THE TWO FOOTERS        

“Merry Christmas”

The best news from the VMRR is no bad weather news.  We were completely unaffected by the terrible hurricanes that ravaged so much of Florida.  Even our fellow two footers at Wales West, who had the eye of “Frances” pass directly over them only had minor flooding.  Reg Weller and his 2' gauge track near Jacksonville came through with only fallen limbs to clean up. 

Not much new in the physical plant has taken place this summer.  However, we did receive the first installment of our large Federal Highway Enhancement grant.  The funds were earmarked for planning the track expansion and accessories that will be built starting July 1, 2006.  The county’s engineering firm is busily engaged in designing the 400' wetlands trestle and other structures.  In looking at their preliminary plans, I believe we will be able to operate a 12" to-the-foot scale Big Boy over it.  We have an application into the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for a wet-lands permit. In the May-Jun issue, I mentioned we had completed our small station which serves as our office as well as a passenger loading facility.  I’ve attached a picture of the completed building named “River Junction,” an interchange point on the Apalachicola River just north of us where the Seaboard and L&N changed locomotives and train crews on the Jacksonville-New Orleans route back in the good old days.

 Also, in that issue, I told about buying and transporting a 2' gauge Crown 4-4-0.  At the time, we thought we were going to buy two high cube shipping containers in which to store it in the county park.  However, we have been told by the grant authorities to not do any construction prior to the grant start date.  We have also considered the possibility of never receiving the grant.  In Florida, we call this sort of grant is called a budget “turkey,” which is one that can be easily shot down by the legislature bent on saving money.  The Federal funds have to pass through the legislature for this type assistance.  If that were to happen, we prefer to have the Crown in pristine condition for resale.  So, for the foreseeable future, it remains under a tarp in my barn.  I have attached a picture of it during the unloading.

 We are getting more recognition in the area and have a steady business in special runs such as birthday parties and family reunions.  The last two week-ends in October we will be running “Ghost” trains at night with lots of scary things awaiting the riders.  It will be “Spook”tacular.

 Loco no. 35 is now halfway to becoming a two footer. One axle is re-gauged to two foot while the other is still three-foot gauge.  I had to machine the axle to be able to have the wheels pressed in form three- to two-foot gauge.  I also had to machine part of the hub of the sprockets for wheel clearance and press them in about a half a inch.  Because I have so much work to do on this engine before it will be operational, I decided last year to build a two-foot speeder.  This would give me something to use now in the construction of the railroad, but also I thought it would give me incentive to work on the railroad.  I considered buying a two-stroke Fairmont single cylinder speeder engine I found available but purchased an old Wisconsin engine instead, mainly because replacement engines are readily available, and I just prefer four-stroke over two-stroke engines.  Another reason I decided on the old Wisconsin instead of a more modern engine was because I wanted a putt-putt sound (pun intended but true) and not a high-revving lawn mower sound.  I started with 2” angle I had on hand, but, because of the lengths and total feet, I had to limit the speeder to 5’ long.  The wheel sets were Fairmont three-foot gauge.  I cut 12” out of the middle of the axles and then chucked on and indicated one wheel at a time in my largest lathe.  With my steady rest near the end of the axle, I center drilled and then drilled a 3/8” hole about two inches deep.  Then cut what is called a J groove down to about a 5/8” diameter.  Once this was done to all four wheels w/half axles, I inserted a 4” long 3/8” pin in one axle and slid another axle over the protruding pin.  When this is done, you have a U grove that is then filled in with weld.  I used an old lawn tractor 3-speed with reverse transmission and since picked up a spare for parts.  I locked the differential in the transmission by welding a few teeth and then mounted sprockets and outboard bearings to both ends of the axle.  I wanted something faster than a lawn tractor so I put sprockets on each wheel set that were half the diameter of the drive sprockets on the transmission. This worked out good.  I have a low enough speed to move my flat car and a surprisingly fast forward top speed.  I made the brake shoes out of wood and they work very well when dry but squeal annoyingly.  When they’re wet they don’t work at all.  I’ll be replacing them with cast iron shoes soon.  I still need to finish a few things this winter and will be painting it next spring.

(The west end of the Orwell Railroad)

Since I got the speeder running, it has inspired me to do more track building.  This year I added ninety feet of track, sixty feet on the curve and thirty feet on the straight end.  This brings the total to 260’.  I’m using 20-25 lb. rail with full-size ties cut in half and full-size spikes. I like the idea of using full-size spikes (5/8” square & 7” long) because I’m using more of the tie to hold the rail in place.  I bought the spikes for scrap price, and I pre-drill my ties 9/16” diameter and about 4” deep.  In the above picture, you can barely see the two automotive bumper jacks I prefer to use instead of the aluminum railroad jacks I have. The bumper jacks are so much lighter and easier to use.  I’ll need to make up some new lower tongues to use them on ballasted track.  I’m now building my first switch with a lot of help from the switch manufacture article published in the June 2000 TFGOA newsletter submitted by Nick D’Amore.

 If any of you are S gaugers, please visit my website at www.putttrains.com. A portion of all purchases is contributed to the Orwell Railroad Fund.

(This is the east end of the Orwell Railroad)

Last but not least, Louise and I would like to thank Le Roy Athey again for his great hospitality. We really enjoyed visiting the Descanso Alpine & Pacific in May and highly recommend it to any of you visiting the San Diego area. 

(Above that’s Le Roy Athey behind with me receiving operating instructions sitting on his Brookville.)

(Orwell Railroad speeder)

I’m sending you some pictures of our turntable.  It is almost finished.  We have to put the planks on the turntable and we will have to rent a DitchWitch to put the power in, plus other things too numerous to mention.

We have the footing in for our 3-stall engine house, and, hopefully, we will have it completed by Fall of 2005.  We have all the woods and timbers.  It will be all mortise-and-tendon joints, so it will look like it was built in the 1880’s.

Last year (2003), Jim Wrinn and his wife Pam from North Carolina stopped in for a visit.  He told us about the North Carolina Transportation Museum.  The museum is in Spencer, N.C.  He wanted to see where Shay started to build his Shay Locomotives. Now I just found out he will be the new editor of Trains Magazine.  I think he will be excellent at his job as he is a very knowledgeable person.

We took “baby” up to Harbor Springs again this past July for Shay Days.  We had a short piece of track that we used to run the engine back and forth and blow the whistle.  Everyone seemed to enjoy that. 

The Historical Society of Harbor Springs came down here and brought along a picnic for everyone.  After that, we had the 8^th Michigan R.R. History Conference Committee here.  That was the largest amount of people we ever had here at one time – between 125-150 people.  Mark ran “Baby” to give rides all day.

As this year comes to a close, The Footers Newsletter Staff would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of the newsletter.  All feedback is most welcome, and we look forward to receiving additional articles from all of the members.  Special thanks to Bill Bentsen who hosts the Two Footer’s website:  http://www.thetwofooters.com/

In 2005, the staff will be reviewing the membership list to ensure that all information is valid.  This will also include reviewing the list to see who has contributed in the past.  The newsletter is a group effort and everyone needs to participate in some manner.

For the folks who receive a “hard-copy” of the newsletter but would prefer to receive the newsletter via email, please let us know.  Email is a very convenient way for us to distribute the articles and it cuts down on the cost of the newsletter.

In the January/February issue of the “Two Footers,” we will be announcing the location for the 2005 Two-Footers Convention.  All of the conventions in the past have been a tremendous amount of enjoyment for those who have attended.  It is such a great way for everyone to share their railroading experiences.  The feedback so far has focused on Ohio and Maine.  We would still like to hear from more of the members for the location of the convention.  We are considering the late July or the early August as the timeframe.

Rev. Charles Ashmen, Camp Haluwasa, is interested in acquiring 1400 track feet of 12-16 pound rail for an extension at the camp.  If anyone can assist please contact him:

Box 138B
377 Ehrke Road
Hammonton, NJ  08037-9540

(B&W R.R. September 19, 2004)

The Two Footers
534 Armory Road
St. Marys, PA  15857

tpbauer@alltel.net
or
tom@thetwofooters.com

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