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This is the twelfth year I have written an annual report and every year as I look back on what we accomplished during the prior twelve months, I think it’s been one of the busiest years ever on the A & P. This year isn’t any different; it was a very busy year.
We describe construction projects in this context as brand new construction as part of or adjacent to the right-of-way or that directly relates to the operation of the A & P.
We added an additional brick display area near the patio of the superintendent's house
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We added A & P signage to each side of the turntable.
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We repainted the main Arizona and Pacific sign frame and had the faded sign sandblasted and powder coated again. The letters really pop when the powder coating is fresh.
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We lubricated our switches and switch stands and replaced a few ties that needed retired.
We spent quite a bit of time rebuilding and customizing our 1987 John Deere AMT 600. She sees some activity on the A & P and more around the local neighborhood.
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This year we added a padded seat in the back, bed side panels, a rear bumper, tail lights, turn signals and brake lights to the AMT.
Several of the engines received shop time; those projects are detailed by engine name.
The Phoenix received a new battery, a new electric fuel pump and a good carburetor cleaning. She saw quite a bit of activity during the year.
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The Red River required the usual maintenance this year. We replaced the battery, the electric fuel pump and cleaned the carburetor. We pinned the second of the windows closed on each side which keeps fingers from getting pinched when the hood is tilted back.
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The Tucson probably saw the most activity of any of our engines this year. She didn't require much work other than the expected carburetor cleaning and battery charging.
She has always been an easy starting engine and almost always starts the first time the engine turns over.
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We replaced the fuel pump and the battery. We still have an overheating problem that we need to figure out.
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We cleaned, polished and repainted the two hood emblems and bead blasted and primed the cowl panel.
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We have continued our research over the last year into the number of B units manufactured. We believe there were 39 "Limited" train sets produced by the Miniature Train Company. The "Limited" model had two power units either two "A" units or powered A and B units. It is unknown exactly how many "B" units were produced, but for various reasons we believe the number to be 32. Of those, less than half are still accounted for and in good condition. We feel fortunate to have one of the B units and are spending the time and money to try and bring her back to great condition.
There are at least four versions of the instrument panel in the B units and they range from seven to eleven gauges. We have the eleven gauge model which is very cool looking, just a bit more expensive and problematic to restore... We have located and acquired all the NOS switches and push buttons and have purchased all the Stewart Warner blackface gauges. We located the original style brake and throttle valves that mounted through the instrument panel on the left. This style valve was used in the early G16s starting with No. 501 and prior to No. 580 for certain and possibly discontinued prior to that. For a couple of reasons, we believe our B unit was one of the early ones produced. It appeared to originally have a Chicago and Northwestern green and yellow paint scheme.
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We made quite a bit of progress on the B Unit this year even though it isn't all readily observable. The brake and throttle valves will not be active in the B unit, but sitting in the cockpit will give "junior engineers" the opportunity to experience a G16 differently than sitting in one of the coaches.
We rebuilt and painted the trucks two years ago and they will go under the B rather quickly, but there are still nearly a hundred items on the "to do" list. Some of the remaining items will be quick, but most not so much.
We also mounted the hood struts on additional brackets that we fabricated. We fabricated and mounted side skirts and also repaired the aluminum gas tanks.
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We bead blasted the cowl panel, the hood and instrument panel and the two draw bars. We also tracked down the remaining draw bar parts that we will need to get those assemblies installed.
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We still have a long way to go, but this will be a fun and rewarding project. We will keep plugging away one item at a time. We hope to have her on the rail late in 2016.
We completely rewired the Verde Vista for the coach lights and added wiring for a drum head.
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We removed bulkheads added by the prior owner and added an additional 4 window frames on the B side. She now has 8 window frames on the B side and 4 on the A side. The original configuration on the full length coach was 12 windows and 6 windows.
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We added quick connect vacuum fittings for the brakes and a 6 pin connector and a pig tail for electrical connections.
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We completed the track inspection car seat widening and repainting project. We also upholstered the bottom and back of the seat. We also replaced the exhaust and muffler and added a point of attachment for the front head light.
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We made some progress on our G12 this year. I located a second power truck and a set of horns for the roof. Dave located and acquired all of the correct gauges and Cole Hersee switches and knobs for the instrument panel.
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The rear floor and seat are filled with rust as are the throttle and brake pockets. This will be the most extensive sheet metal project ever undertaken here.
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I also located a couple of passenger trucks - of course we don't have a passenger car yet, but I'm not racing anybody on these projects.
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We arranged and mounted a display of signs from the F & MV RR in our engine house.
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I acquired a set of small pennants from Cedar Point (1961) featuring our S16 the "Sandusky". They will eventually be displayed in the engine house.
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I painted the platform and added a shelf to our engine house work table.
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I finally finished painting and mounting three additional portable signs that are on display in the engine house.
Dave took quite a bit of video this year of our various trains in operation as well as some video of trains running at other locations. Dave has gotten very good at editing and adding video to Youtube. Hopefully, you are enjoying the videos he has put together.
The railroads Dave and I visited in Arizona were:
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Time permitting, it is always fun to have people over and share the railroad experience. It is especially fun when they are fellow large-scale railroad owners and operators as they have shared so many of the same experiences and 99.9% of them are great people. We had a great number of visitors this year both locally and from out of state.
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The out of state cities represented this year, in no particular order, were: Fifty Lakes, Minnesota, San Diego, California, Arlington, Texas, Hampstead, New Hampshire, Camarillo, California, Aspen, Colorado, Tenboy, Idaho, Chicago, Illinois, Waterman, Illinois and Robinson, Illinois.
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Within Arizona, Flagstaff, Prescott, Surprise, Tucson, Cottonwood, Gilbert, Goodyear, Tempe, Apache Jct. and most of the cities in the Phoenix metro area were represented.
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On many visitor's first trip to the A & P, they are surprised at just how crazy I am to have built all of this into my backyard - but in a good way.
We had a very productive year in 2015 and have lots of plans for 2016 and beyond including:
Longer range plans include
As with every year, it is a pretty ambitious list. Hopefully, we’ll get through at least half of it. The painting projects in particular will likely get bumped another year as we work on the G16 A and B and maybe add a couple of storage buildings. We are a small group on the A & P and sometimes it takes awhile to get major projects accomplished. It is mostly Dave and I working on these projects. I get some machine shop and fabrication help from Jerry, brick and block help from Ruben and labor help from Eddie.
Our A & P website has been on the web now for 13 1/2 years. We have outlasted dozens of other sites and still are out here plugging away. It isn't always pretty. The updates are sometimes a little late depending on the work load of the real job and some of the work out here just isn't very sexy or photogenic, but has to get done.
The interest in the website continues to amaze me. We are just two guys in Arizona sharing information and writing about our weekend railroad projects and we get thousands of web visitors a year checking in from all over the world to see what we’re working on and the progress of our Allan Herschell and Miniature Train Company projects. We finished this year with over 117,000 website visitors since 1992. I know some of you have been watching our progress for ten years or more and have lived this journey with us. Thank you for watching. We had almost 9,400 website visitors in 2015 - our third most visited year ever. We also get dozens of visitors to our little railroad every year.
This past September (2015) we celebrated the 20 year anniversary of me buying my first Allan Herschell train - the Phoenix and she was such a mess. She was very expensive to me at the time and I had no idea how much I didn't know. It is hard for me to imagine not going down this road now. I enjoy bringing these machines back from the derelict, researching and embracing their history and then having the opportunity to share the trains and my experiences with others.
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We had Arizona and Pacific Railroad T shirts made this year and it is fun to represent our railroad when we visit other railroads.
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The newest member to join the A & P team is my rescue dog, a female Dalmatian named Lizzie. Lizzie and Lodi keep the rabbits and birds at bay and have become best buddies.
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Have a Great New Year and Happy Railroading Everybody!