Texas Special

[en4cer]

I was just at a model railroad train show and I found an N scale GP40 with "Texas Special" paint scheme numbered 101. The chassis has Atlas markings on it. My question is does anyone remember a Texas Special line ever being run?

[Albert in N]

The whimsical Texas Special GP40 was most likely one of the early Atlas only one powered truck N diesels made in Yugoslavia.  Later as memory goes, Model Power also imported these single powered truck Yugoslavian made diesels.  In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Atlas imported their N diesels from Rivarossi (Italy) with the E-8s and FM C liners coming from Italy.  The Rivarossi GP-40s, FAs, RSC-2s, and Alco DL600s (RSD-15s) came from Yugoslavia.  They all had only one powered truck and normally ran well new out of the box.  However, pickup shoes wiped the wheels and were wired directly to the motor.  With use, the wires broke, pickup shoes bent, or motor brushes gave way.  With the technology of the time, the old brush motors ran hot and would eventually burn out an armature.  In the mid 1970s, Atlas started importing Roco N diesels from Austria.  Rocos ran well but were also subject to the dated technology problems.  However, they had both trucks powered.  In the mid 1980s, Atlas started importing Kato diesels using the modern split frame can motor technology.  Now, Atlas imports their diesels from China.  Both the Japanese and Chinese Atlas diesels run well and detailing is much better than the early European N diesels.  In the early days of N, Bachmann diesels were both trucks powered and generally ran on a par with the good Rapido and Minitrix German made diesels.

[jake_iv]

MKT's Texas Special was a successful joint endeavor with the Frisco.  Another joint venture you might find of interest was the Rock Island Golden State and the still born Golden Rocket which were a joint venture with the Southern Pacific....  The Golden State ran streamlined Pullman and Budd cars with several paint schemes over time. One, a single Red Strip above the window belt, another scheme was the SP Red & Orange Daylight type scheme.  The Rock Island actually took delivery of specially built consists for the Golden Rocket but the SP backed out.  The Golden Rocket cars wound up being used on the Golden State and the Fort Worth Rocket.  I did up a short N scale train using the Life Like E7 Rocket and MP SP cars with a REA Express car at the head end.

   From the info I got from a friend who used to pilot RI passenger trains - the Texas consists ran from Chicago to Texas as a RI train and then the consist was switched into the SP run for the trip to Calif.  The SP consist was returned to Chi by the RI and on the turn around was returned to the SP.  Although there were no Domes on the Fort Worth or the Golden State a dome was planned on the Golden Rocket so I chose to add one to my consist and used the Rocket "pool" name on my car.

   Texas Special trains have been produced by several makers over the years including even Lionel who used an Alco AA on the head end.  I think that Concor produced a N scale consist less loco.

[en4cer]

Thanks for the information guys, I do have an Austrian made version by the way. It runs really well even with dirty wheels. I plan on giving it a good cleaning and oiling as it sounds like it is in need of oiling. Most of what I run are in the Santa Fe/BNSF line so I will have to figure out how to incorporate this little guy into my layout. I do have a Bachmann Spectrum Rock Island Consolidated Steamer that I received for Christmas a couple of years ago so maybe I can create a seperate RI line maybe.