New Acquisitions

 I have upped my NS Heritage Unit count by two. 

 Sort of. 

Let me explain.

The first is a Monongahela ES44AC. I wanted this one because the Monongahela ran through Waynesburg PA where it had a connection to the narrow gauge Washington and Waynesburg. All of the narrow gauge is gone now, with no sign of remains, but the Monongahela main is still used by the Norfolk Southern (and occasionally CSX) to access coal mines in the area.

The second is a fantasy paint PRR ES44AC in Brunswick Green. The actual PRR Heritage unit, number 8102, is Tuscan Red. This foobie unit carries the number 1846, which is actually carried by an SD70ACC on the Norfolk Southern. The number 1846 on this unit is likely - almost certainly - due to the establishment of the Pennsylvania Rail Road on April 13 of that year. As such, it really isn't an NS heritage unit at all.

At any rate, the first thing I did when I unboxed them was drop the Monongahela unit on the floor and bend a wheel. Unfortunately, since they are Fox Valley Models locomotives, there is no manufacturer support. Fortunately (but not really surprisingly) the Kato 6 axle diesel wheel sets are a drop-in replacement. In fact, the entire truck is a drop-in replacement, but I only have gray ones on hand and the ones on the locomotive are black.

At any rate the damage was quickly repaired using my stash of Kato spare parts and both locomotives were put through their paces. The PRR unit programmed with no issues, but the Monongahela unit is slow at the top speed, only able to achieve 118 SMPH. It is still faster than the Southern unit, which tops out at 105. I have programmed CV5 on both locomotives to achieve the same speeds at 5% increments up to their top speeds, so they will run with the other locomotives on my roster. If it bothered me overly much I would replace the motors with Kato units and make rocket ships out of them all. 

This brings my total number of NS Heritage units up to four (six if you count the Kato Erie and the foobie PRR): Erie, PRR, Monongahela and Southern. I want to find a Norfolk Southern (the original NS, not the current one) and a Norfolk and Western and then I think I may be done.