Boxcab, I bet they would be, I know I'm extremely happy to see the car finally moved to the elevator site and proud of all the work that has gone into the car. We still have to put the graphics back on the car and a few other odds and ends, but it's pretty much done and ready to start its new life as an interpretive display (and a space for interpretive displays). Oh... Anyone in the Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin areas who are interested... We are having a dedication ceremony this Saturday (October 11, 2008) for the boxcar, at the elevator site. Feel free to come and join us for the dedication and to see our "little model railroad" (as some townspeople have called it). Now, for the caboose...
BACK FROM THE NEAR-DEAD!!! Hey, guys! Sorry for being silent for so long, but I've had some technical issues that have prevented me from posting to the site for a long while. I've also had some projects that have sidetracked me from here (no pun intended), been busy with work... And, I've had some health issues. Winter of '08-'09 was not a pleasent one for me, as I had a row with "the 'Big C'" and underwent Chemo for nine weeks. I've been Cancer Free for over a year (April 10, 2010 marked my one-year anniversary)! So, that's what I've been up to for the last couple years, or so. Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand... Sorry to say that I do NOT have any pictures of the completed boxcar. I drive past the elevator site just about everyday on my way to work, but haven't had time to stop and snap some shots of it. I do, however, have a shot of the car with a few of the graphics on it, namely the billboard herald and the MILW logo, that I took about a year ago... Taken "on the fly" from my Jeep (the Fillmore County Fair was underway when I snapped this pic, so there was NO parking... had to do a "drive by!). Also, last September, or so, the Caboose was moved from the salvage yard in Wisconsin to it's temporary work site at the Preston Iron Works. Pics to come in the next posting!
And, as promised... MILW caboose #992095 sitting at the Preston Iron Works (Preston, MN) awaiting restoration work... Sitting in the yard of the Preston Iron Works. A view of the other side. A few of the misc. bits and pieces that need to be replaced on the caboose. One of the trucks sits next to the caboose. I haven't been down to the works in a while, so I don't know if they've done much work on it or not. I like to walk the bike trail that goes past the Iron Works worksite (which was built on the MILW roadbed), so I'll have to grab a few shots of it for you guys the next time I take the dog for a walk (maybe Thursday). Anyway, hopefully I have my issues resolved and can get back to posting on here on a regular basis! Until the next update...
Congrats on the battle with cancer! My wife is a survivor of an extremely rare type, less than 5% survival rate. So I understand. Had health woes here myself. A couple of days after my last post here, I ended up in the hospital (not cancer), and almost didn't make it. Still recovering. Ugh. The elevator and box car as displayed looks beautiful! Can't wait to see the caboose done. Will it be set up adjacent to that box car? Boxcab E50
Good to hear from you Komachi, and congrats on that battle. Hope you feel better and stay healthy. Thank you for the update, I agree with Ken, the car and silo are beautiful.
Sorry to hear about your battle, glad you made it back OK, you too Ken!! But if you guy's think you had it bad just think how that caboose feels!!
Hey, guys, Thanks for the multiple thumbs-up on the Cancer victory. Boxcab, hopefully you and your wife remain in good health as well!!! As for your question on how the cars will be positioned... There will be a second track laid next to the boxcar and the caboose will be set on that set of rails and offset "behind" the boxcar. Kind of like this... ELEVATOR ==Boxcar== =======Caboose== I have a YouTube channel and tomorrow morning (again, weather permitting), I'm going to go down and shoot some footage of the elevator site, the boxcar and the caboose. I'll show how the layout will be. I'm also going to do a real-time walk down the Root River Senic Bike Trail, which closely follows the old Caledonia, Mississippi & Western/Milwaukee Road ROW. Speaking of, here are some shots of said ROW to show you what it looks like some 33-odd years after the tracks were torn out... A canopy of foliage covers the old MILW ROW, which makes for a pleasent walk and/or bike ride. The Root River slowly ripples past the bike trail.
By the way... I managed to get down to the boxcar after work today (I got done with work today earlier than I thought I was going to!!!), so I snapped a few shots to get a better shot of the car with graphics on it! A better view of the boxcar and elevator. A closer look at the boxcar (with the elevator graphics still visible). Car data printed below the MILW logo. And speaking of... The MILW LOGO!!! A beautiful thing, indeed!
Sweet! Thanks for posting this! I have a backorder for 10 rib side boxcars that I'm waiting on. This has me even more excited for them to arrive!
Wonderfull work! I love the fact that any small town I go to in Wisconsin or Minnesota, where the Milwauee ran through, I will usually find a caboose or FM unit on display. If I am still working in September, I plan on going through the area. -Mark
Dear Komanchi, Does this trail go through to Caledonia? All the way to Reno (The River)? Is there a really old MILW boxcar on display at a nearby County Fair ground? I remember reading about one a few years ago? TIA, Mark BTW-When you Google Map Preston, MN, a shot of the grain elevator pops up under photos.
"Wonderfull work! I love the fact that any small town I go to in Wisconsin or Minnesota, where the Milwauee ran through, I will usually find a caboose or FM unit on display. If I am still working in September, I plan on going through the area." Locomotives and cabooses seem to be the mose popular bits of railroad equipment. Although, Preston, wouldn't have a big unit on display. Due to the weight restrictions on the bridges on the line, our "workhorses" were SW-1s. Those were the only locomotves light enough to operate on the line. Believe it or not, I stumbled across a DVD that has footage of the line in use sometime in the early 70s, before abandonment (the Caledonia-Preston branch was abandoned in 1976 and the LaCressent to Austin branch was abandoned in 1980. (Note I say Caledonia-Preston instead of Reno-Preston, as the trestle between Reno and Caledonia was washed out in a 1948 flood and never replaced.)... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD6dIq4eBCs Let me know when you plan on being in town, I'll give you more of my contact info. and we can meet up and I'll give you some of the gory details about the boxcar, caboose and elevator projects. "Does this trail go through to Caledonia? All the way to Reno (The River)? Is there a really old MILW boxcar on display at a nearby County Fair ground? I remember reading about one a few years ago?" That, I don't know about. The only other caboose that I know of in the area is to the south of us in Cresco, Iowa. They have a caboose like ours (don't know the number off the top of my head) and FP-7 101A sitting on a length of track in the city park. Here are a few shots of the loco, boxcar, flatcar and caboose I found on Webshots (these are NOT my pictures, although I do have some in my collection (unfortunately, said collection is at a friend's house while I'm remodeling my parents' basement))... http://rides.webshots.com/album/17926913ipjAIRBfaY As of right now, the only portions of the old Milwaukee Road lines that have been made into trails are Fountain to Houston leg (on the old Minnesota and Southern line) and Isinours to Harmony (the former Caledonia, Mississippi & Western route). They may extend the trail to Caledonia in the future, but right now, Houston is the Western terminus. Here's an online map from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources... http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/state_trails/rootriver_harmonypreston.pdf And a writeup of the bike trail on Wikipedia... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blufflands_State_Trail "BTW-When you Google Map Preston, MN, a shot of the grain elevator pops up under photos." The elevator (with a "bare" boxcar) is also one of the main pictures on the wikipedia entery for the town too... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston,_Minnesota More shots to come (and, hopefully some video... didn't get to film the other day, got sidetracked with a couple other things!). STAY TUNED!!!
HO scale this time around, Ken. They have been on back order for 2 months now. I'm not very happy with those guys right now...
Thanks for all of the info and links. Looks like I have to give Fred $35 for his DVD. That footage is what I have been looking for. -Mark
MOAR TRACKS!!! I know I haven't updated this thread in a while, but... well, the PHS hasn't had a lot of time/cash on hand to do a whole lot. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut... The trucks for the caboose were taken to GP Truck Painting, a shop in Chatfield, MN that does custom paint work on just about anything (Semi tractor-trailers, cars, farm equipment... cast iron antiques...) and are ready to be placed at the elevator site (hopefully, sometime next week!). Although, as far as I know, not much has been done on the caboose since we hauled it in from Wisconsin. Also, the second track that will house the caboose has been surveyed and excavated, the rails and ties are down and a little bit of ballast has been sprinkled on. In fact, I was down at the site this morning for an hour, or so, hammering spikes into the ties (just enough to get them set, the city boys will be along in the next day or two to jackhammer them down. Thought I'd post a quick update on that. I've got a few things do to yet this evening, but I'll post pics later tonight of our progress so far.
Money is tight for many groups, but it sounds like you are making some slow progress. That's great news.
Hey Guys, Question... the group working on restoring the caboose would like to know what the PPG (or other paint companies) paint codes are for the black, White, yellow and orange that the MILW used on its cabooses? Any other groups who have restored MILW equipment... are there any other paints you have used on your projects that you would reccomend? Any info. would be appreciated.
Unfortunately, I don't have that information. I know some MRHA members have been discussing doing drift cards. Perhaps contact some others who have done restorations? I do recall seeing varying shades between new and weathered oranges. You probably can't be too wrong in whatever paint is eventually applied. Noting your mention of yellow, you are painting to represent the final (Six digit 99xxxx numberings) scheme? If the earlier five digit 0xxxx number you'd not need yellow at all.
