assembling realistic lash-ups part 1

I always enjoy seeing, hearing and photographing unusual or usual lash-ups of locomotives on the front or rear of a train. That's part of why I picked 1973 to model, because the BN didn't finish repainting all the locomotives they inherited from the 1970 merger of four railroads until sometime in 1977. So when I see a photo of an interesting lash-up, it's fun to try and duplicate it on the model railroad, even if only for a picture.

With the rise of Facebook and groups.io, it's easier than ever to stumble on photos of interesting lash-ups. This happened to me yesterday. Brian Ambrose posted this amazing photo on a Facebook page:

Since the location of the picture was Argo yard in South Seattle, the date was 1979, and I have versions of each loco on the roster, I couldn't resist the opportunity to assemble a model of this lash-up in my own Argo yard. Here is the result:

These locos are: BN GP35, F7A, C-636, GP9, and MILW SD40-2, headed south to Portland. If you want a better look at each loco, here's a helicopter shot:

The only one that shares the exact engine number with the prototype photo is GP9 #1799. This is a special locomotive that was equipped with a braking system to work on the 5% grade up the Boeing spur at Mukilteo. I guess that by 1979 they were using a different set of power for the Jet Job, and that freed #1799 to operate in this lash-up to Portland.

This is an example of what is meant by the term "model railroading is fun"!