1/6/19

          The search has started for the various parts and pieces that we will need for the 2 E10 and the G12 train restorations that we will undertake over the next couple of years. I always put together a large white board of all the parts that we need and start crossing them off after we locate and acquire them. I start looking and gathering the parts well in advance and then just place them on the parts shelf until we get to that project.

          I located several more used G12 window frames that I hope to acquire; most of them look to be in pretty good shape. I have purchased used window frame spring clips from multiple sources before and generally they are usable, but pretty rough. I found a source for new window frame spring clips made out of stainless steel wire. They are well more expensive per set, but are perfect and will stay that way for a long time.

Window clips for the G12

Stainless steel window clips (green tape)

          We still need several sets of G12 and E10 coach handles, several of the bolt on rounds (port holes) in really nice shape, four of the G12 engine window frame screens in great shape, the jeweled small green lenses for the locomotive marker lights and the small red, green and white lenses for the observation car side markers and many other trim and bolt on parts, but the search has begun.

          Our entire area has had a wood bore problem for several years. They eat the inside of limbs and ultimately kill most of our trees. What is unnerving is that the limb will look fine, but during a storm the limbs snap off and then it becomes obvious that the inside of the limb has been eaten away. My next door neighbor has five large Cottonwood trees that have been here since 1977 and many of the large limbs had snapped off over the past year or two and a couple of detached limbs were hanging precariously over our shared block wall and over the A & P mainline. There were other limbs growing twenty feet or more over the fence and creating a hazard on my side of the wall.

          My neighbor is a great guy, but always trying to get things done on the cheap. He hired a group of palm tree trimmers to trim the large Cottonwood trees. They had large limbs crashing down everywhere. One massive limb fell in between our enginehouse and block wall and made a huge thud when it hit the ground. Another just missed my Cat’s Claw posts and fencing, several fell on the A & P tracks and a couple just missed my neighbor’s garage. They were two or three large limbs from away being finished when their luck ran out and a huge limb landed on and destroyed about a 20 foot long section of the block wall. Several blocks came down, but a much larger number are just balancing in place. The trimmers were not insured. My neighbor says he has it covered and has someone coming next week to make the repairs; I hope they know what they are doing…

This branch just missed causing damage

Tree trimmer viewed through the damaged block wall

          Dave has been working on the wiring of our B unit for the past few Sunday afternoons. The wiring that will eventually light the observation car drumhead and side markers was run to the 6 pin connector at the rear of the B unit, the two engine department light sockets were installed and wired and the two cockpit lights were installed and wired. He also wired the eleven gauges of the instrument panel. It is very cool seeing all those things gauges light up. Eventually, we will wire the bell and an operating horn. The vacuum horn will not be operable and the bell we have currently is just the backing plate and housing without any of the internal components. It looks good, but doesn’t operate yet. We also got the two voltmeters working. We realized that we had never installed the lights in the two vacuum gauges of the A unit and got that accomplished.

Back of the G16 B unit instrument panel

          The original speedometer for this B unit was a Stewart-Warner 3 7/8 diameter unit with front ear mount. If you are lucky enough to find one of the original type speedometers in nice shape, the price can be well over a thousand dollars. Even then, it wouldn’t match the style of all of our other gauges which are new. The cost to replace all of the gauges with the original style gauges could take years to find and would be thousands and thousands of dollars.

3 7/8" diameter speedometer in a nicely resored older model G16 instrument panel

          I wanted to make our new 3 3/8 speedometer have the look and feel of the original without spending thousands upon thousands of dollars. I knew from being around many older street rods and restorations back in the 70s that some of the classic older vehicles had gauge bezels that were separate from the actual gauge. In other words, the gauge had a rim and the gauge then sat in a separate bezel giving the look of a more impressive gauge.

          I started calling collectors, car clubs and speedometer repair companies. I needed a bezel with an ID of 3 ½ inches, an OD of greater than 3 7/8 and front mounting ears. After talking with a number of people, I had leads that the some of the Auburns in the 30s as well as certain Hupmobiles of the same period had a bezel similar to what I was looking for. After a couple of weeks of calling and looking, I found a bezel off of a 1933 Hupmobile with a duplex gauge that seem to match what I was seeking. I took a chance and ordered it.

          When it arrived, I couldn’t have been more pleased as our new Stewart-Warner speedometer fits in it perfectly and it covers the 3 7/8 hole nicely. It is nickel and not chrome and will be polished and possibly rechromed later, but it is in very nice shape. It has a small ding from its previous life that I will have professionally removed when it is polished. It has the front mounting ears. We fabricated a rear mounting ring and installed the speedometer in the instrument panel. You can be the judge, but I think few people, other than nuts like me, will realize it isn’t the correct gauge even when compared side by side with the original. The Hupp Motor Car Co. was only in business from 1909 to 1939 and this particular bezel may be as rare or rarer than the original Stewart-Warner speedometer we needed, so I know I really lucked out!

Our G16 B unit instrument panel

1933 Hupmobile bezel on the speedometer

          I had a really busy month with respect to Fridays and Saturdays so traveled to McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale on a Sunday night to attend the Holidays Lights event. The crowd was much larger than I anticipated for a Sunday night and despite running two full trains the lines were pretty long. I was wearing one of my Arizona and Pacific Railroad sweatshirts as it was a cool night. We had been in line for about half an hour and the wait was at least an hour longer from our position in line when a crew member from the Paradise and Pacific Railroad appeared next to us and asked us to step to the front of the Fast Pass line. I explained we didn’t have Fast Passes. She said she understood and to follow her. She seated us immediately on a train already boarding. I’m not sure how that happened or why, but thank you to whomever was responsible for that; it was very kind.

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park holiday lights 2018

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park holiday lights 2018

Model trains at the 10,000 square foot model railroad building

Holiday crowds enjoying the model railroads at McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park

          The holiday lights and displays are always spectacular at the park and they seem to outdo themselves each successive year. This year was no exception. The Scottsdale Live Steamers were also running two trains and their area was beautifully decorated as well. The inside railroad layouts were also popular and drawing a lot of attention. As always, I had a great time and look forward to seeing what they have added when I attend again next year.

Scottsdale Live Steamers

Taking a ride on the Scottsdale Live Steamers holiday lights

Scottsdale Live Steamers 2018 holiday lights

          I traveled out to the Maricopa Live Steamers location at Adobe Mountain to check out their Festival of Holiday Lights on a Saturday night this month. The crowd was huge and the vastly expanded parking lot was almost full. They were running seven trains and the wait was still well over an hour. The lights and displays were amazing again this year. There was also a great deal of activity inside the HO and N scale building and the G scale layouts of the Arizona Garden Railway Society were running several trains. There were smiles and laughter everywhere you looked; I had a great time.

Adobe Mountain festival of holiday lights 2018

Adobe Mountain festival of holiday lights 2018

Preparing to leave the loading platform

Souvenir stand

Waiting for a ride at the 2018 Adobe Mountain festival of holiday lights

Santa guides this "sleigh" at the Adobe Mountain festival of holiday lights

          Dave Kessinger of the American Heritage Railroad in Greenville, IL stopped by to visit the A & P. I first met Dave at the Miniature Railroad Convention hosted by John Woods in September of 2007, but this was his first visit to the A & P. It was great fun talking about the MTC, Allan Herschell, S16s, Wagner & Sons equipment, projects, mutual friends and so much more; the hour and a half flew by. We need to get together again.

Dave Kessinger visited the A&P RR

          I am working on a couple of interesting MTC projects, if anyone out there has an original of the MT & RR Co. catalogs of 1940 and 1944 that you would be willing to part with please let me know. I can buy them or put together a very nice trade package of desired parts in multiple gauges.

          We are in the process of adding another section to our website focusing on MTC and AH advertising for the trains that we own (E10, G12 and S16) and also some advertising of a few of their competitors back in the day. Dave and I collect this stuff and thought we would share some of it; we hope you find it interesting. Vintage Advertising

          Our 2018 annual report is written and should be posted this month.

          Have a great new year; happy and safe railroading everybody!

2/12/19

          I traveled up to the Adobe Mountain Railroad Museum and Desert Railroad Park this month which is home to the Maricopa Live Steamers and also home to the railroad museum operated by Sahuaro Central Railroad Heritage and Preservation Society which manages the entire site. The live steamers were having their January Operations Meet and I spent some time over there admiring some of the equipment that was running or preparing to run. I spent the majority of my time in the museum visiting with the museum curator Larry Allen and museum volunteer Mike Russell. Two nicer and more committed and passionate folks to our hobby you will not find anywhere.

Adobe Mountain Railroad Museum and Desert Railroad Park

          Their onsite collections are wide ranging from a detailed, huge operating layout next door to date nails, lanterns, model railroad cars in numerous scales, photos, signs and everything railroad related. Of particular interest to me is their impressive collection of large scale, park size railroad equipment ranging in gauge from 12 to 15 inch. They have a beautiful Ottaway and three cars, a really nice Wagner and another engine I couldn’t identify near the entrance.

Sahuaro Central Museum

Museum Lantern Collection

Ottaway Engine

Wagner Engine

Sahuaro Central Museum Engine

          Inside they have a 1001 series Hurlbut (No. 1027) and Ben Hammer’s exquisite No. 3 which shares many characteristics with Sandley locomotives. There aren’t many places where you can view park size equipment in multiple gauges and from multiple manufacturers; I really enjoyed my visit! Many years ago before the museum even existed, I assisted positioning ties and laying rail for the Porter locomotive out in front of the museum building. I have been of no help to them since then, but am so pleased with what these folks have accomplished.

Hurlbut #1027

Ben Hammer's No. 3 Engine

G scale locomotive

          Before Ben Hammer passed away several years ago, I bought a hodge podge of patterns and parts from him. After my visit to the Sahuaro Central Museum, I dug out some of those parts and we assembled one of his Hammer/Sandley switch stands. Dave and I got it assembled and it is on display with some of our other switch stands in our engine house. I have about 80% of the parts to build a second Hammer/Sandley switch stand and at some point in the future with fabricate those missing parts and have a matching pair of those switch stands. I’m so glad I was able to acquire some of those items years ago and help keep his legacy alive.

Hammer/Sandley switch stand at the Sahuaro Central Museum

Hammer/Sandley switch stand (left) and other's in the A&P collection

          The search for the various parts and pieces that we will need for the 2 E10 and the G12 train restorations continues. As major parts are located and crossed off our large white board, other needed parts get added. This month we tracked down a few more parts. We acquired all of the window frames we will need for the G12 project. They are used and all need a good cleaning, but most are very straight and in good shape. We have a few more than we will need so the ones that are damaged won’t be used. We also acquired 90 of the G12 windows themselves. Most G12s you see have the actual windows missing. The windows are an aluminum plate with horizontal groves that emulate the window blinds of a Pullman coach. They really add a touch of class to the little coaches. The windows we found are used and need cleaned and a little polishing, but are going to clean up really nicely. They aren’t going to look brand new which is okay as they are already 70 years old and should have a little bit of character.

G12 window screens

          From a different source, we were able to acquire six G12 door windows. They are very much like the standard windows except these windows are mounted vertically and the groves still run horizontally. Each G12 coach has 2 door windows and 30 standard windows.

Some of the various G12 parts we've acquired

          The E10s and G12 had the same headlamp assembly which is the lens, bezel and retaining ring. We were lucky enough to locate three of these this month. We still need the three sockets and bulbs, but are working on leads regarding those parts as well as the sockets and bulbs for the rear drum and front and rear side marker lights. If any of you have examples or part numbers, please contact us.

          We also located a couple of very nice G12 portholes, two beautiful aluminum engine grills, an AKN stainless steel exhaust port and two G12 control handle assemblies.

          We still need several sets of G12 and E10 coach handles, the jeweled small green lenses for the locomotive marker lights and the small red, green and white lenses for the observation car side markers and many other trim and bolt on parts, but we are making good progress.

          We had a lot of rain this month and several weekend work sessions got rained out. After getting all of the gauges installed and wired in our B unit, I was curious to see what they would look like after dark so I got out there and got us a night shot. Between the two cockpit lights and the individual gauge lights, the instrument panel is very well lit and I think it looks pretty cool.

G16 B-Unit Instrument Panel

          Those of you familiar with our site know that I have several items on our long-term wish list. Among those items is a Miniature Train Company 14" gauge wheel and a Wagner and Son locomotive builder's plate. Through a fortuitous series of events, we are close to being able to cross those two items off of our wish list. The 14" gauge wheel will go into a MTC display I have been working on with a MTC axle and 15" gauge and 16" gauge wheels. The Wagner and Son builder's plate will go on display in the engine house with the other nineteen builder's plates already on display in there honoring many of the early manufacturers of park size locomotives.

          I am working on a couple of interesting MTC projects, if anyone out there has an original of the MT & RR Co. catalogs of 1940 and 1944 that you would be willing to part with please let me know. I can buy them or put together a very nice trade package of desired parts in multiple gauges.

          Happy and safe railroading everybody!

3/15/19

          For many years, it has been the plan of Dave and I to paint our G16 equipment in the Warbonnet colors of the Santa Fe. I grew up watching full size EMDs in that paint scheme and Dave got started in railroading with HO equipment painted for the Santa Fe. Recently, we have come to rethink that plan. Instead of a paint scheme to reflect the history of the Santa Fe Railroad, our thought is to paint the equipment in a standard Miniature Train Company paint scheme to reflect the rich history of the Miniature Train Company. With that thought in mind, we mounted our MTC emblem to the front of the nose. It will and re-chromed and polished before the final assembly of 582. The nose and front skirt of 582 was in need of major work after several years of abuse. A new front skirt was installed and extensive metal work was performed where the mars light had once been. We elected not to reinstall a Mars light or cut the skirt to facilitate a front coupler so she looks a little different from most G16s, but it is a clean, uncluttered, look that we both really like.

G16 #582 Park

          We started to look into mounting the original vacuum horn in the B unit and realized the way we had mounted and plumbed the vacuum tank, it was in the way. We removed the tank and replumbed a couple of areas so the horn fits through its bulkhead hole just fine. We don’t yet have the vacuum regulator or mounting bracket and aren’t exactly sure what we are looking for. If any of you have an older G16 A or B with a vacuum horn, if you could forward us a couple ofphotos of the vacuum regulator and mounting bracket I would very much appreciate it. A manufacturer name and or part number on the regulator would also be very much appreciated.

          Each of the past four years we have had Arizona and Pacific T shirts and sweatshirts printed up. The first year they were white with maroon letters. The second and third years they were gray with maroon letters (in 2018 we added Est. 1995 to the logo). This year they are maroon with white letters and we added 25 years on the front and rear logos and also added the web site on the rear of the shirt. Our 25th anniversary isn’t until 2020, but we are starting to promote it this year. Next year I have something radically different in mind for the 25th anniversary shirts. More on that as we get near the end of this year.

Original 2016 A&P Shirt Front (white)

2016 A&P Shirt Back

2017 A&P Shirt Front (gray)

2017 A&P Shirt Back

2018 A&P Shirt Front (added est. 1995)

2018 A&P Shirt Back

2019 A&P Shirt Front (maroon)

2019 A&P Shirt Back

          Pete and Char Robinson along with Jerry Steinbrine made their annual February trip to Phoenix. It is our annual ritual to meet at Manuel’s Mexican Food for dinner one night during their stay out here. Pete is our vendor for the A & P shirts, owner of the Waterman and Western Railroad in Illinois and a long time friend. I had asked Pete to make an A & P shirt for each of them in the correct size as we gift our railroad shirts to one another. When I arrived at the restaurant each of them was wearing their new maroon A & P shirt. It looked kind of cool seeing that many A & P shirts all at one spot. I had an A & P shirt on too, but it was the 2017 version which was gray.

Pete, Char, Jerry & Sidonie, Nice Shirts!

          As has become a tradition, I traveled out to the Chandler Railway Museum for Arizona Railway Day. The usual parking lot was too wet and muddy to use after several days of rain, but it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the visitors as we parked along Ryan Road and in a lot farther east and a shuttle transported visitors back and forth. I had the opportunity to tour the engine compartment and cab of an EMD E8 which I personally thought was very cool. We also toured the Santa Fe dome car Plaza Taos. The upper deck was awesome as were the cocktail lounge and turquoise dining room underneath. It was my first time in this car and now I am a big fan.

          New to the museum since last year were several speeders that were recently donated. They are starting to amass quite a collection of speeders and speeder trailers in addition to the full size equipment. I had the opportunity to hear the hit and miss motor in their Verde Tunnel and Smelter speeder run. It was really a thrill to hear that distinctive sound and see it operating even if the motor car itself was on stationary display.

Arizona Railway Museum in Chandler Speeder Collection

Arizona Railway Museum Speeders

Arizona Railway Museum

Arizona Railway Museum Speeders

Fairmont Model SD 2 Motor Car

          I received a personal tour of the research library by museum curator Steve Whisel. He and other volunteers have done an amazing job compiling and cataloging books, articles, memorabilia, lanterns, keys and everything railroad. The research library itself is already very impressive and continues to grow. I was really pleased and proud to see what a tremendous resource these folks have created and are maintaining in our community. My old friend Pete Cook was on hand signing his new books and I was pleased to acquire one of each with his autograph. I am already looking forward to Arizona Railway Day 2020.

          As I have shared the past few months, our hunt for parts for the restoration of our 2 E10s and G12 is well underway. Our G12 has the drive shafts, but the Wisconsin AKN motor was removed years ago before we acquired her. I hear about all these folks replacing the original motors with new technology Honda motors. We are looking for the old technology of an original Wisconsin/Miniature Train Company AKN engine and I have been unsuccessful in acquiring one so far. However, I may have located one this month that is available. I won’t know for several weeks, but we are in consideration for acquiring the engine which reportedly is in running condition. That would be a key item to cross off of our search list. I have my fingers crossed.

          We still need several sets of G12 and E10 coach handles, the jeweled small green lenses for the locomotive marker lights and the small red, green and white lenses for the observation car side markers. We are also looking for the unique sockets for the various bulbs of the G12 and E10s.

          I am working on a couple of interesting MTC projects, if anyone out there has an original of the MT & RR Co. catalogs of 1940 and 1944 that you would be willing to part with please let me know. I can buy them or put together a very nice trade package of desired parts in multiple gauges.

          Happy and safe railroading everybody!

4/25/19

          Dave and I had the distinct honor of spending most of a day with Bud Hurlbut in his Buena Park shop and office almost ten years ago now on October 9, 2009. We had arranged to meet with his shop foreman Lonnie in advance and were told Bud would not be in that day, but we would get a one hour tour of the shop and could take photographs. Lonnie was great and gave us a wonderful tour. As he was walking us out to our car, Bud unexpectedly showed up. He asked who we were and asked if we had received a tour of the shop. We advised that we had and were just leaving. He asked if we would like to see his office – of course the answer was yes. He showed us original blue print drawings and photographs of trains, amusement rides and rides next door at Knott’s Berry Farm that he designed and built.

Hurlbut shop in Buena Park 2009

Hurlbut shop in Buena Park 2009

          He told us stories about Walter Knott, the Knott daughters, John Wayne, Ronald Reagan and others being in that office of his many times. His second story office looked out over Knotts Berry Farm and you could see the stagecoach each time it went by. He shared that Dave and I were sitting in the very chairs that John Wayne and Ronald Reagan sat in so many times. He shared stories and answered questions for almost four hours. I explained to him that I had a display in our engine house honoring the builders of park trains and one day hoped to have a builders plate off one of his trains and I also shared that I collect wheels from different manufacturers to demonstrate differences in wheel profiles when I have groups of interested people over. He went into a closet and rooted around for a few minutes and came out with a builders plate that he said was one of his earlier ones and he wanted it to go to a good home and gifted it to me. As we prepared to leave, he directed Lonnie to go get me one of his used wheels from when his shop was in Whittier which Lonnie did. He was so gracious with his time and possessions and unbelievably kind. When Dave and I were in our car and leaving the parking lot, we were asking each other “Did that just happen”? He was one of my favorite Park Train pioneers before we ever met and moved to the top of that list after we met.

Bud Hurlbut's office

Bud Hurlbut and me

Hurlbut builder's plate gifted by Bud Hurlbut

          This month I had the opportunity to acquire another Hurlbut wheel (2 in fact) that are in pretty nice used shape that were cast after he moved his shop from Whittier, California to Buena Park. They bring back wonderful memories for me of that special day with Bud Hurlbut a decade ago.

Hurlbut wheel from Whittier provided by Bud Hurlbut

Newly acquired Hurlbut wheel from Buena Park

          I have long envisioned a display of MTC wheels and axles in our engine house showing the creative genius of the engineering and design team at the Miniature Train Company in handling the three largest gauges that it produced 14, 15 and 16 inch. All three gauges utilized the same trucks; the axles, frames, brake rigging and all bearings, seals, gaskets etc. were all identical. The only difference was the width of the wheels, the location of the wheel hub relative to the tire and where the three sizes of spacers were placed on the brake rigging. The design was ingenious and beautiful in its simplicity! I have had a MTC 15 inch wheel for several years, but finally located an early 14 gauge wheel in nice shape and also found an early (cast Miniature Train Co. Rensselaer, Ind.) 16 gauge wheel in nice shape. My 15 gauge wheel just has cast Miniature Train Co. cast into it. If anyone has one with the Rensselaer IND. also cast into it and the wheel is in nice shape please let me know. Now I need to design the display itself in a way that looks period authentic.

16 inch gage MTC wheel

15 inch gage MTC wheel

14 inch gage MTC wheel

Rensselaer Miniature Train Company wheel

          For several years, I have wanted to add a Wagner and Son builder’s plate to our engine house display honoring many of the builders of park scale trains. I was able to work a trade of parts with the owner of a Wagner and he has allowed me to borrow a plate off his 1926 Wagner & Son locomotive. He ended up sending me both plates so I could choose which one to reproduce. I will have it reproduced in the next few weeks and return the originals. I am so excited about this addition!

Wagner and Son builder's plates

          We added a few more parts to our E10/G12 parts shelf for those upcoming restorations. We acquired 6 door shades, 2 window shades and handle ends for 5 handles. I also found, but have not yet received 6 more engine grills and 6 more stainless steel port holes.

Window & door shades

Handle ends

          The headlight and taillight sockets in the E10/G12 are pretty unusual. I think I have located some used ones that we can use to pattern new ones after. We hope to have them on site in May

          We added several more park train advertisements to that section of the website. You can find them here

A recent addition to our park train adds page

          We completed the sheet metal/refinish work on the Wisconsin engine for the B unit and hope to get it installed in April. Once it is in place, we can install the transmission, hood, hood release, cowl and horn.

Wisconsin engine during sheet metal work

Wisconsin engine after sheet metal work

Wisconsin engine for G16 B unit

          Speaking of the vacuum horn, if anyone has a couple of close up photos of the horn mounting bracket and the diaphragm valve or has either or both on your parts shelf please let me know.

          We are still in the running for an AKN Wisconsin engine for our G12. We should know whether we will be acquiring it soon.

          I am working on a couple of interesting MTC projects, if anyone out there has an original of the MT & RR Co. catalogs of 1940 and 1944 that you would be willing to part with please let me know. I can buy them or put together a very nice trade package of desired parts in multiple gauges.

          Easter at the Arizona and Pacific Railroad always brings cactus flowers

Cactus flowers at the Arizona and Pacific Railroad

Easter brings cactus flowers

A&P RR Easter flowers

          Happy and safe railroading everybody!

Easter flowers at the A&P RR

Easter flowers at the A&P RR

Easter flowers at the A&P RR

Easter flowers at the A&P RR

5/25/19

          There are a couple of other private park gauge trains in the greater Phoenix area, but the owners are very private and would rather their railroads remain private and out of the public eye. I had heard rumors about the Las Mananitas Del Norte Railroad’s existence for maybe thirty years. A dozen years ago or so, one of my friends who is a high end stone mason did some work on the property which is an older exclusive area of Phoenix. He sent me a couple of photos so I knew it existed. A few years ago, the property changed hands and the new owners didn’t have the same amount of free time or love of railroads as the original owner.

Las Mananitas Del Norte Railroad Engine

          Major renovations and redesign of the property will be taking place soon and recently, the railroad was sold to a couple out of western Kentucky who will operate the train at their small farm amusement park there. Before its removal last month, I received a call and was invited to see the railroad in-person and operate the train around its two acre Arcadia property. It was a very well-done, home-built train of three coaches and a caboose in 14 inch gauge. The trucks were lighter weight and scaled down from our 16 gauge MTC equipment and more closely resembled the size and weight of our G12 trucks, but the cars were wide enough for two average-sized adults. The cars had each had sidemarker lights, speakers and were quite comfortable.

Las Mananitas Del Norte Coach

Las Mananitas Del Norte Caboose

          The original owner and builder was an electrical engineer at Motorola here in town and he and some of his friends built the train. It was powered with a 20 HP Kohler engine and was gas over hydraulic. It was very quiet and very smooth. There was a false front frontier town, a tunnel built to look like the inside of a mine shaft that the mainline passed through, one switch to a storage spur that also ran in the tunnel, a very small water tank, a full size switch stand for display, a Chance crossing signal next to the main driveway and a bridge near the main gate.

Las Mananitas Del Norte Railroad

Chance Crossing Signal

          The mainline was a roughly 1200 feet long oval with lots of small curves and it beautifully wound its way around the mature property and past the water fountains, tumbled paver courtyards, tall trees, pool, frontier town, tunnel, tennis court, curved bridge, large expanse of green grass and main entry gate. It was just amazing. The layout was well thought out and offered an extraordinary experience. However, the ties and rail had been in place thirty years and all the ties and some of the rail needed replaced. It was just too big of an undertaking for the current property owners and it was sold. I feel very privileged to have been allowed to visit the property, ride and operate the train and take a few photos. Todd, Shelly and Janae, thank you so much for the invitation.

Loading the railroad for transport to Kentucky

          The Las Mananitas Del Norte Railroad was laid out on a two acre parcel much as I had envisioned at one time for the Arizona and Pacific. In 2007, I had attempted to purchase my next door neighbors’ home and property with the intent of leasing it back to them with train tracks running around the perimeter of the property and expanding the A & P by about 550 feet of mainline. For a couple of reasons, my offer wasn’t accepted but my evening at the Las Mananitas Del Norte brought to mind that a 1200 to 1300 foot mainline for a private railroad in the middle of town is just about perfect. It is just enough track for a really nice length ride and two laps is about a half mile without any more track to maintain than necessary.

          The Arizona and Pacific has roughly 700 feet of mainline and 1000 feet of side tracks and spurs shoehorned onto one acre. We still have four switches and a few hundred feet of rail stockpiled so who knows. Another acre to add 550 feet of mainline, four switches and maybe 500 feet of additional side tracks and spurs, a couple more trestles and a catsclaw tunnel would be cool, but is increasingly unlikely as now I am only a few years away from retirement.

          We got a few things done on the B unit this month. We completed the sheet metal/refinish work on the Wisconsin engine for the B unit and got it installed. We had to improvise with an extended steel arm to provide us longer reach for the cherry picker and weighted it down with bags of sand so that we could get the Wisconsin engine in place. Operating right at the edge of functionality, we had some issues with the engine chassis spacers and had to work through those challenges, but it is in place and looks good. We also get one of our transmissions mounted in the B unit and also got the hood latch and hood release installed. We still have a great deal of work to complete on the B unit, but we are slowly making progress. Our intent is not to make the B unit operable as a second power unit as that is unnecessary here as we have more than enough power with our A unit. Our goal is to mock up the B unit so that it looks like it would have looked in 1948 and it will provide a great seat for future junior engineers. We have wired and plumbed the B unit so that if sometime in the future there was a need for it to be powered, it would be relatively easy.

Engine and transmission installed in the G-16 B unit

          I had planned on picking up our E10 and G12 back east in early May, but real life crept into the way and that trip has been rescheduled for later in the year before the first snow falls. We will be bringing back an E10 with a full set of track and many extra parts, a G12 with two sets of track, extra trucks and many extra parts, possibly an original AKN G12 motor that has been reconditioned and we have planned stops at many locations of MTC/AH importance and history. Stay tuned for updates.

          Happy and safe railroading everybody!

Cactus blooms at the Arizona and Pacific RR

          The June progress was included with the July update

7/10/19

          I had planned on picking up our E10 and G12 back east in early May, but real life crept into the way and that trip has been rescheduled for later in the year before the first snow falls. We will be bringing back an E10 with a full set of track and many extra parts, a G12 with two sets of track, extra trucks and many other extra parts (but also missing a number of parts), possibly an original AKN G12 motor that has been reconditioned and we have planned stops at many locations of MTC/AH importance and history. We will also be visiting several parks and train operations. Stay tuned for updates.

          We had the Wagner & Son builder’s plate that we have on loan reproduced this month and it looks pretty good. I still need to tumble in our vibrator for a few hours to soften the hard edges and polish it. Hopefully, it gets mounted next month.

Wagner and Son builder's plate

          I was fortunate enough to obtain another variation of a MT & RR Co. torque wrench for our display in the engine house. Our torque wrench collection outgrew our display long ago and I need to design an expansion that allows a number of additional pieces to be displayed. It is one of many things on the display “to do” list that I just haven’t had time to get to….

          We installed a transmission in our B unit last month. It’s one that we have all the pieces for, but haven’t rebuilt. We have two that are rebuilt sitting on our parts shelf, but there was no need to put one of those in the B unit. We may rebuild the one we installed someday as I have the new gears and all the components, but doing so is pretty low on the priority list right now. I am contemplating installing a fluid clutch as I have a couple rebuilt and a few others that we could install. We have the Wisconsin air cleaner that will get installed after we clean it up a bit in the next few weeks.

Transmission mounted in the G-16 B-Unit

          We also installed the vacuum canister vacuum throttle assembly in the B unit. It is missing a part that I know I have, but will need to dig through a number of heavy boxes to find it. It wasn’t where I thought it was so still looking.

Vacuum throttle assembly in the G-16 B-Unit

          We have been doing some sanding and basic sheet metal work on the two hood sections of the B unit. The quality body work will be done by the professionals when everything eventually goes in for prepping and painting. We did install the hood struts and got them adjusted. Final adjustments will be made after the hood is reinstalled.

G-16 B-Unit sheet metal work

Sheet metal work on the G-16 B-Unit hood sections

          I had the opportunity to meet Ben Hammer a number of years ago. He was already in his 90s and his health wasn’t the best. We spent a handful of afternoons together talking and sharing ideas abour large scale railroads. He and Norman Sandley had worked together as pattern and tool and die makers during WWII and became good friends. They were both train enthuisiasts. After the war, they worked together on several railroad projects. Ben made several patterns for the Sandleys and they shared many of their patterns with Ben. Ben built at least four engines. One was a diesel, one a Tom Thumb looking creation and two steam engines (no. 2 and no. 3) that very closely resemble a couple of the Sandley engines which made sense as they shared patterns. He also built a small number of cars for use with engine no. 2 that look virtually identical to the Sandley coaches. I was lucky enough to buy a few patterns from Ben of pieces that I thought looked pretty cool. One was the wood pattern for the front boiler button for his no. 3. Probably five years ago, I had one cast in brass and had some machining cleanup work done. I just found the time to paint it recently and painted it black just like his original one. Dave and I decided to mount both the wood and the brass versions in our display so that folks could see part of that process. It is great to have Ben Hammer represented on our display that celebrates a number of park train builders.

Ben Hammer front boiler button (right) and pattern (left)

Ben Hammer switch stand

          The Chrysler Corporation designed and built three 1/3 scale railroad engines that it donated to the Detroit Zoological Park in 1950. The engines that were patterned after streamliner locomotives of the era were numbers 49, 50 and 51 and named Scripps, Reuther and Walter P. Chrysler. They underwent extensive rebuilds in the early 1980s and again in 2008 and are still operating at the zoo today. They have an amazing front nose emblem. Dave found us a Chrysler Locomotive nose emblem for our park trains collection. It was never on one of the three trains, but came from the estate of a man that had been a long-time salesmen for Chrysler and it was reportedly in his office and then in the family for many years. We will get it mounted next month.

Chrylser Locomotive nose emblem

Chrylser Locomotive built the Detroit Zoological Park trains

          We located and purchased some additional E10 and G12 trim parts from three different folks. Some are semi-rough original parts, some are very nice original parts and some are new replacement parts. I have only seen the photos and none of the parts have arrived yet so nothing to show. They are engine screens, rounds, grab bar ends, light bulb sockets, hood shoulder bolts, observation car rear can and side markers. We’ll see how everything looks when it all gets here.

          I acquired some additional Hurlbut wheels and axles. They were offered as a lot; some are in pretty nice shape and some are pretty rough (really rough). When time permits, we will press the bad wheels off the axles and replace. I also acquired three Crown Metal Products 24 gauge coach wheels this month. I will keep at least one of them for a display I’m working on illustrating the various wheel profiles of many of the park train manufacturers.

Hurlbut wheels and axles

Crown wheel

          There are some other exciting things in the works involving Rensselaer, Indiana; Addison, Illinois and North Tonawanda, New York – stay tuned.

          We have had some issues with our website host maintaining SSL certificates and providing customer service when issues arise. After seventeen years, we will be moving to a different vendor to host our website later in July, but hopefully the transition is relatively seamless on your end. We have a great deal of work ahead of us on our end, but the plan is on still having all of the A & P material past and present available online to view. By the time you read this, the move to a new website host will be complete. Thank you for your patience.

          Happy and safe railroading everybody!

          The August progress was included with the September update

9/18/19

          This is actually a two month update as we were on the road for nine days in August traveling to and from PA to bring back an E10, a G12 and many other extra assorted G12 parts (but also missing a number of parts). We had hoped to acquire an original Wisconsin AKN G12 motor on a stop on the way back, but that didn’t work out. We are still looking for the AKN motor and bolt on parts if you know of anyone that has upgraded to a modern set-up please let me know.

          In July, we changed web site hosts and so far are pleased with our new provider.

          We cleaned and polished switch targets, turntable signs and the sign on west end of engine house in July.

A&P sign prior to cleaning and polishing

A&P sign after cleaning and polishing

Switch stand target with one half cleaned and polished

Switch stand target sign after cleaning and polishing

          We mounted several builders plates including Severn-Lamb, Williams Amusement Device Co., Wagner & Son and Hodges handcar on the engine house manufacturers display and also mounted the Chrysler nose button, Disney 1955 journal box cover and Hammer boiler button and its pattern on our second display both of which celebrate the manufacturers of amusement park scale trains.

Builder's plate display board #1

Amusement park manufacturer's display board #2

          We received some of the E10 and G12 parts I ordered last month. We received the G12 hood shoulder bolts and E10 and G12 grab iron ends.

          We zig zagged on our way back from PA and spent a day in North Tonawanda, NY with Ed Janulionis and Ron Witt at the Allan Herschell parts office and at the museum. I have been talking with Ed over the phone for 20+ years and Ron for at least half of that; it was great to meet them in-person. They are also restoring some AH kiddie rides for a small kiddieland as part of the museum. It’s awesome.

Ed Janulionis, me and Ron Witt

Allan Herschell Museum

          We also stopped in Addison, IL and took photos of several of the prominent locations (some are now vacant fields) where the Miniature Train and Railroad Company E10s, G12s and torque wrenches were built.

This location used to be the Miniature Train and Railroad Company's Factory in Addison Illinois

This empty field in Addison Illinois once contained a Miniature Train and Railroad Company building

          We also traveled to Rensselaer, Indiana where we toured the local historical society and the building that MTC built in 1947 and occupied through 1956. Much has changed, but the original building is still there with numerous additions. I hope to follow up on some of the very early Glen Ellyn, IL locations on my next trip.

MTC factory building (1947-1956) in Rensselaer Indiana

This framed drawing of the MTC factory building hangs inside the current building

          I am still sorting and organizing boxes and parts. We brought back a G12 trainset (engine, 3 coaches and an observation car). We also brought back an E10 trainset (engine, three coaches and an observation car). I have parts of five E10 power trucks out of which I hope to build four that we can rewire and make operable. This will allow us to rebuild our no. 24 built in Rensselaer and our no. 20 which was built in Addison. The way I am going to display the various equipment, I will also need to build an extra E10 coach truck out of parts. I also will need four more E10 wheels; if you know where any of those may exist, please give me a heads up. The cars and trucks are stored in the engine house. I am going to build some racks this spring so it will be easier to get around in there. We brought back several boxes and crates of E10 and G12 parts; many of the parts are already organized and put on shelves in the buildings while many other parts still need gone through.

Truck full of parts acquired on this trip

E-10 and G-12 trains in the A&P engine house

          We brought home 43 E10 track panels totaling 350 track feet and also 43 G12 track panels that totaled 346 track feet. We have enough track to be creative with both. Some of the ties need replaced as do a few of the track clips, but all in all it is in great shape. We also brought back two full boxes of oak ties for the replacements. The G12 curves are all 30 degrees; the E10 curves are two different lengths with the shorter ones at 40 degrees and the longer ones 45 degrees.

E-10 and G-12 track panels

          There were several exciting finds for me as I unpacked and organized things at the A & P. One was an E10 wheel with the casting of Miniature Train and Railroad Co. Glen Ellyn, ILL which is a very early casting as the E10s were built in Addison starting in 1939. Another was the lettering that stated “Property Miniature Train Co, Rensselaer, Indiana” under a layer of black spray paint on both sides of a transformer used in department stores to run the E10s. It is now on display in our engine house MTC collection. There are many other nuggets that I will share as time and space permit over the coming months.

E-10 transformer

E-10 wheel manufatured in Glen Ellyn Illinois

          I will need to build three more G12 coach trucks. At first look, I have most, but not all, of the parts to build these trucks. I will need to go through the parts in greater detail and see what I am lacking. As soon as it isn’t so doggone hot here (109 today 9-02) I will get started on building and rebuilding all of the E10 and G12 trucks we will need for operation and for the various displays I have planned.

          Many thanks to the people who over the years have helped me gather the parts for these 2 E10 and G12 restorations including Jeff Waltermyer, Gerry Warner, Ben Morriston, Kevin Evans, Richard Nairn, Jerry Graves, Ed Janulionis, Ron Witt and so many others.

          On our trip, we spent a day at Knoebel’s Amusement Park in Elysburg, PA. We rode both of the S16s, the G16 and the Crown. We met train engineer and long-time friend Steve Gross in-person, coordinated our visit with friend Joey Klein and also got an awesome behind the scenes tour of the entire park by my long-time friend Dick Knoebel. The park is full of vintage rides beautifully preserved and is a family friendly park that even allows all dogs to visit. The food was great, there was plenty of shade with places to sit and the ambiance is fantastic. It was an awesome day at Knoebel’s, if you haven’t been to Knoebel’s you need to go!

Dave, Dick Knoebel and Me

Me, Steve Gross and Joey Klein

          We stopped at the 15 inch gauge Waterman and Western RR where we visited our friends Pete and Char Robinson. I had the privilege of touring the shop and engineering a lap on the W & W train which was awesome. It is always a thrill to get to visit and ride another railroad, but to get to operate is really special. I wish we could have stayed longer.

Waterman and Western Railroad

Pete and Char Robinson at the Waterman and Western Railroad

Pete Robinson and me

          We visited with my friend Jeff Waltermyer and family in Jonestown, PA where Dave and I both had the opportunity to run his 7.5 inch equipment on his awesome railroad. We enjoyed dinner on the patio with Jeff and his family and ran trains under the stars; what a spectacular evening! Thank you for everything, Jeff.

Jeff Waltermyer's 7 1/2 gauge railroad

Dinner with the Waltermyers

          We visited with Jerry Stinebring and toured his amazing shop and collection. He pretty much has one of everything from 12 inch gauge to 24 inch gauge and most are really incredible pieces.

Jerry Stinebring's Cagney locomotive

Me and Jerry Stinebring

          Gerry Warner and I have been friends for many years, but had never met in-person. We toured his shop and got to see some of his collection of Miniature Train and Doepke parts and equipment – wow.

E10 nose in Gerry Warner's shop

Me and Gerry Warner

          In Rensselaer, we met with Judy Kaane of the local historical society and Gary Braasch who may be the most popular man in town. They made us feel at home and shared many of the behind the scenes places with us that most others don’t get to see. The art walk, tour of downtown and tour of the Miniature Train Company grounds and building were highlights. Dinner at the Fenwick Farms Microbrewery and Restaurant with Gary and Renee was so much fun. It really was a great visit and I will be back!

Gary Braasch, Judy Kaane and me in Rensselaer, Indiana

Art walk in Rensselaer Indiana

          I picked up a couple Rensselaer Bomber (high school team name) t shirts to go with the Knoebel’s S16 t shirts I purchased earlier. I doubt that there are very many of either of them here in metro Phoenix.

Rensselaer Bomber and Knoebel's S16 t shirts

          The first several days of the trip had a distinct MTC/AH and park trains focus, the last three days the theme of the trip changed from park trains to Route 66 locations and logging miles toward home.

          We visited restored gas stations on old route 66 in Dwight, ILL, Commerce, KS and Shamrock,TX and each was special in its own way. We also made an unrelated stop in Amarillo, TX to see the Cadillac Ranch. It is crazy the crowds that place generates – just crazy.

Route 66 gas station in Dwight Illinois

Route 66 gas station and diner in Shamrock Texas

Route 66 gas station in Commerce Kansas

Cadillac Ranch (with our 35 foot truck photobombing in the background)

          The 26 foot box, (35 foot truck) limited our ability to visit some urban locations with limited parking on this trip so we had 5 Uber rides scattered in and I also got to use my passport as we traveled into Canada to see all three of the falls that comprise Niagara Falls.

Niagra Falls

Niagra Falls

          We put 3200 hundred miles on the truck after flying to Philadelphia from Phoenix and Dave and I were physically pretty beat up after getting home and getting the truck unloaded in 110 degree heat, but what an awesome trip!!! I’ll share much more in the months to come.

          Happy and safe railroading everybody!

10/12/19

          Our long search for a G12 motor has come to an end. We finally located and purchased an original Wisconsin AKN G12 motor with all of the bolt on parts (starter, generator etc.) in September.

Wisconsin AKN Motor for the G12

Wisconsin AKN Motor

          We have arranged crating and shipping, but it won’t arrive here for several more days.

Bolt on parts for the Wisconsin AKN Motor

          We located several more of the items we were missing for our G12 observation car this month. We located the upper and lower observation end castings, the drumhead, some of the side marker lenses, many of the ob car electrical sockets and the rear light lens. These parts will arrive in October. Previously, we acquired the window frames, window screens and some truck parts from this same donor car. Our ob car sheet metal was solid, but she was missing most everything else. The sheet metal on the donor car was very rough, but between the two we are going to have a very nice observation car.

          Restoration of our G12 engine, no. 377, will be much the same process. We are either going to section in major sections of the floor and side sheet metal from our new engine into no. 377 or use, both hoods, dash, nose, hand control rods and other components from no. 377 with the floor and sides of the new engine. We will pick the best parts and pieces of each. I think we will have a very nice G12 engine once completed.

G12 Number 377 Nose

Recently Acquired G12

G12 Number 377

Recently Acquired G12

          I am still sorting through and organizing boxes of parts from our trip. I hope to have that process completed in late October.