Barco Mining Company Switcher

In Oasis Palms a 45-ton diesel switcher was used in the 1950s and 1960s as a tourist attraction. A single ore car with a fake gold ore load and a few open-air passenger cars were paraded through town each weekend day to promote the Oasis Palms scenic railroad tour. For $2 passengers could ride the train that rode past the Barco Gold Mine and took a lap around the scenic railroad above town.

These GE Transportation 45-Ton diesel switchers were built between 1940 and 1956 and were one of the first diesel-electric locomotives to enter service in the USA. Large numbers of “Switching” locomotives were built not only for large railroads; they were also found on smaller railroads as the sole motive power. These little switchers were found just about everywhere: large industrial sidings, on dockside tracks at seaports, quarries, mines, steel mills, lumber yards, and everywhere that required a railroad car to be moved.

To recreate the Barco Mining Company switcher, we started with a gifted Lionel 6-18930 Switcher. These little switchers came from the Lionel 6-11813 Crayola Activity O Gauge Diesel Train Set made in 1994-95. The top is bright yellow and the base is green. Our donor came from an activity set gifted to me by a friend whose children had played with the set when they were kids.

The switcher was easily disassembled by removing the two screws on the bottom (one in the front, one in the back). There are also two screws also hold the direction lock switch in place. (This switch is used to fix the direction of the motor so the track power will not put it in neutral and then reverse.) The Crayola logos were removed by wet sanding the shell with 400 grit sandpaper. The only modification I needed was to add weight to the cab by adding a 1/2 steel nut in the trunk and attaching flat steel plates where the front coupler used to be located. The added weight helps the little switcher stay grounded on the track as they a pretty light and can tend to jump around when pulling such a small load.

The shell and base were spray painted with Krylon Satin Black. I like this finish as it creates a slick/smooth surface that is good for applying water-slide decals. After reassembly, my custom waterslide decals printed by Fusion Scale Graphics were applied to the switcher. Finally, a coat of Krylon Satin Clear was added to seal the decals.

 

The finishing touch was to scratch build an Ore Cart. The cart was made from a single K-line truck attached to a 1/4 plywood base. The sides were built up from coffee stir sticks and the entire assembly was stained with a Minwax Walnut stain pen. The ore is a load of Chic Grit and is the same rock I plan on using as ballast to finish the track on the layout.

 

The single car ‘consist’ is short enough to stage on the single 10″ FasTrack spur that is in the corner of the layout back in the Barco cavern. The open-air passenger cars are in the works.