I have found my muse.....Milwaukee Road Narrow Gauge

[Tom L]

Next fall, I will be able to increase my layout space by about 3 1/2 feet x 18 feet along a basement wall. I currently have a 9x9 foot N scale layout. The decision was do I expand the N scale layout or do some thing different? I have never modeled in any other Scale than N with the exception of a few HoN30 pieces of rolling stock.I have also come to realize that I enjoy branchline type railroading with the simple operation of switching cars in and out of small businesses like grain elevators. Here is the criteria:

Branchline operations with short mixed Trains in a rural setting
Simple track plan with prototypical length sidings and layout
Craftsman style kit and scratchbuilt rolling stock
Nothing later the 1950s era
Somewhat usual prototype but not so obscure so that prototype info is unobtainable or non existent
Reliable, smooth running locomotive
 
Due to my getting older and starting to struggle with N scale detailing, decaling and painting, I decided to consider jumping up to HO or S scale. So during last weeks Blizzard here in Colorado, I spent the day looking into options and decided on the Narrow Gauge Milwaukee Road Branch between Bellevue Iowa on the Mississippi River and Cascade Iowa. The more I looked into it the more interesting it became to me and I was able to acquire some old Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazettes with Rolling stock drawings. I was also pleased to see that Mount Blue Models recently began offering Boxcar kits for this line and A kit for the Station in LaMotte Iowa (which still exists along with a restored boxcar and the lines only caboose, which is in use on the Midwest Central RR). I corresponded with them and they may offer more kits for this prototype in the future. LaBelle Models has a DRGW combine kit that is very close to those used on the line. Here's what I'm shooting for:

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So....got several of these on the way from Mount Blue Models

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And one of these

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As well as the only two books I could find about it.

The down side is finding a locomotive. The best bet is probably the Ex Colorado and Southern, Ex Denver South Park and Pacific 2-8-0. Seems like there are some similar brass Models available.

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I'd prefer a mogul, but the one they had was an outside frame 2-6-0 and I don't think anything like that exists in Hon3.

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I thought I would throw this out there for anyone with more HOn3 experience than me who had any input on how to go about this!

Thanks!

Tom L
Wellington CO

[johnb]

It's an interesting prototype, I  remember reading about it in an old Nn3 data book

[Chris333]

I have plans for those stock cars.

I think that 2-6-0 was from the Catskill & Tannersville. I remember first seeing that loco from the front and thinking it was the great looking loco ever. So I dug around and found a side view. Made me throw up a little. The boiler hung outside the rear of the cab and there was a small platform off the rear of the loco. I think that is what the cab is so long in your photo, to cover it all.

Fell in love:
https://www.shorpy.com/node/13927?size=_original#caption

Honeymoon is over:
http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr1100/sk25.jpg
http://www.trainweb.org/catskillmtn/tannersville2_turntable.JPG

I say don't worry about the outside frame.

I had the book for this RR in my hands and it was only $20, but I didn't buy it 

[Tom L]

Ha, I'm with you on that. I wish they had bought a C&S mogul as well as a 2-8-0. I could go that route anyway and get an older Brass C&S mogul and repower it. I see someone called the Loco Doc has a bunch of repowering kits for old brass stuff.

The other thing I was looking at was a Blackstone "generic" 2-8-0.  I don't want DCC and sound (I don't use it now) and I don't know if I have the nerve to start cutting into a beautiful $450 locomotive in order to change things like the ballon stack and tender details. From what I've read, the Blackstone locomotives are very good runners, which would be important to me. If I repowered a brass model, I'll have about the same amount of $ tied up in it and it still wouldn't be that accurate without modification. I can't see myself hacking into a brass model either but I will probably have to get used to the idea of that!

MDC Roundhouse made some HOn3 loco kits, I see them on EBay, but don't know much about them or how they run. They look too big and bulky.

When I contacted Mount Blue, he specifically mentioned the stock cars as the possible next release.

I found the Tigges/Jacobson book for about $35, so not too bad (Not the cheaper Arcadia Press book by the same author, which is still available from the publisher for like $29, cheaper elsewhere).

Tom L
Wellington CO

[Chris333]

If you go HOn30 you can cut up a Bachmann N scale 2-8-0. This is one I built:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qB5RTVj3WkEjNf7q9
Real loco it's based on:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fthedaddyof3/34162873206/in/album-72157679744999463/

But hey you can always make it your own railroad. It is so hard to know or be able to model everything about a real railroad.

[Tom L]

I have been enjoying researching the line and have acquired the required reading. There seems to be a decent amount of info out there and I have car and loco diagrams and track layout diagrams for just about all the towns served. I could model the Western terminus of Cascade Iowa about full size in the space I have.

I was comparing the old maps to present day and there certainly isnt much, if any, traces left. Some of the towns are just crossroads now, with maybe a farm.

 Hopefully this turns into a layout build thread at some point

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Tom L
Wellington CO

[k27463]

Tom,

I'd be happy to make you a deal on a fairly good shape (needs remotoring and regearing!) PFM HOn3 2-6-0.  Let me know 

[Tom L]

Tom,

I'd be happy to make you a deal on a fairly good shape (needs remotoring and regearing!) PFM HOn3 2-6-0.  Let me know 

Thanks for the offer but I think I've got a loco lined up. Looking at a Far East Distributors Spartan Series HOn3 2-6-0 with a Loco Doc remotoring/pick up improvement kit. The obvious difference is the driver spacing. I did find a web page of someone who moved the rear driver back on one of these, not sure if I will do that or not. Otherwise it looks similar and I won't have too much invested in the basic locomotive.

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Tom L

[Mike C]

 I had the FED 4-4-0 loco in the late 70's . Did the pick up improvement on it and it ran pretty well . Open frame motor in the tender wasn't great for slow speed , but it was pretty good for what it was ...Hard to believe the price they are getting now , I might have paid 75 bucks back then but it was a lot for a 14 year old !

[Tom L]

I had the FED 4-4-0 loco in the late 70's . Did the pick up improvement on it and it ran pretty well . Open frame motor in the tender wasn't great for slow speed , but it was pretty good for what it was ...Hard to believe the price they are getting now , I might have paid 75 bucks back then but it was a lot for a 14 year old !

Well, I’ve seen a couple in the $150 range, plus or minus, and the repowering kit is $135. Probably need another $75 - $100 or so for detailing parts.  So maybe have about $350 in it if I paint it myself and it should be a decent runner. Not planning on having more than one loco and about 12 - 16 pieces of rolling stock, so that’s not too bad.

When I started looking into this, I was surprised by the small number (like 2 maybe) of non brass have Hon3 locos that are available.

Tom L
Wellington CO

[Chris333]

That Milw 2-6-0 looks like it could straighten any curve you throw at it 

[Tom L]

When I first saw it, I thought it was about the ugliest steam engine I had ever seen.  The more pics I see of it, the more it grows on me. I guess that pretty much sums up the whole operation.

Tom L.

[eric220]

#4 sure is an ex-C&S loco! Too bad it’s not one of the original DSP&P consolidations. Those were the same Baldwin catalog item that the D&RG dubbed a C16. Still, I think a Blackstone C19 with an air tank under the bell and a chopped tender would be a pretty close match for #4.

[Tom L]

#4 sure is an ex-C&S loco! Too bad it’s not one of the original DSP&P consolidations. Those were the same Baldwin catalog item that the D&RG dubbed a C16. Still, I think a Blackstone C19 with an air tank under the bell and a chopped tender would be a pretty close match for #4.

Well.......From what I have read, #4 started out as DSP&P number 67 built by Cooke. It was then C&S 55 until it went to the Milwaukee Road in 1918.

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr051.htm

I thought it looked like a C16, but hadn't compared dimensions yet.

Ok, maybe I need two locos.

Even though my wife has put up with me and N scale Trains for 25 plus years, she does struggle a bit when I say I'm buying a non running or poorly running brass loco for a couple of hundred, that needs another couple of hundred dollars to possibly ( I say possibly because I have no idea what I'm doing on this project) make usable, for a non existent layout, with no rolling stock or even track to test it on. I can only imagine the eye roll/head shake I'd get if she saw a $450 (Blackstone) loco in pieces on the work bench.

 That's what I like about this hobby, it defies logic and common sense.

Tom L.

[eric220]

I’m away from my MC Poor books at the moment, but from what I read earlier, the group of Cooke consolidations built in 1885 (including your #4) were a little bigger than the C16 style Baldwins. I don’t have the specs on the C19 off hand, but the C19 has the advantage of being available in model form. Add headlamp brackets, an air tank, and either 1) shorten the tender 2) swap the tender for a closer one 3) live with a slightly oversize tender. Bam!

Edit: after looking again at the Blackstone model, there is a version that has a much closer tender.