Show your Park Gauge train

[H&NERY]

All though not mine I run the 15" gauge Sandley 4-4-0's regularly at Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin at the Riverside and Great Northern Railway. Great little American's and a nice train ride through the Wisconsin Countryside. 3 mile round trip, point to point operation with turntables on both ends.

[Mike Walsh]

Here are photos of Wabash, Frisco and Pacific road power.

#534 and #535 are Wagner Hudsons. #535 is a Hudson converted from a Jubilee, formerly #350 of the WF&P fleet.
#403 is of unknown origin, coming out of Prescott, AZ. She's the ugly duckling of the fleet with no reason or rhyme to her mechanical design. I like to call her cattywompus.
#928 is our newest product, and our only engine to be built on site. Has been in service for nine years now and is one of our most reliable performers.

We had a dry pipe fail on #403 and have had to replace all that. While we were at it, we removed the boiler, replaced insulation and jacketing, gave her a new paint job (back to black, Jack!), and she's being replumbed at this point. She'll be back this year. She would have been back sooner, but life got in the way for our roundhouse forces.

Enjoy.

Mike Walsh

[JR May]

While not my locomotive, it does belong to a friend of mine. This is the chassis for a 16” gauge Pacific, reportedly based on the Little Engines 1-1/2” scale Pacific so perhaps we can consider it a “cross over” locomotive between the live steam community and the park train community here on Chaski. It is for sale and if I had the money, it would be in my garage. It would make a magnificent, and quite large, 16” gauge locomotive. Patterns are with it to build a sister locomotive.
J.R.

[James A]

Hey James, wonderful to read about your early experiences. I have his electric trolley, complete with the overhead cable bar hookup - or whatever it is called . Also the rail bike and Mr. Griffen's powered SW 1500 switcher. Alas the electric trolley is missing its motor and the bike is in an advanced state of rust, indeed all three locos suffer from deep, long term neglect. The prior owner stored them under a tarp 25 years ago and never did any maintenance. Griffey sold his RR to a mini golf place in Bellingham, where it stayed for 20 years or so, then was sold to a retired gentleman in Port Orchard, on the Kitsap Peninsula, where it resided for another 25 years, till I bought everything last summer.

I have high hopes about restoring the locos to service, starting first with the electric - as a battery powered steeple cab perhaps.

I renamed the rail bike the 'Mosquito', due to its uncanny resemblance to those tiny winged dive bombers that used to attack me in Alaska.

Perhaps later I can post a photo or two of the rail bike for you to look at.

Glenn, thank you for all of the information. The first kid in the passenger car is a friend of mine, still to this day. I passed this info along to him. He has that article framed and hanging in his train room. I had assumed everything was long out of the area, not 30 miles away. It is truly a small world. Growing up with this was a great experience and had long lasting effects on a lot of the kids in the neighborhood. Many who aren't into trains still talk about it with a smile.

[Glenn Brooks]

James,

If you are up to the Seattle area, stop by and take a ride. I am working on putting down a short loop of track 500' more or less- to run the Ottaway and hopefully one of the switchers - maybe the electric Steeplecab. Hope to have the track in ballast by June. If all goes well, next winter or spring I should also have the Campbell locomotive restored to running condition.

I keep toying with idea of looking for a public park to lay a proper right of way - couple of miles of track up into the Cascades and back - but that would have to be a community project with a proper board of directors and volunteer crew to carry it forward....

[Glenn Brooks]

Hi Mike,

Years ago, I think I looked at the Arizona loco you mention above (engine #403). Was it purchased from an estate ? Elderly gentlemen who scratch built it but never laid down any ROW? If so, I talked to his daughter, who was handling the sale, but it was to much to deal with at the time - must have been 15 years ago. Always wondered where the loco went to...

Great photos of your motive power. Please advise how the RR faired after last winter's flood. I saw some photos with water up to the roof tops of your buildings, but never heard how the cleanup went,r if the loco's were impacted.

Also, any word on the 3" scale couplers you mentioned th club might be able to provide?

Thanks much,
Glenn

[Mike Walsh]

928, 535, 534 (all steam) and 13, 5205, 704 (all diesel) were all under about 3 feet of water. We put them at high ground, which has always been safe in years past. This year, the forecast changed after we bugged out, and we didnt get a chance to move them to higher ground. This was a record breaking flood -- 3 to 4 feet higher than the record, which clearly did us in.

535 and 928 have been re-insulated, and are being replumbed at this time. We hope to complete that this weekend.

534 has a fairly new boiler, so we feel she can be reinsulated another time. We are in the process of evaluating the cylinders, bearings, and valve gear to ensure everything is ready to go.

403 was with the rest of the equipment at the highest ground. She is being plumbed this weekend as well.

The diesels are having a rougher go of it. 13 seems to be ready for the season, but only way to verify is to put her through some stress tests.

I brought up couplers at the last board meeting a few weeks ago. They are going to see if we have our old stock still, and if so, will evaluate if we want to offer those for sale. At this time, the new couplers are being reserved for our fleet. Nothing wrong with the old ones, they're just a bit looser coupling. Our new ones have a taller knuckle as well, so that is another reason for going to new couplers. I'll follow up.

[Glenn Brooks]

Mike, thanks for the update. I was in New Orleans after Katrina. The silt and contaminates in the water caused a lot of problems for electrical and mechanical equipment and systems - not to mention structures... Best wishes for a successful recovery.

I am curious how your road bed faired? Any significant erosion??

What ever the board decides about the couplers will be fine. Iam in no hurry, just eventually need to do something.

Thanks much,
Glenn

[Glenn Brooks]

Anybody have a photo of a Wilton 15" ga locomotive you could share??

[RussellCofIdaho]

Darryl Klompmaker from the Whiskey River RR in Marshal, WI, acquired the Oakland Acorn and the Melody Ranch Special locomotives. With that purchase, he received all the trucks from the Acorn train and a bunch of patterns. Most of these patterns were lost in a fire at his facility. Prior to the loss, Darryl modified the coupler pattern with a longer shank. This is a very nice addition and he sells these couplers today.
Terry

Hi Terry,

Just joined this board a few weeks ago. I fondly remember (just barely) riding behind the Oakland Acorn as a kid. I remember going back and sadly examining the remains of the line years later and staring at the tracks still in the fenced off tunnel. I hear they rebuilt the waterways in the area and most of the park is now gone.

When was the Acorn removed? I seem to recall it was before the San Francisco Zoo train was removed in 1976 when I was 12 years old.

[Dick_Morris]

For a 15" Winton try Train Town in Sonoma. I thought I remembered seeing one on a visit 25 years ago and here are a couple of photos I found in a quick search on Google.

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/sonoma-t ... EOMoeK95Uw
https://img.baysider.com/companies/6949 ... 339290.jpg

[Mr Ron]

For a 15" Winton try Train Town in Sonoma. I thought I remembered seeing one on a visit 25 years ago and here are a couple of photos I found in a quick search on Google.

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/sonoma-t ... EOMoeK95Uw
https://img.baysider.com/companies/6949 ... 339290.jpg

It has been over 30 years since I rode on the Sonoma traintown railroad. I lived in the San Francisco Bay area for 25 years and visited the railroad frequently. According to the pictures, it has changed quite a bit from when I knew it.