Saturday, October 11, 2014
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Building the Falk Locomotive in 1 1/2" Scale 7 1/2" Gauge
Several years ago I was sitting in the Quad Cities Railroad Education Museum in Moline, IL and the older gent came in and sat down at the desk with me and pulled out a copy of Live Steam Magazine. He had just gotten his monthly edition and saw the construction article of the Fairmount Speeder. He said "do you think we could build a 1 1/2" scale 7 1/2" gauge railroad here in Moline?" Thus started a long friendship in an eclectic group of very new friends.
We decided that two middle aged men did not a live steam club make, so we advertised that a new group was to get together with an interest in Live Steam in the Quad Cities. We found that 10 people were interested, that lasted for two meetings. By the time the third meeting convened, There were 4 of us left. My friend decided we could not be a live steam club without a steam engine, so he saw one advertised in Live Steam Magazine, a Little Engines American. It needed a new boiler but we worked on it for a year and got it running. We joined the Iowa Society of Steam Engineers when they were still at Scotties' near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Then , we moved to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa where we still are. Since it was a 2 1/2 hour drive from the Quad Cities, we decided to build our own track, and decided to locate just outside Geneceo, IL.
So, now we have an oval of 900 feet of track in operation as of 2011, this is our second track, as the land owner decided he wanted to have more country outside his windows.
Since the Little Engines American was so lite, we were on the large side, we needed a bigger set of engines. We have a custom built gas powered SW1200 painted UP Armour Yellow and Grey and a Rock Island F-7 Battery/Electric. We have built 6 riding cars, one Gon and and two drop center flat riding cars and 3 bench cars, and the Speeder.
We are now looking to expand the oval to a larger layout. We need to pick up large amounts of fuel for the winter, so we need a siding to pick up and deliver fire wood to the house, have to keep the boss happy.
We decided that two middle aged men did not a live steam club make, so we advertised that a new group was to get together with an interest in Live Steam in the Quad Cities. We found that 10 people were interested, that lasted for two meetings. By the time the third meeting convened, There were 4 of us left. My friend decided we could not be a live steam club without a steam engine, so he saw one advertised in Live Steam Magazine, a Little Engines American. It needed a new boiler but we worked on it for a year and got it running. We joined the Iowa Society of Steam Engineers when they were still at Scotties' near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Then , we moved to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa where we still are. Since it was a 2 1/2 hour drive from the Quad Cities, we decided to build our own track, and decided to locate just outside Geneceo, IL.
So, now we have an oval of 900 feet of track in operation as of 2011, this is our second track, as the land owner decided he wanted to have more country outside his windows.
Since the Little Engines American was so lite, we were on the large side, we needed a bigger set of engines. We have a custom built gas powered SW1200 painted UP Armour Yellow and Grey and a Rock Island F-7 Battery/Electric. We have built 6 riding cars, one Gon and and two drop center flat riding cars and 3 bench cars, and the Speeder.
We are now looking to expand the oval to a larger layout. We need to pick up large amounts of fuel for the winter, so we need a siding to pick up and deliver fire wood to the house, have to keep the boss happy.
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