be admired). A-B-A Baldwin sharks, I think the A units are Legacy and the B is a Williams dummy I modified (had to raise the body 3/16 inch) and slightly touched up its paint so it matches the A units. The seven 15" passenger cars are Railking and quite nice. 

Here are some pictures. Both trains are just really nice runners, the locos are powerful and easy to control, and the sound (particularly in the Legacy Sharks) is very good. The cars track nicely and everything just behave itself nicely. They are beautiful trains to look at, and satisfying ones to run.


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## Craignor (Jan 9, 2016)

Yep, welcome to the club, I am a big B&O fan too, born and raised in Baltimore. 

IMO the best B&O caboose to go with your Mikado would be a red Lionel I-12 wagon top caboose, the B&O designed and made these themself, as well as the wagon top boxcars which Weaver made a great model of a few years ago. 










Best and Only, or Body Odor depending on your leanings.


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## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

Is ANYBODY gong to make a joke about the Monopoly board?

Sorry, Folks, but there are no B&O Railroad jokes anywhere on the web.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Yellowstone – I’m Bob. Randy was complimenting on the Mikado.

Randy / Craig – I might end up getting some wagon top box cars, but when it comes to cabeese, I like them with a cupola. An I-5 would be nice, but the only O scale models of those I have seen are more than I care to spend. I’ll probably end up getting a red caboose with green window frames. But that I-12 looks nice. Unique.

Lee – That E6 looks nice. Probably the best looking B&O cab unit. I don’t have an E unit with the sloping nose and I was looking for the B&O, but found the C Liner. I saw a few MTH Baldwin sharks, but wasn’t sure if I would like the looks.


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## Krieglok (Sep 7, 2013)

I grew up in WNY and the B&O was a big presence there. I remember the plain blue and yellow F units running freights though Salamanca and Ashford Jct. 

My collection is predominantly PRR, but I have NKP, NYC and Erie...other big roads in NY. I have yet to pick up any B&O as I am kind of waiting for one of those blue and yellow Fs. 

That would be ahead of other local favorites like the N&W, D&H, DL&W, LVRR and C&O...all which ran in NYS....

It is okay to diversify your collection. It shows a general interest in railroads rather than a monogamous liking for one road, which can get boring after a while...

Tom


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## Nikola (Jun 11, 2012)

Country Joe said:


> As a native New Yorker (state) I limit myself to roads that ran in the state. I have NYC, PRR and Erie.


The Staten Island Railway was B&O. In the 1920s they starrted digging a tunnel fom Staten Island to Brooklyn. Work began. 300 feet of it was completed out from 69 st in Booklyn. (It is still there, long sealed and probably flooded.)

The mayor of NYC, who was in the pocket on the PRR, was told by said PRR that they wanted to keep the B&O from a bigger footprint in NYC. So the mayor defunded the project.

100 years later, that mayor, the PRR, and the B&O are long gone and commuters must take a fery fom Staten Island to Manhattan instead of iding a subway under the water.

The Staten Island RRailway is, I believe, the oldest operating rail line in NYC. Stone structures that still exist date to the mid-1800s.

I believe the B&O turned the SIR over to the NYC Transit Authority in the ealy 60s or thereabouts.

The SIR 'subway' cars still run today on the old right-of-way and even though tere is no expess track they manage to run express trains that leave late and travel up the tail of the preceding local at the end of the line.


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## Craignor (Jan 9, 2016)

Welcome, Bob.:thumbsup:


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## Krieglok (Sep 7, 2013)

Here is a little B&O shot to fuel your new passion...

I have slides of Brunswick MD engine terminal with a sea of B&O and Chessie power...just need to transfer them to digital...

Tom


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Tom - I’m thinking about getting a GP-9 in the blue, black, gray, yellow stripe scheme. I think that one looks really sharp.

Vincent – I didn’t even think about it till I saw your post, but I now have all the real railroads from Monopoly. I also have a short line (the Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern). The RBMN didn’t exist when Monopoly was invented, but if I can count that, I have all four.

Bob


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## Craignor (Jan 9, 2016)

Bob,

If you have a chance, come and visit the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, it’s really great.

www.borail.org


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## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

Very nice Lehigh. I don't have a particular road name I have a good mix.


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

Lehigh74 said:


> Yellowstone – I’m Bob. Randy was complimenting on the Mikado.


Sorry about that. Maybe I'm getting too old for this.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

No problem. To be honest, when I first read Randy's reply, I was wondering why he was calling me Mike. Maybe it would help if I put my name in the signature like most folks do.


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## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

I use to play music with a fellow who thought my name was Chuck. Even after I told him it is Dennis he still calls me Chuck. I think he's just yanking my chain now.


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

heck, i look back at it now and i'm confused.
made sense in this addled head when i typed it. :laugh:
sorry for the confusion. hwell:


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## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

DennyM said:


> I use to play music with a fellow who thought my name was Chuck. Even after I told him it is Dennis he still calls me Chuck. I think he's just yanking my chain now.


He has you confused with Chuck Norris.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Guys, whatever your names.

I decided as long as I was running B&O passenger trains this week I would get my third (and last) B&O loco out. This Legacy EM-1 is about six years old and big. It takes an hour to remove trees, tunnel portals, and other obstructions normally on the layout that it doesn't like, but it's worth it to see a monster like this chug along at a scale 20 mph.


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

yeah, that deserves to be run Lee. :smilie_daumenpos:


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

That’s a big, beautiful loco. I think they called them Emmas. Since it took so long to clear road for it, you should keep it out for a while…and put a whole lot of freight cars behind it.


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## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

After seeing that photo of the B&O Chessie that Craig posted I felt compelled to post my SD40-2 B&O Chessie #7609.


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## PatKn (Jul 14, 2015)

Lehigh74 said:


> When I got into modern trains, I figured I could limit my spending by just getting trains from one railroad…the Pennsy. I bought only PRR engines, got some books to read about the Pennsy, and got mostly PRR rolling stock. * PRR was my railroad!* That worked for about 9 months.


Bob, I tried that too. It doesn't work.  I wanted to get into scale size models and I had a love for steam engines so I decided to sell off most of my traditional trains and specialize in scale PRR trains. I have some exceptions but most of my collection is PRR. That didn't limit my spending and I have PRR trains all over my basement.  The Pennsy had a lot of nice trains. 

I like east coast roadnames and the B&O is one of my favorites. I am often tempted to add a B&O passenger set to my collection. The only B&O I own is a set of Beefs, Peeps and a dockside switcher. The B&O has a beautiful paint scheme and a great history so enjoy your new favorite.


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## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

Lee's magnificent locomotive appears to be a 2-8-8-4 "Yellowstone." During WW2, B&O wanted diesels, but there was a shortage, so they had to accept 30 Yellowstones. Scientifically advanced for their day, they were so powerful and effective that B&O didn't start retiring them until 1957.

Yellowstones were at the cutting edge of technology. The first one was built in 1928 for Northern Pacific, and newer models were noted for their advanced technology.


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## PW Trains (Nov 5, 2015)

Spence said:


> It's an addition & sickness, these trains.


I second this comment. I call it "train fever"


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Vincent said:


> Lee's magnificent locomotive appears to be a 2-8-8-4 "Yellowstone." During WW2, B&O wanted diesels, but there was a shortage, so they had to accept 30 Yellowstones. Scientifically advanced for their day, they were so powerful and effective that B&O didn't start retiring them until 1957.
> 
> Yellowstones were at the cutting edge of technology. The first one was built in 1928 for Northern Pacific, and newer models were noted for their advanced technology.


Oh yes, it's a Yellowstone. I love Yellowstones. I have all four that were made. The first, as you mentioned, was the Z-5, mine is an MTH model. A big monster but really cool, and I have a DM&IR M-3 from 1941, - slightly heavier in the real world and looking just as big, then a Southern Pacific AC-9, looking noticeably smaller but very modern by comparison to those two even thought it was made in 1939, before the M-3, and finally the EM-1 - the most modern of all, made in 1944, which is slightly smaller than the others and looks even more modern. 

I really bought all four mostly to display on my "power wall" along with my other big locos, but they all run and get run about once a year.


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## Krieglok (Sep 7, 2013)

Nice Chessie SD there Denny. One of my favorite schemes from the 1980's...

Tom


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## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

Even Uncle Sam likes the B&O


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

The FA and FB came in a few days ago. Interesting that the horn arrangement on the B&O F is different than the Reading units since they are both from the 2016 V1 catalog. I have seen some manufactures make small distinctions like that to match the prototypes of different railroads, but I wasn’t expecting it. The sound of the horn is different too with the B&O horn a bit higher pitch. I like it, but I don’t like the shrill turbo whine on either F when it is at speed. I wish I could do away with it.


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## PDDMI (Oct 25, 2015)

*New Too...*

My new Baltimore & Ohio LC+ Mikado passenger train is shown steaming through town...


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Lehigh74 said:


> The FA and FB came in a few days ago. Interesting that the horn arrangement on the B&O F is different than the Reading units since they are both from the 2016 V1 catalog. I have seen some manufactures make small distinctions like that to match the prototypes of different railroads, but I wasn’t expecting it. The sound of the horn is different too with the B&O horn a bit higher pitch. I like it, but I don’t like the shrill turbo whine on either F when it is at speed. I wish I could do away with it.
> 
> View attachment 413377
> 
> ...


I agree - even when turbo whine is accurate, I'd prefer just a deep old-fashioned rumble. 

I have several of the latest Railking F3s. They are scale size but not as detailed as Premier or Legacy models (not metal screens, no see-thru grills with fans) but they have by far the best sounding "prime mover" sound I've bought since the Legacy U30C a number of years ago - even better than PS3 or Legacy E8s/9s. There is no turbine whine, just a deep, satisfying rumble. I talked with Pat at Pat's trains who told me he picked that sound file for the black-bonnet F3s he had MTH make for his shop to sell, and it was so good it's been put into a lot of other F3s, such as some I bought to replace my LC+ FAs.


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## Craignor (Jan 9, 2016)

I don’t like the whine either, I thought it was just me. I have tried the rev down, nothing gets rid of it, except when you are going less than 20-25 SMPH.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

I was wondering if the older F3s might have a better sound. I’ll have to figure out how to put an F3 sound file in the F7s.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

I'd recommend seeing if you can get the sound file for those newer Railking F3s, the one used in the black bonnets. It is far better than the sound in a much older pair of MYH F3s I have, and all my E 8s.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Nice Mikado Paul. I was curious why Lionel would use the same cab number as MTH. Turns out, that engine is at the B&O Museum that Craig mentioned earlier. I'm going to have to visit Baltimore to see that museum one of these days.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Lee Willis said:


> I'd recommend seeing if you can get the sound file for those newer Railking F3s, the one used in the black bonnets. It is far better than the sound in a much older pair of MYH F3s I have, and all my E 8s.


Thanks. Are your E8s PS2 versions? My RK PS3 E8 actually has a pretty decent sound. I may check that one too as well as the PS3 F3 when the time comes.


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## 86TA355SR (Feb 27, 2015)

Only UP in my collection, been solo for four years. I even limit the era to steam.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Lehigh74 said:


> Thanks. Are your E8s PS2 versions? My RK PS3 E8 actually has a pretty decent sound. I may check that one too as well as the PS3 F3 when the time comes.


No, they are PS3s. The RK F3 black bonnets, and some normal warbonnet locos I bought from 'the same series' from Pats Trains just had a better sound. I dont think the PS3 sound system in them is any better, they just have a really good sound file loaded, a nice rumble particularly at idle and lower speeds. It gets up to a nice cruise for a passenger train and just sounds lovely!

The E8s have really good sound, probably more realistic - I like these best of any diesel I have except the Legacy U30C.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

I picked up a few more NIB passenger cars from ebay. A sleeper and a diner from the same 2000 V3 catalog as the ones I got last month. Now that I have seven cars, its starting to look like a train. The lights in the sleeper don’t work, but I will put in LEDS to match the others anyway.


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

Lehigh74 said:


> I picked up a few more NIB passenger cars from ebay. A sleeper and a diner from the same 2000 V3 catalog as the ones I got last month. Now that I have seven cars, its starting to look like a train. The lights in the sleeper don’t work, but I will put in LEDS to match the others anyway.
> 
> View attachment 428313


turn the lights on and you will wake everybody up! 

B&O is looking good.:thumbsup:


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Lehigh74 said:


> I need a new strategy to limit my spending on model trains.


Looking at your post again, it is worth noting that such a thing does not exist. Just give into the addiction gracefully - embrace the dark side of the force, and you will feel so much better.

The B&O was a pretty cool railroad. I model the western US and go for western railroads - Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Southern Pacific - yet I have a lot of B&O steamers - because they had some really cool locos, and two complete B&O passenger trains because they are so dawg-gone pretty!


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## Guest (Mar 27, 2018)

I rate the B&O passenger sets in the *top ten* all-time favorites. The colors are just beautiful.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

I disassembled the sleeper to change over to LED lights and found out why the sleeper lights don’t work. The spring contact bracket is missing a spring. This appears to be a common part used in many cars and locos, but I could not find the part number. I sent an email to Midge, but I’m wondering if anyone here knows the part number for the spring or the bracket complete with springs.


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