Milwaukee Road Switcher

[Chet]

Here is a very old rebuild. I guess that it was Done 20 or so years ago. It started off as an undecorated Athearn locomotive. The cast in front grill was cut out and replaced with louvers and a mesh grill. The Milwaukee Road spark arrestors and wagon wheel antenna, pilot details and other details were added. The motor was replaced with a can motor, and constant & directional lighting was installed. Evan after 20 some years later, this little locomotive is still an exceptionally smooth running unit, as good as or better than new locomotives on the market today. Should have built a few more.

[faraway]

That is a very nice model and very well done
The MU hoses are outstanding. They look much better than the "usual" stuff. Do you remember what parts have been used 20 years ago? They are still top notch.

[Chet]

I really can't remember what the manufacturers were, but I'm sure that they're still available. I used to have a Walthers dealership among others and they did come out of the Walthers catalog. I still have amy parts that I probably won't use, mostly for steam.

[jwb]

If it was 20 years ago, they're almost certainly Detail Associates -- that's all that was around then. It probably helps them that they're tucked into the footboards -- they don't look as good hanging loose. I certainly agree that it's an outstanding job.

[Chet]

They probably were Detail Associates. I still have drawers full of their parts. They're probably the same parts that are available today. They are still extremely well detailed.

[nachoman]

Excellent work.

[faraway]

They probably were Detail Associates. I still have drawers full of their parts. They're probably the same parts that are available today. They are still extremely well detailed.

That is the reason why I am asking. I have a bunch of Detail Parts MU hoses (e.g. MU-294) too but they look much less good than yours on the model. Yours look like pipes coming out of the front with a 90° angle downward and have a hose attached. Mine have a lot of flesh too and look not as crisp as yours. I did therefor switch to Atlas spare parts but they are also no match to yours.

[jwb]

Yeah, I think the difference is that they're tucked in, so that the straight angle bend effect goes away. The weathering probably helps, too. Says a lot about Chet's work!

EDIT: OK, the Details West MU hoses are the 294 <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/235-294">http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/235-294</a><!-- m --> The Detail Associates are 229-1508 <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/229-1508">http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/229-1508</a><!-- m --> The similar names have been a source of confusion for 40 years.

[Chet]

Now I am going to have to go through my parts drawers. I still have a lot of packages left. They seem to have the fittings cast in that I gave a brass tone to. The old eyes aren't as good as they used to be, need my magnifiers now to do work like this.

[Chet]

Yeah, I think the difference is that they're tucked in, so that the straight angle bend effect goes away. The weathering probably helps, too. Says a lot about Chet's work!

EDIT: OK, the Details West MU hoses are the 294 <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/235-294">http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/235-294</a><!-- m --> The Detail Associates are 229-1508 <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/229-1508">http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/229-1508</a><!-- m --> The similar names have been a source of confusion for 40 years.

I grew up with the Milwaukee Road and with the exception of the Hiawatha, I didn't see many clean Milwaukee Road locomotives, especially the box cabs. I try to weather everything to some extent.

[Chet]

The MU hoses are Detail Associates parts.

[faraway]

The MU hoses are Detail Associates parts.

Yes, that explains why they are so much better than mine. Thanks

[iis612]

Is that an SW or NW series? Either way, it's an awesome build

Matt

[Chet]

This was done years ago, but I believe Athearn called it an SW unit. It can be hard to tell the difference.

[doctorwayne]

Very nice work, Chet.

Is that an SW or NW series? Either way, it's an awesome build

Matt

Matt, the early NWs had a stepped sloped hood in front of the cab, but the later production models had the same simple slope of the subsequent SW models.

Athearn originally marketed that locomotive as an SW1500, but it was actually a pretty decent rendition of an SW7. Here's one converted to an NW2, with the stepped slope on the hood. It has a very large Sagami can motor installed (the inside of the hood was made wider using a mill file), Ernst gearing, and a full cab interior:



I also made four of them into stand-ins for the SW1200RS, a very commonly-used locomotive in Canada. The main change was replacing the old-style metal-sideframed switcher trucks with Flexicoils. I left the small fuel tanks as-is and added a few details. All got Mashima flat can motors, and a fair amount of extra weight. They were good pullers and great runners, and I often doubleheaded them with my steam locos, too:




Wayne