Luckyblitz

Train size has been kept down to 12 vintage ATSF Streamliner-Era cars for this ATSF 3751 Excursion from Los Angeles, CA to Kansas City, MO. The portion covered will be on the Streamlines SELIGMAN SUBDIVISION between Needles, CA and Kingman, AZ. The 3751 is the excellent 3DTrainStuff model of this locomotive, while the passenger consist is the 3DTrains 'Super Chief' Train Set (all payware).
This is a high-fare trip for the first-class passengers, as night-running is involved, as it has been found that there are those who are willing to pay dearly for the experience of riding in a vintage ATSF 4-4-2 or 10-6 Sleeper, listening to the exhaust, and wail of a steam whistle at night.
We start with the ATSF 3751 coming into Needles, CA from the west in the early morning hours.
This was a TOUGH BATTLE for the 3751 from Needles to Kingman. It is easy to see why the ATSF 'Super Chief' was allotted 1'14' Eastbound from Needles to Kingman in the 1968 OFFICIAL GUIDE, and, but 0'52' Westbound. Eastbound, aside from torturous curvature in certain portions, the only 'relief' comes in some segments where the grade eases to a 'mere' 1 percent, with a few 0.8 percent sections...the prevalent 1.3 and 1.6 percent spikes, many of which go on for miles, do their best to keep the speed down. For most of the trip, the speed was 'hung' in the mid-60 MPH range. With the same train consist, I duplicated the run with what I thought would be PLENTY of power: an A-B-B Set of ATSF F7s, with a big 3600 HP FP45 4th out. The results? The running time for the 3751 was 0'54', beating the 1968 'Super Chief' Schedule by a respectable margin. The diesels? They turned in a worse performance, but still maintained, or bettered, the 'Super Chief' Schedule, turning in a running time of 1'04'. Exactly 10 minutes to spare with the diesels--had there been a train meet--it would have been a close call. I can see that had the power been 2 FP45s, the performance would have been better than with the F-Units, even with the FP45 assisting. Why? Because the weight of the F7s (more units), and, extra traction motors to feed and but 1500 HP to feed them, the horsepower would have been better utilized with a pair of FP45s--the F7s encountered the phenomenon known as 'amping out.' They could simply go no faster, and bogged down into the 50 MPH range for much of the uphill journey. Easy to see why 5 to 7 F7s were often used on the 'Super Chief' and 'El Capitan'!!!
***Note: it is very easy to see why the ATSF invested in the 'Epitome' of steam power, the 2900-Class Northerns. While I didn't do all of this at one sitting, ;-), I tested a heavily modified (physics-wise) version of the freeware version of the SP 4449 on the same train on this route, a locomotive that, like UP 844, is much closer in size, tractive effort, cylinder size, and drawbar horsepower to the 2900-Class 4-8-4s. The result? A running time between Needles and Kingman of 0'48' vs. 0'54' for the ATSF 3751, or, 1'04' for the diesel-electric consist. In all cases, the 1968 'Super Chief' running time was exceeded--barely--a meet requiring a full stop would have made it a very close call. I found the difference in running times very interesting, however. While the larger, more modern Northern saved but 8 minutes of running time over the 61.6 mile journey from Needles to Kingman, the time savings, say, of a Los Angeles to Kansas City long-haul would have been obvious...
In another difference between steam and diesel, however, when I 'cheated' on the more level trackage east of Kingman to make up time (though I did not go on all the way to Seligman...something I may do at a later time), I was able to get the train up to 118 MPH with the diesels, but, wasn't able to get over much better than 110 with the steamer.
(1) The ATSF 3751 East approaches Needles, CA from the west:
(2) Cabview from the 3751 approaching the West Needles station sign:
(3) ATSF 3751 East stands ready for the hard slog toward Kingman at the Needles, CA Depot:

(4) The 3DTrains 'Super Chief' Consist, with the famed Santa Fe 'Pleasure Dome' in the foreground, posed at Needles, CA prior to departure:
(5) The ATSF 3751 East by MP 570, about 5 miles west of Topock, AZ in a scenic area through the cuts, with spring flowers in bloom:
(6) The 3751 East splits the signals at Topock, with an old steam-era water tower in the background:

(7) A passenger view of the ATSF 3751 rounding a curve at MP 566, just west of Topock, from the Santa Fe PLEASURE DOME:
(8) The rear end of the Santa Fe steam-powered streamliner at MP 525, east of Griffith, straining against the forces of an ever-increasing distance above sea level:
(9) The ATSF 3751 East storms through Getz, AZ at MP 513.9:

(10) The ATSF 3751 East broadside at Harris, MP 521.5:
(11) The mighty Santa Fe Northern thunders through Berry, AZ, at 93 MPH during a brief respite from 'slugging it out' on the harsh, never-ending grades...the speed will soon fall, and FAST:
(12) The 3751 at MP 517.5 in scenic Kingman Canyon:

(13) The 3751 crosses a steel trestle with Santa Fe lettering on it at MP 519 in Kingman Canyon, less than 3 miles out of the station:
(14) The 3751 pulling into Kingman, AZ for a brief water stop and much-needed lube from the Alemite guns for the high-speed running that lies ahead:
(15) A 'Bird's Eye View' of the ATSF 3751 East pulling out of Kingman, AZ, cylinder cocks open, enroute to Seligman, AZ, and ultimately, Kansas City:

(16) A frontal view of the ATSF 3751 hitting the trestle over the famed Route 66 in the eastern part of Kingman, AZ:
(17) A broadside of the beautiful Santa Fe streamliner passing over Route 66:

Red:
Are you running these as Explore Route or are you making activities. Would be so neat to see that excursion passing freights.
Genevasub

genevasub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Red:
>
> Are you running these as Explore Route or are you
> making activities. Would be so neat to see that
> excursion passing freights.
>
> Genevasub
That was an Explore Route job. I'm not into/capable of activity creation, although I do have some printouts of how to copy and rename existing activities (saving the old activities), and, replacing the Player Consist and AI Consists. I just haven't had time to explore that option, but, it appears to hold a lot of promise.
For example...supposedly...I could 'copy' the existing 'Eastbound Manifest' stock SLI activity, replace the Player Consist with the 3751 consist above, and, meet the same ATSF modern-era freights that the Westbound Manifest meets--or--if I wanted to backdate it, I could still use the same activity, give it yet another name--SUPPOSEDLY--and replace the AI Consists, say, with freights led by F7s, or, perhaps even make one of them a 'Super Chief,' or whatever.
Something on my 'To Do' list, which is pretty long right now!!! ;-)
If anybody has any further info as to how to do this 'Activity Duplication/Renaming,' (aka, the 'Lazy Man's Way,' or, let's say, the 'Busy Man's Way' to create activities) PLEASE feel free to share their ideas with me. I agree--it would be TERRIFIC to be able to run this excursion out on an intermodal-heavy Transcon!!! And, the 'Screenshot Opportunities' would be infinitely more interesting...