Live steam Mt Gretna Project

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johnpenn74
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Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by johnpenn74 »

Live steamers,
Does anyone know the dates that live steam ran the construction series on MT Gretna 4-4-0? Did anyone out there ever build a model besides the gentleman in France?

JP
John Pennington

Logging meets that actually move logs

Project
2 Mich-Cal Shays
Allen 4-4-0 Narrow Gauge Conversion
Two Reading A5a Camelback 0-4-0
USRA 0-6-0
Clishay
4 Western Wheeled Scraper NG Dump Cars
N&W 4-8-2
ICM 2-10-2
4 Modern Stake Cars
L&N Caboose
4 Big Four Conversion Gondolas

Like I'm actually gonna build all this stuff :-P
Marty_Knox
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Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by Marty_Knox »

John, I don't recall any Mt. Gretna project in Live Steam. Could you be thinking of the Elda project?
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johnpenn74
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Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by johnpenn74 »

Well, the reality was Jean Villette built his Mt Gretna 4-4-0 and talked about doing a series on it (Comment was made in the Call me Elda series). . While it did make the cover of Live Steam (March 1991, Jean Villette's Mount Gretna Narrow Gauge 4-4-0, Vol. 25 No. 3) a construction series never came to pass. Jean died a year or so ago I think.

Earlier today I did a pile of searches through job boards and found that Real Trains was working on a kit. Unfortuantely, that fell victim to time also.
The work on the American was being done by my Father. He unexpectdly passed away before he was able to finish it and work generally came to a stop. We all have many other projects and I have recently been going through several back operations. We have a lot of the chassis done for the locomotive and a boiler design finished but we do not want to try to get a lot of interest until we can actually deliver parts.

The design is based on the drawings in the "Locomotive Encycloepdia" by Kalambach, photos from the Baldwin historical society and a series of articles published in "Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gizette". We are trying for a reasonable copy of the prototype while being simple to build and run and cost effective. Our hope is to make a beginners engine that could be detailed additionally if desired.

Bill Donovan
Real Trains, Inc.
There are even a few other live steamers looking for the same stuff. It would seem as though a lot of people are looking for and interested in the same project.

I also came across a name of Greg B in Largo that was looking the same stuff. But, well,. my emails keep bouncing.

JP
John Pennington

Logging meets that actually move logs

Project
2 Mich-Cal Shays
Allen 4-4-0 Narrow Gauge Conversion
Two Reading A5a Camelback 0-4-0
USRA 0-6-0
Clishay
4 Western Wheeled Scraper NG Dump Cars
N&W 4-8-2
ICM 2-10-2
4 Modern Stake Cars
L&N Caboose
4 Big Four Conversion Gondolas

Like I'm actually gonna build all this stuff :-P
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Loco112
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Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by Loco112 »

Greg B is "Pockets"

I'll let him know he's being paged.
Curtis_F
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Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by Curtis_F »

By the courtesy of Ron Knepp, from his personal collection:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9324681/Ron_Kn ... awings.zip


Cheers,

Curtis F.
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hudson
Posts: 218
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:53 pm

Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by hudson »

Hi,

Jean Villette had the drawings for the Mount Gretna 4-4-0 available. I bought a few many years ago from the French
association

info@cav-escarbille.com

In their current price list many of the projects of Jean Villette no longer exist:

http://www.cav-escarbille.com/publications.pdf

If you are really interested, please contact the association at the above address.

If they give you a hint about the availability of these drawings, please inform.

Best regards,
hudson
Marty_Knox
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Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 6:50 pm
Location: Michigan, USA

Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by Marty_Knox »

johnpenn74 wrote:Well, the reality was Jean Villette built his Mt Gretna 4-4-0 and talked about doing a series on it (Comment was made in the Call me Elda series). . While it did make the cover of Live Steam (March 1991, Jean Villette's Mount Gretna Narrow Gauge 4-4-0, Vol. 25 No. 3) a construction series never came to pass. Jean died a year or so ago I think.

Earlier today I did a pile of searches through job boards and found that Real Trains was working on a kit. Unfortuantely, that fell victim to time also.
The work on the American was being done by my Father. He unexpectdly passed away before he was able to finish it and work generally came to a stop. We all have many other projects and I have recently been going through several back operations. We have a lot of the chassis done for the locomotive and a boiler design finished but we do not want to try to get a lot of interest until we can actually deliver parts.

The design is based on the drawings in the "Locomotive Encycloepdia" by Kalambach, photos from the Baldwin historical society and a series of articles published in "Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gizette". We are trying for a reasonable copy of the prototype while being simple to build and run and cost effective. Our hope is to make a beginners engine that could be detailed additionally if desired.

Bill Donovan
Real Trains, Inc.
There are even a few other live steamers looking for the same stuff. It would seem as though a lot of people are looking for and interested in the same project.

I also came across a name of Greg B in Largo that was looking the same stuff. But, well,. my emails keep bouncing.

JP
At Train Mountain Bill talked to me about boilers for these locomotives, so I don't think the project is dead. Greg B lives here in Michigan now.
moose the caboose
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Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by moose the caboose »

johnpenn74 wrote:Well, the reality was Jean Villette built his Mt Gretna 4-4-0 and talked about doing a series on it (Comment was made in the Call me Elda series). . While it did make the cover of Live Steam (March 1991, Jean Villette's Mount Gretna Narrow Gauge 4-4-0, Vol. 25 No. 3) a construction series never came to pass. Jean died a year or so ago I think....
johnpenn74 wrote: There are even a few other live steamers looking for the same stuff. It would seem as though a lot of people are looking for and interested in the same project.

I also came across a name of Greg B in Largo that was looking the same stuff. But, well,. my emails keep bouncing.

JP
john: marty is indeed, right, pockets now resides in michigan...just spent 2 weeks with him. great times! and yes, pockets is still working on scale plans for the mount gretnas. without Jean Villette's work, it has been slow going. we tried a couple of years ago to get in touch with his family, but failed...it has surprized me to find that he (jean) left his work to the french organization. we hoped that he or his family would, but the fact that we are just now learning about it shows you how fast data can fall from collective memory...sometimes you just don't know who, what, where, or how to ask. for his love of the hobby, may his memory and talents be remembered for many years to come.

note, that if you are wanting to do a close-as-you-can-get scale model(3.75 scale), most of the data that can be gleaned from the smaller scale publications tends to be inaccurate...forget the derr drawings!

if pockets doesn't appear shortly, feel free to im me and i'll put you in contact with him.


moose
pockets
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Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by pockets »

Yo. Johnpenn74, PM me on this site.

Marty, I talked to you about designing a boiler, for the book I'm doing, when I got the rail from you. I even sent you a prototype drawing. Neil K. wants me to drag that project off the back burner. I keep tripping over real life.

Greg B.

PS: The Derr drawings ARE garbage. Their most accurate parts are the legend stats and the suggestion of quarter-eliptic rear springs.
Last edited by pockets on Wed Jul 11, 2012 7:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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johnpenn74
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Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by johnpenn74 »

WOW! Thanks Curtis!

JP
John Pennington

Logging meets that actually move logs

Project
2 Mich-Cal Shays
Allen 4-4-0 Narrow Gauge Conversion
Two Reading A5a Camelback 0-4-0
USRA 0-6-0
Clishay
4 Western Wheeled Scraper NG Dump Cars
N&W 4-8-2
ICM 2-10-2
4 Modern Stake Cars
L&N Caboose
4 Big Four Conversion Gondolas

Like I'm actually gonna build all this stuff :-P
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rwmorris
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Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by rwmorris »

FYI,

I have a complete set of Jean's drawings and Castings on the way from the UK shortly. I'd possibly sell them so if you're interested please let me know.

I can't believe I found them but I did! The frames, drivers, pilot wheels, cylinders, and stack base are all included.

email me if you like:

robertwmorris@mac.com

~RM
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rwmorris
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Re: Live steam Mt Gretna Project

Post by rwmorris »

Erection Print:
Attachments
mtgretna.jpg
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