The Whiskey River Railway

[gbwdude]

I just found a long (41 min) but great video of the Milwaukee Road's Super Domes in action from 1952 when they were brand new. I'm really glad that the Friends of the 261 bought and restored a majority of the Hiawatha cars so they can be enjoyed today. Man I need a time machine... too bad the one I built when I was 4 only worked with imagination and made out of a pallet, four lawnmower wheels, an air filter from the same lawn mower and a old telephone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RevpfzJPqiQ

Tyler

 

[Bill Nelson]

I had been hunting for the AHM 4-4-0 frame I said I had, but couldn't find. It was not in the scrap box that the other remains if AHM tender drive locomotives were in.

Today I was trying to clean off my work bench. The first order of business was to fix # 21, my primordial 2-4-4-2, which had lost a screw from it's valve gear. naturally it was some oddball tiny metric screw that would be difficult to match. I found one that would work kind of sort of, and got it in as a trmp repair, that while not pretty will allow operation. While looking for screws, I visited many boxes of locomotive mechanism parts, and found the 4-4-0 frame, so here is a mock up of the Whiskey river locomotive that is ( God willing) being constructed in my shops,


Tyler, does this locomotive have a number yet?

 

[Doctor G]

I just found a long (41 min) but great video of the Milwaukee Road's Super Domes in action from 1952 when they were brand new. I'm really glad that the Friends of the 261 bought and restored a majority of the Hiawatha cars so they can be enjoyed today. Man I need a time machine... too bad the one I built when I was 4 only worked with imagination and made out of a pallet, four lawnmower wheels, an air filter from the same lawn mower and a old telephone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RevpfzJPqiQ

Tyler

Neat video with a catchy tune......."on the old milwaukee road...ta da."

Doc Tom

 

[gbwdude]

I had been hunting for the AHM 4-4-0 frame I said I had, but couldn't find. It was not in the scrap box that the other remains if AHM tense drive locomotives were in.

Today I was trying to clean off my work bench. The first order of business was to fix # 21, my primordial 2-4-4-2, which had lost a screw from it's valve gear. naturally it was some oddball tiny metric screw that would be difficult to match. I found one that would work kind of sort of, and got it in as a trmp repair, that while not pretty will allow operation. While looking for screws, I visited many boxes of locomotive mechanism parts, and found the 4-4-0 frame, so here is a mock up of the Whiskey river locomotive that is ( God willing) being constructed in my shops,

Tyler, does this locomotive have a number yet?

Bill,

Already that looks amazing! It does have a number now, #20. I read the post first and had to make a number for my roster. Just remember Bill, if you need any parts to make the beast operational I can help with finding parts you need. It'll be great to see it pull my passenger train or doubleheading with another one of the WRRy's pieces of power on a freight train.

Tyler

 

[Bill Nelson]

I have some driveshafts that may work the biggest piece of the puzzle is the motor. I have several motors, but getting a good runner out of this will require a good motor, and extra electrical pick up. I wish I had another of thise cannon copier motors that Mack scrounged up. they make extraordinary runners out of my Mantua General based 4-4-0s that arn not very different from what we are aiming for here.


I really like the looks of this. the Genoa drivers look smaller under this boiler, giving this animal (now #20) the look of a Freight , or general purpose engine.


Bill Nelson

 

[gbwdude]

Bill,

After this loco is built I'll only have two-three more lokies to buy/build, a 2-8-0 for sure and a strictly passenger loco that's all shiny and well kept. I might paint up #20 all pretty like and give it a name like older steamers got, once again basing it off of how John Allen did his #8, the Sergeant Ennis. #20 will also be the WRRy's 11th lokie, and with no layout I should really hold off on buying more toys and work on getting them running like tops... and painted and decaled! I got decals coming my way shortly, just got to get the final details worked out.

Tyler

 

[gbwdude]

I take that back, it's the WRRy's ninth lokie. I forgot to take off both of the AHM 4-6-0's and considered it a separate loco.

 

[gbwdude]

I think that there was a article in MR or somewhere that told what brass models to look for when buying a brass steamer. Are the United ATSF models reliable or are they another headache to deal with? Any other suggestions?

Tyler

 

[Bill Nelson]

Uninted

United built a lot of locomotives for PFM. I have 3 United / PFM shays, a PFM / United Climax, and a United Ma & Pa 2-8-0.


The shays have 42, 38, and 30 years of service on them with few problems other than having had their motors worn smack out, requiring replacement. Only one has problems , and those are related to me messing up a job of installing a NWSL regear kit.


The climax is flawless, and bone stock, with only about 16 years of service on my RR (it is probably about 30 years old.

The Ma & Pa consolidation has no real problems, but it has been acquired relatively recently from Mack, and is in the shops for improved electrical pick up, something almost all brass of that era needs, and a paint job to ready it to join the 2-4-4-2s in service on the valley division.

My understanding is United did good work on the details, and made solid mechanisms, that required a minimum of tweaking.


Bill Nelson

 

[gbwdude]

I really like the look of the United ATSF 2-8-0, and the only modifications I'll want to do to it is take off the numberboards on top of the boiler (a detail specific to ATSF), change the tender to a coal tender and switch out the motor for a can motor. From what I understand, it was their most popular locomotive and can be found from $150 and up in good condition. I don't think I'll be getting any more toys for a while though, my wife still nags about the Hiawatha and I just bought some ammo for my .303 British (which five years ago it was as cheap as 30-06 or 7.62 but now almost doubled).

Tyler

 

[Bill Nelson]

Tyler, are you planning to use DCC? if not you may not need to replace the motors, United liked to use Pittman motors, and they were the best. they pull a lot of amps, but some of my brass ran very well with the original motors, and I have only replaced motors as they were worn out or burnt up.

remotoring brass steamers is tricky, as they generally used a worm on a long motor shaft, and can motors don't come with long enough shafts. I disassemble the old motor saving the shaft, from which I remove the armature plates wire, and commutator. I also save the front and back frame pieces with the bearings. I use them to make a frame to hold the shaft and worm , and then cut the shaft to fit, once I know where the motor will sit and how long the shaft has to be. I'ts a pain, but a lot easier than trying to find s shaft and bearings the right size.


Bill Nelson

 

[gbwdude]

Bill,

DCC is a must on the WRRy. I only have a few lokies that don't have DCC installed in them, back then it was due to time (no wife, no money issues:mrgreen. I installed all my own decoders except for one, which I needed to modify it for headlights also, and had Enginehouse Services up in Green Bay do it. They do phenominal work, I had them paint up a Kato/Atlas SD24 in Fox River Valley Railroad (way before Atlas came out with theirs) and in my opinion looks better than the production model. That thing still needs DCC once I think about it...

Tyler

 

[gbwdude]

Yard planning... again

I have some sketches on my computer of my newest idea for the yard at Merrick but don't have them with me, so for now you'll have to bear with me. I did a search of Norwood Yard up in Green Bay, WI trying to find a pic of the track diagram (which is on my computer in my room) and in doing so I thought about looking it up on Bing Maps. Well where the grain silo is is probably where I'd have my engine house, a five stall with one track that goes all the way through the central engine house track. You can see where the GBW had their roundhouse and turntable in this pic, and as much as I don't want to use a turntable to turn my lokies I might just have to so it can fit within a reasonable size. If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears... well eyes.:mrgreen:

Tyler

 

[Bill Nelson]

It looks like there is or was a wye there, wyes are cool but they eat up huge amounts of space.


I had a space saving trick on my Bumpass modules I put a turntable in with the pivot point about two inches from the edge of the module !/3rd of the pit was off the module. the turntable swung out into space. When Bumpass was incorporated into my home six inches was added to the front, and then all of the turntable pit was on the RR.


Bill Nelson

 

[gbwdude]

Bill,

Sadly the correct use is past tense, there was a wye there. The wye leg led to another yard where the GBW interchanged with the CNW and continued on out to Kewaunee on Lake Michigan to take care of ferry traffic. The left end of the yard went to the coal dealer that's still there and to the GBW's old station (it burned down in the late 1970's thanks to vandals) and the right headed out west through my hometown of Seymour and all the way to the Mississippi River to Winona, MN where it interchanged with the Burlington/BN. The yard was so small that train #1 (westbound fast freight) had to double or even triple up and tie up traffic on 12th Ave. I remember when my Grandpa drove semi and I'd tag along and we had to make a delivery or pickup at Dean Foods (the building in the lower part of the picture) that I could always count on seeing a train or waiting for one at the crossing there... today CN uses that for overflow from the ex-CNW yard (I think that's McDonald yard, not sure).

Tyler

 

[gbwdude]

Just got my book my wife got me for Valentine's Day, The Green Bay and Western in the Steam Era. Lots of great pics and info inside as well as all new angles of the steamers, which will be handy when I get a chance modeling GBW steam. I'm pretty satisfied with my choice of modeling the 1935-1940 era as almost every steamer was still on the roster in some form or another (operable or waiting to be scrapped). It's days like today that make me a happy soldier!

 

[gbwdude]

After a good conversation and some work, I finally have WRRy's decals coming my way. I should have enough to letter about 40 some freight cars and most of my lokies. It's a good start to get my fleet the uniform look that it needs. First the paint shop, then decals, followed by various amounts of weathering depending on car type, then operation.

As for my yard plans, I've been thinking about modeling Norwood Yard as it were in the 1930's-1940's. Before the WRRy came to fruition, I wanted to model the Green Bay and Western from Norwood Yard to Black Creek and keep certain buildings interchangeable to change from era to era. I have lots of GBW diesels and most of my diesel fleet is pre-1960 as it is. I only have a one model that reflect the later years of the railroad, a C424 in it's all red scheme, but could be put to work with my FRVR SD24 as it happened in the early 1990's, pre-August 1993.

 

[gbwdude]

Interesting roadname

While searching the vast and glorious eBay, I found this car which I had to buy. In the description it's noted as HOn3 but looks like it was a standard guage car that someone took narrow guage trucks and couplers and put it under it. Someone has a twisted mind such as mine...

Tyler

 

[Bill Nelson]

good guess

That does seem to look a little odd, as a narrow gauge car, as the truck center seems a little too far in. The car is not recognizable though ( and I have seen a lot of old kits) this may be a scratch-built car. That is an interesting road name; have you seen the Ware & Feckarwe boxcar I have at the club.?


Bill Nelson

 

[gbwdude]

Sorry for the late reply, the internet has been screwed up here since the whole Japan disaster. I have a car that's built similar to this but with a different roadname, also a one off railroad I believe. So if it was a scratchbuilt car the same guy built it, but if not who made the kit? Dum dum DUM!!!

Tyler