The Whiskey River Railway

bob neill

New Member
Since memory is flakey, I believe the was a set of plastic cars produced to celebrate the era. Since my dad's was a paper print, I made several copies to one pair to go on a car. If/when I find them, still in packing, I will try to send a copy.

Bob Neill
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Caboose Frenzy!

With the DGCC&W crews working on one of their long, lost cabooses they left in the woods to rot, that story motivated the WRRy shop forces to present a challenge to finish not one, but THREE cabooses (or cabeese, maybe cabii). I did some prep work on C2 and "the Grady twins" C5 and C6 a while ago by giving them black roofs and a coat of gloss clear to adhere the decals to. With the Army saying we can work half days during the Christmas season, that leaves me with time at home, and what better to do with my time than work on my model empire. Decals and a dull coat later, this is my finished product for today.

Also, that contraption at the bottom of the picture was a old boxcab body that someone made at the RR club for a Hustler. My wife had bought some glow in the dark spraypaint for pumpkins to give them a creepy look. I've been wanting to play with the glow in the dark paint for a while now, and now that I have it's not all that great. The dried effect it had on the boxcab is clear but gives it a dusty look. The glowing part looks cool for the first minute, but the effect drops off pretty quickly in the dark. Nonetheless, I might think of something to use it on, most likely for something foolish.

Tyler
 

Attachments

  • 2012-12-18_16-53-32_934.jpg
    2012-12-18_16-53-32_934.jpg
    93.5 KB · Views: 47

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Nice

Good looking cabooseX3. Also pretty neat weathering job on the box cab. By any chance could you get some "side shots"?

Tom
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Doc,

When I get home I can surely do that for you and the good of Zealot. Right after I completed the cars my wife left with a friend to do some shopping so I had to make my daughter and I some spaghetti. I figured one picture would be good for now to document my progress.

Since I have a little more time to myself now, I want to add handrails to C4, the first caboose I completed. Also I want to add plastic sheets to the windows and check coupler heights so they operate as good as they look.

Tyler
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Here's better pics of the finished results. Some minor things have to be done to all three, all three need their smokestacks and window glazing reinstalled, C2 needs siderails and the roof ladders put back in, and the Grady twins need couplers and their cupolas dull coated.

All in all I'm pretty happy with my fleet of cabooses. I have a few freight cars I'd like to work on, but after their done I'll have to work on some steam. Right now only one lokie is done, that is not enough!

Tyler
 

Attachments

  • 2012-12-19_18-47-37_87.jpg
    2012-12-19_18-47-37_87.jpg
    99.4 KB · Views: 92
  • 2012-12-19_18-49-19_771.jpg
    2012-12-19_18-49-19_771.jpg
    100.5 KB · Views: 13
  • 2012-12-19_18-49-48_332.jpg
    2012-12-19_18-49-48_332.jpg
    101.8 KB · Views: 61

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
More caboose crazyness!

Right before I left for vacation I found a unique caboose on eBay that I haven't seen before. So for a hefty fee of $6 I took it off of his hands. All the seller said was it was "metal and wood construction" and that "it needs to be cleaned up". Any idea of who could have made this? It doesn't look like a Silver Streak or a Ye Olde Huff n Puff, maybe it's a early brass kit.

Tyler
$T2eC16JHJHQE9nzEyOiHBQym0SpPfw~~60_57.JPG


$T2eC16dHJGoE9nuQg1kgBQym0tJTpg~~60_57.JPG
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
That doesn't look familiar to me, and that is scary. I live the truss rod detail, and the highly detailed steps, that is a nice acquisition.


Bill
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
I've done more investigation upon the caboose mystery and it looks like a standard MDC wood caboose body with a different cupola and truss bars and toolbaxes added. I'm pretty anxious now to really see what I've got. I don't think that MDC had produced this caboose body in metal, then again the seller may not know what he's talking about. Secretly I'm hoping its a old brass caboose, but doubt it.

Tyler
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
The plot thickens...

Well gents, I'm stumped. I looked on HOseeker.net for quite a while to possibly identify who made this caboose. The sides are in fact cast metal, the roof is one piece of wood as well as the floor/underframe, and the steps and tool box doors are brass. I feel I'd be wasting space on the internet posting more pics of it here since I haven't found any new markings or anything. You'd think that the cupola would give it away, since it's rather unique. I'm thinking about putting pics of it on the Model Railroader forums to hopefully identify it.

On another note, I've given the caboose a number for the WRRy, C3. That leaves me with only two spots left on the caboose roster, leaving C7 and C9 up for grabs. It's hard to believe I almost have more cabooses than lokies! I'm also considering giving this caboose a special treatment of a "Buy War Bonds" paint scheme, although I might do that with C1 as it has more space on the car body for lettering.

Tyler
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Disassembly begins on C3

Even though I scoured the whole HOseeker.net for hours the last couple days to figure out who made the C3 with no avail it doesn't exempt it from getting the restoration treatment. I did find two things interesting though, the whole car seems to be assembled with Shoe Goo or rubber cement and also when I was stripping paint off of the cupola I found out the car was repainted at some point in it's life from a Pullman green to it's current orange and brown paint. It also does have one minor spot of either zamac poisoning or just a bad cast, on one of the doors on the end. Right now I really need to figure out how to open this car up so I can take out the windows for when I repaint it. I busted one of the windows in hopes that I could get a better pry point to open up the car, but not so much.

While I'm on my caboose kick, I resumed work on C1. Some small details need to be added, such as a toolbox, prior to final painting. I'm still not sure if I should do a red, white and blue scheme on the car or just something simple like the Green Bay & Western did on one of their locomotives.

Have a great New Year's everyone, think Safety First!

Tyler
 

Attachments

  • 2012-12-30_18-12-07_617.jpg
    2012-12-30_18-12-07_617.jpg
    152.4 KB · Views: 16
  • 2012-12-30_18-12-25_590.jpg
    2012-12-30_18-12-25_590.jpg
    99.1 KB · Views: 12
  • 2012-12-30_18-30-16_974.jpg
    2012-12-30_18-30-16_974.jpg
    130.2 KB · Views: 15
  • 2012-12-30_18-30-40_36.jpg
    2012-12-30_18-30-40_36.jpg
    154.3 KB · Views: 33
  • 2012-12-30_18-29-11_3.jpg
    2012-12-30_18-29-11_3.jpg
    180.7 KB · Views: 64
  • 2011-11-07_16-26-07_650-1.jpg
    2011-11-07_16-26-07_650-1.jpg
    52.5 KB · Views: 14

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Tyler,

Thanks for sharing this project. I wore myself out cutting wood yesterday, but did a little caboose work. I repainted a shortened Mantua 1860 combine, that is in service as a caboose, and I painted a caboose red, that is similar to the J. E. Patterson Coal and Lumber Co. caboose I have at the club. as I plan my years train budget, I'll have to include some caboose projects. I like your numbering system, mine 201-299 has way more slots than I need, as my locomotives are numbered 01-22, not many of those slots are empty, but at any given time 4-5 of those would be down for repairs or service. That and using combines to make mixed trains will reduce the overall number of cabooses needed to close to ten. I may need more combines.

as I get these caboose projects on the rails, I have about 8 or 9 old AHM and later IHC wood truss rod flats that desperately need their rebuild into log cars finished, especially If I do my RR rebuild, and can move from four car log trains to ten car log trains.

Bill Nelson
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Gents,

While taking a break from the caboose project because of the frustration of figuring out how to remove the roof without significant damage to the roof or sides I have been shopping for another locomotive to use on the road. If Bachmann still sold their 2-8-0's with DCC and sound for as much as they do their regular DCC ones like they did, I'd be set. That's not the case anymore, since those locomotives sell for around $200 or more with none to little run time. Sometimes you can get lucky and scoop something up for great discount from eBay due to someone not knowing what they have. For instance, my Casey Jones' 4-6-0's from Rivarossi. Both had crappy pics (one had only one picture) and one supposedly didn't run... the same way my Pocher 4-4-0 didn't run (either they didn't hook up the tender or check the tender polarity). Both of those locomotives are worth a lot more than what I paid for them now for unknown reasons, they look beautiful but are poor runners and pullers.

I've got my eye on either a United AT&SF 2-8-0, some other brass 2-8-0, or this brass 2-8-2 logger.
Max%20Grey%20Mikado1.jpg


Tyler
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Nice Lokie

Tyler,
That is a nice looking locomotive. With its weight it should be a good puller.

Have you asked if it runs? Is it an eBay sale?

Good Luck with this interesting beast.

Tom:thumb:
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
I am in trouble...

Well I've done it again, Ive found something that our wives will possibly hate. I was cruising through Google Images for pictures of 0-6-0's for inspiration last night when I have found the modern steam kitbasher's motherload. On Bachmann's website you can buy most parts for any locomotive they have made within the last 20post years or so. Tgeir parts catalog link can be found here: http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=66_68

At first I was going to abandon Bill's donated 0-6-0t and have it live on Bob's railroad, since that's what he's looking for for a shortline/mine switcher. It'd need to be converted to DCC for both of our railroads, but since the WRRy already has a pretty unique tank switcher I wanted a tendered switcher for the big yard in Merrick. Since the project will be reborn more than likely, I'm thinking that the Richmond 4-4-0's boiler will fit relatively well on the Roundhouse frame.

Tyler
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Bachmann helps out

Well I've done it again, Ive found something that our wives will possibly hate. I was cruising through Google Images for pictures of 0-6-0's for inspiration last night when I have found the modern steam kitbasher's motherload. On Bachmann's website you can buy most parts for any locomotive they have made within the last 20post years or so. Tgeir parts catalog link can be found here: http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=66_68



Tyler

Hi Tyler,
I believe that Bachmann is the only model RR manufacturing outfit with a real live "parts department." They are much beloved in the Large Scale model RR community for this.

You are right you can get a cheap junker off eBay, slap in some new motors etc and you gots a new train on the cheap. Lots of guys are doing this with Gen 1 large scale shays that had self destructing plastic gears. They are replacing them with metal gearing (as on the newer releases) purchased from that very parts department you sited with great results.

I think you will find this to be a valuable resource.

Doc Tom
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
New Locomotive and Some Good Reading

Gents,

I've done it again, I've found one of the greater deals on eBay. This time I found myself a vintage Mantua "Eight Ball" Mogul 2-6-0 for under $40. Technically this would be my second brass locomotive as it was a kit made of brass and someone had to put it together instead of being imported. It's already got a spot on the roster, this will be #40 as the pair of IHC 2-6-0's I have are #43 and #44.

Also earlier this week I was cruising the interwebs when I read into CWRailman's blog (found at http://www.cwrailman.com/index.html) and discovered there's a world of books out there that are free, mostly due to their copyrights expiring and becoming public domain. You can search on Google Books for stuff or on some college websites like Harvard. I have found these two as a start:
“Freight Terminals and Trains” by John Droege
"The Car Builders Dictionary, 1909 Edition"

Both are great resources for early railroading. The Car Builders Dictionary has EV-ER-Y-THING in there you could possibly think of, not only car diagrams and drawings but every different piece of hardware that could be found on them. It also covers passenger cars, hand cars/speeders, electrics and British equipment. Like I said, EV-ER-Y-THING! Best part of all, they're both available to download to your computer for free.
 

Attachments

  • wrry40.jpg
    wrry40.jpg
    186.4 KB · Views: 13
  • crrr60.jpg
    crrr60.jpg
    24.8 KB · Views: 9

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
excellent find, Mantua locomotives of that era are rare, I used to want one of there Belle of the 80's badly, never have seen one in the flesh!!


Nelson
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Bill,

I'd also love to have a Belle of the Eighties as they are very beautiful locomotives. I fell in love with that locomotive even more once I saw John Allen's color photo of his #8. Granted the locomotive I picked up is its cousin, it has the look that the Whiskey River Railway locomotives all share. This locomotive is really a steal though, as most others hit triple digits. A little research goes a long way when you try to sell stuff on the internet. This guy could have made a lot more money if he would have posted more than what he did and guessing what it was.

Tyler
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Korean War-era steam and caboose inspiration

It has been a while since I've posted anything until lately. Due to my job I'll be going back to Korea for a year so these last couple weeks I've been getting everything squared away (or at least trying to). And yes, part of which is deciding what to bring as far as train projects. One night while I was researching more on the Korean National Railroad Museum (since I didn't go last tour) I found a website owned by a Korean War vet who was in the Railway Operating Battalion over there. While browsing through the photos I saw two things of interest; one of their clean looking Pacifics and a neat four-wheeled bay window caboose.
kpc49.jpg
knr1136.jpg

Now normally I'm not into international railroading nor am I into four wheel cabeese, but the heavens have parted to shed a new light to a modeling perspective. Now the Pacific, as American looking as it is, will lose the angled plate on the pilot and look like the "real" WRRy Pacific #1919. I do like it's clean lines on the boiler, the straight boiler and secretly the streamlined tender. The caboose is something unique for sure, as you can see the ring for a machine gun up top which would not appear on my model. The caboose that is attached to the old C&S Heisler as a pickup will probably be the candidate for rebuilding since it already has a spot on the roster as C8 and I shouldn't need anything bigger than that down in the quarry (that's where that caboose will operate out of, to not only guard the rear of the train when it backs down the grade but also to transport quarry personnel).

Tyler
 
Top