The Whiskey River Railway

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Hello Tyler. I was sorry to hear about the railroad cutbacks. On the other hand you sound like you have a type B job now. Those are the best.

I will be happy to get some pictures going on the new parts for model railroad layout. We will be interested what you and other readers have to think about it and in particular any suggestions. I will start this as a new thread. Doc Tom
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Holy necroposting, but I'm back! Since I've last posted there's been many changes. I'm back to working with 1:1 scale now out of Green River, WY, recently got my promotion back to conductor (out here a lot of junior guys start off as brakemen and switchmen which I was for two years until about a month ago), I've picked up a new project truck (a 1971 International Harvester 1210, which is a 3/4 ton 4x4 with the 345 and four speed manual... everything I've wanted in a project truck) and construction has started on the north end of the WRRY. While I do have a garage, it's only a single car where my beautiful 1973 Dodge Adventurer lives so the IH is on standby until either I can borrow some garage space to continue progess on it or warmer weather comes my way. So I've moved my focus to the basement where the WRRY has made its home.

Current progress has been building benchwork for the two northernmost towns of Tubbs and Rock Ridge, giving me something to create trains and move them with a purpose. As a refresher Tubbs connects to the Green Bay & Western at a fictional area near real-life Black Creek, WI and will have a small yard, wye to turn power, depot, coal and sand facilities for power and a three stall engine house as well as a handful of industries. Rock Ridge will be home to a box/barrel factory and a quarry which supplies the railroad's ballast.

On the rolling stock front I've been relatively behaved at not buying too many extra cars, largely thanks to the lack of train shows in the area and self discipline of staying away from evilBay. There is only three train shows a year near me, only one being within an hours' drive in Evanston at their neatly restored roundhouse. The others are in Salt Lake City or Ogden, which to make I usually have to lay off of work to attend. Nonetheless I did get a few more passenger cars to actually complete the roster, two new-to-me steamers (a MDC low driver 2-6-0 #49 and a Mantua 2-6-2 which I've yet to number but will receive the Mellor Consolidation conversion kit I found at a show), a handful of those AHM/Roco wooden double door boxcars that WRRY management seems to love as well as a few parts to eventually build into the railroad's odd bay window bobber that I've posted about many moons ago.

With the new house also came a Harry Potter-esqe closet in the basement, tucked neatly under the stairs, providing a home for the dispatcher's office. I'm still working on all of the 1930's period correct items but it already has the feel of a broken in office area.
 

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gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Already with the updates... moreso clarification. WRRy #49 is a MDC Mogul that has the 51" square counterweight drivers. This was the last iteration of the kit before they went strictly to RTR. From a acquaintance on Facebook in which I trade parts and such with he found in his stash a Mantua Rodgers boiler and frame. It was painted black... badly. Which is perfect for me, I intend to strip off all of the cast on detail and modernize it with brass castings. Bill sent me a grab bag of his extras when he sent #20 back to me which provided some parts needed for #49. With the Mantua frame came it's drivers and valve gear, stuff I don't need but have already found that the friction pins holding in the side rods on the MDC drivers come out very quickly. I have tried fitting the side rod screws into the drivers but the holes in the MDC drivers are too big for the Mantua drive rod screws. Any ideas?

The locomotives' fictional history is that it came to the WRRy shops for work and modernization. When the C&B RR (what it was decorated for when I got it) went belly up in 1931 it couldn't repay the WRRy and offered to sell the locomotive. Not needing an antiquated locomotive needing work they initially passed so it sat on one of the shop tracks. Eventually the railroad's demurrage fees caught up to more than the locomotive was worth and ownership was transferred to clear the debt. It finally received its rebuild in late 1936 when a resurgence of lead mining occured requiring a small yet powerful enough locomotive to drag cuts of ballast cars up and down the quarry while #10 (the Heisler) is down.

The end result should look close in appearance to Dardanelle and Russelville #9 but with a switcher tender. D&R #9 is not native to Wisconsin but currently resides at the Mid Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, WI.

Boiler sectioning pic courtesy of ottgalleries.com
 

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gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Wow, yeah this deserves an update.

Approximately a month and a few days after my last post here I lost my job at the railroad. I made a error while kicking cars in the yard, ended up crossing drawbars on two lumber cars that caused a small derailment. Even though it wasn't anything scary, it was still a derailment which had to be investigated by the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration), making me a liability and they decided to terminate my employment. I was with the railroad for just over four years. Oh well, life goes on...

I did try to stay out in Wyoming as I bought my house two years prior to me being fired but the opportunities for a better career were too few or timing off. I actually did get another dream job of mine, being a military truck restoration specialist, however timing was off by a year and sadly had to turn the job down. So after a lot of consideration, talking to friends and family, and research I decided to move back home to Wisconsin. That was August 2019, and shortly thereafter I landed a job assembling military trucks at Oshkosh Defense. I've been here since October 2019.

Fast forward to a month ago, February 2021. After an exhaustive house hunt in this wild market, we've found a house to make a home for myself, my fiance, my children, my old trucks and naturally the railroad. Pics will follow once I close on the house.

Hopefully all is well on the other ends of the screen.

Tyler
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
In typical tradition, it's been a little bit so it's update time. I ended up buying the house, which had a wonderful space in the basement for a train room. The Whiskey River Ry now has a 19' x 22' room, with a nicely modified track plan from a 1970's RMC (I would post it, however it doesn't like the format).

I've got a majority of the open frame benchwork done for the layout thanks to a club member who donated a layout he bought just for the trains. My house was on the way back to his house, so it just worked out. I had to modify the layout height, as the previous owner had a max height of 30", which is completely unacceptable. Even on WRRy #2, back in Wyoming, minimum layout height was 48". I'm still using those general heights, as it's a good viewing height as well as being able to reach things of physics isn't in my favor.

Obviously I'm not on here as much since I've favored Facebook and YouTube lately. On both, just look for the Whiskey River Ry, HO Scale Division.

Tyler
 

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