Milwaukee Road Early 80's

[Ali Kenneth]

I have been seriously considering what i want to model recently and keep coming back to the early 80's Milwaukee Road/C&NW. So there may be a lot of 21st Century NS on ebay soon.

However i have started to consider what i want to run and discovered it is not easy to build a Milwaukee based layout in the early 1980's due to issues getting locos for said layout. Post 1980 Milwaukee was basically a SD40-2, GP40 and MP15AC railroad with a few small fleets of other stuff.

The jury has yet to decide on the Intermountain SD40-2 and the Kato one is rarely available on Ebay or elsewhere.
The Atlas GP40 is no longer current and are few and far between secondhand.
Nobody has done a MP15AC yet.

I have a feeling i will end up paying through the nose for GP40s and will end up with a few IM SD40-2s almost regardless of how good they are.

I would have thought a road that is very popular to model would have had better support in N, perhaps not to the level of HO, but a lot better than we have now.

Anyone else finding modelling something they thought would be easy is a lot harder than they initially thought?

Alasdair

[davefoxx]

Perseverance is what it takes when you change roads and/or eras and seek locomotive and rolling stock some time after they were produced.  But, you can find them.  The real question will be what you're willing to pay to get something a little bit on the limited availability side.  You may have to take it on the chin to get what you want.

I just did a search for "Milwaukee Road" in N scale on eBay.  Right now, there are two Kato SD40-2s, an Atlas GP40 (admittedly at a ridiculous price), and an Atlas GP30 for sale.  Trying different search terms, e.g., "milwaukee" or "milw" might even find more.  Good luck!

DFF

[Ali Kenneth]

Totally agree Dave, however I am finding the trend is to offer to have customs charges included in the price which means the only SD40-2 shown available to post to the UK (apart from the centenniel unit) is over $120. I can't put together a roster paying that sort of price for each loco when i am going to add a decoder on top.

I would rather that customs charges at at my own risk as some parcels get through without a charge saving £15 ($24) per parcel.

I just find it surprising that a road as popular as the Milwaukee has so few options in N Scale!

Alasdair

[ryan_wilkerson]

I really thing someone will do a MC15AC at some point. It might be a 3D printing company though.

[milw156]

Skytop Models is in the process of making a resin shell for a MP15AC that uses the mp15dc mechanism.  Bill will be making an announcement here on TRW when he is satisfied with the master and has castings he is happy with. Milw stuff does show up on da Bay that is not priced based on greed of the seller, but that does not mean that demand among bidders wont drive up the price into the ridiculous range. I would like to see Atlas do another run of GP 40's & 38-2's, but would really kill for the last phase of the 16-44's! I am hoping the Intermountain 40-2's are what we are hoping fore, and sales justify repeat runs of different paint schemes within the same RR, as the Running Indian IM has announced limits it's place in time. However, having an airbrush and some idea of how to use it opens up some more doors. 30 years ago, the only decent options were the Atlas RS-3, and a bit later, the Kato 38-2.  The rolling stock that has been available from at least 6 different companies over the last 15 years in Milwaukee is another reason to smile. Don't give up, but don't snooze if you see something that fits your time frame or you will lose!
Rick

[kalbert]

I think pretty much any time you try to model something specific you end up doing a bunch of painting. Trying to do late '70s CNW, for the most part all the signature  stuff is readily available in some form. Your run of the mill RS3s and various 40' boxcars and covered hoppers, but just about everything will need paint and decals. Some of the oddball stuff like RS3m, RS32, RS36, and a correct phase C425 won't ever exist and will need to be scratch/kit/bashed.

David Cutting has some stuff that will interest you in his Shapeways store, smaller fuel tanks for SD40-2's and exhaust stacks for SD10's that will go good with my air filter (and cab conversion if I can ever sit down and finish it).

Look forward to seeing what you do, always like seeing Milwaukee Road!

[skytop35]

Hope to have the MP15AC conversion done sometime in October. It will still require some skill to assemble but most of the hard work is already finished. You won't have to splice and dice shells but you'll probably need a copy of the May/June 2010 N Scale Railroading to help follow the build.

[Ali Kenneth]

Bill,

Looks great and thankfully have that issue to hand.

Looks like i might get a couple of cheap MP15s to convert then....

Alasdair

[PGE-N°2]

I would definitely look at getting a couple, too, although I am curious about why splice and dice shells instead of using the option to design a printable 3D shell that would be in one piece.

[skytop35]

1) I can splice and dice better than I can draw in 3D 

2) Not totally satisified with the results I've seen from Shapeways

I would definitely look at getting a couple, too, although I am curious about why splice and dice shells instead of using the option to design a printable 3D shell that would be in one piece.

[Ali Kenneth]

After a few days thought and lots of web trawling i now have 4 undecorated GP40 bodies on order from Atlas. Will marry them to Atlas Chassis that i have already got and paint them up as Milwaukee units.

Now got to decide what to do about the SD40-2. Do I wait until we have some reviews of the Intermountain ones and risk not being able to get them all or preorder and risk them being sub-standard?

Boxcars and Grain Hoppers being obtained, i feel this project getting some momentum. Then got to decide what to build!

Alasdair

[daniel_leavitt2000]

You can always cancel an order. The first run of SD40-2s sound be out by Jan I think. So you will be able to see the results before purchase. Luckily for you the MILW is a very ready scheme to paint. It could be a lot worse: Think of having to paint a dozen Wabash butter knives.

Even the crazy MILW rebuilds are possible. Ian and I both have done "GP20" engines: Chop nose GP9s with that ski jump number board. It wasn't all that hard. Their chop nose SD10 can be made easily with a LL SD9, and a SD26 cab from Atlas. Use the LL model because cutting the lead weight is a lot easier than milling the frame of an Atlas unit. Oh the short hood his is separate, so cutting it down is a lot easier. Also, if you can locate a MILW unit, you can avoid painting the long hood and side still.

I would say go for it. I like the road myself. If I want married to the Boston Line, I would consider it as well.

[mcjaco]

There's more than Geeps and SD's in the 80's.  Here's some pics from my Dad circa 79 and 80....IIRC.







My personal fave:

[randgust]

I had the distinct pleasure to have been in Bentsenville IL in July 1980 on a railfan tour.

What stuck in my mind was the dead line - which included a whole lot of F-units, and a pair of FP45's, all frame-deep in weeds.   The only thing running was SD40's and a couple MP15's. 

When I look at a MILW SD40-2 like here:  http://www.trainweb.org/milwaukee/milw0141.jpg  what do I see as a non-Milwaukee guy?

Two things jump out at me, what I see, and what I don't.   The signature thing for me is the all-weather cab windows.   The second thing I see is that MILW orange weathers out from that factory color to a fade quicker than most, so the color perception is critical.    I don't see rivets, or lifting lugs, or count louvers.   Just commenting on impressions, and what really jumps off the page to me.

I'll second Bill Denton's impressions about printed shells.  Not there yet.  The CAD and design work is certainly there though, its purely a matter of printer resolution and Shapeway's policies.   I'm rather convinced that an alternative will emerge... for a price.  But yeah, when I can get injection-molded Atlas GP7 long hoods for my CF7 kits that are razor-sharp, for around $2.50 each plus shipping, it's easier to modify those than try to print something.

Considering that you CAN get 'runner' used shells and mechanisms, try your hand at painting and detailing.  If you really love a prototype, you'll soon learn that basically NOBODY gets everything right, and that you'll simply have to learn some skills to hit the level you want to achieve.  With the auction sites and both Atlas and Kato selling shells and parts, you don't have to sacrifice an expensive locomotive to learn it.

I model ATSF in the 70's.... to which everybody says "LUCKY".   Well, my conclusion has been that with a couple minor exceptions, nobody gets it truly 'right'.  The body is wrong, or lacking common features, or the numbering is wrong, or the blue is the wrong color.... and every unit gets replacement wire handrails.  So even with that as a prototype, sooner or later, everything gets redone from 'out of the box'.  Out of 35 locomotives, only TWO (A Life-Like SW, and a Life-Like warbonnet GP20) still have original body paint, and even for those two, they are renumbered.  Everything else stripped and repainted.    But upgrading the fleet has been incredibly rewarding, great fun, and worth it.   And after a while, you may even get the courage to weather stuff.

I got an Intermountain SD45-2 and ended up trading the mechanism with another forumite and putting in an original 'vintage' Kato SD40 mechanism as I was not happy with the performance and the MU issues with my existing Kato SD45's.   So that's another issue too, what's more important to you, whether or not the winterization hatch is the right one, or whether or not it's sitting there on the hill spinning, just laughing at you.  I've just had consistently better results with vintage Kato than anything else out there under the hood.  But the IM details and overall shell features are just amazing, so if you're really hard-core you'll figure out a way to get what you want and enjoy getting there.

[strummer]

Considering that you CAN get 'runner' used shells and mechanisms, try your hand at painting and detailing.  If you really love a prototype, you'll soon learn that basically NOBODY gets everything right, and that you'll simply have to learn some skills to hit the level you want to achieve.  With the auction sites and both Atlas and Kato selling shells and parts, you don't have to sacrifice an expensive locomotive to learn it.

I model ATSF in the 70's.... to which everybody says "LUCKY".   Well, my conclusion has been that with a couple minor exceptions, nobody gets it truly 'right'.  The body is wrong, or lacking common features, or the numbering is wrong, or the blue is the wrong color.... and every unit gets replacement wire handrails.  So even with that as a prototype, sooner or later, everything gets redone from 'out of the box'.  Out of 35 locomotives, only TWO (A Life-Like SW, and a Life-Like warbonnet GP20) still have original body paint, and even for those two, they are renumbered.  Everything else stripped and repainted.    But upgrading the fleet has been incredibly rewarding, great fun, and worth it.   And after a while, you may even get the courage to weather stuff.

Very well said...

Mark in Oregon