I model the Milwaukee Road in Iowa in the early 80’s. Mostly grain trains and local freights. If you model the MILW let me know about your modeling.
Thanks
Todd,
I model the Milwaukee lines around SW Wisconsin(and a little C&NW as well). The time era is in the late 50’s. I have a L Shaped 20’ by 25’ layout(HO) in the basement. I did a lot of ‘train chasing’ in the late 60’s/early 70’s on Southern Minnesota branch lines.
Jim Bernier
I model the Milwaukee Road from 1979-1985 as if the Milwaukee was well off money wise and rebuilt their Iowa Division mainline with 132 lb. rail.I model from Perry,Iowa to Savanna,Illinois,in N Scale.I currently haven’t started a layout yet,looking at going to an U shaped layout 12’x12’ with 20’ radius for the mainline.I’m still working out the track plan but it will be single track.I will use 3 Atlas MP15DC’s and redo them as MP15AC’s,and 3 SD40-2’s from Kato with the fuel tanks shortened,Bay window cabooses will be from Con Cor or Model Power unless I can find some Walthers.I will have about 70 freight cars on the layout with 3 cabooses. Steve Church Milwaukee Road Iowa Division
I model the KCS (HO Scale) in Kansas City, 1981. The KCS and MILW share a yard (Knoche Yard) in Kansas City. KCS trains enter the layout from staging also which represents the KCS system from the south. Eventually I will model more of the KCS main line out of KC. The MILW trains enter the layout from a staging yard which represents the MILW line from Kansas City to Ottamua IA. I model the joint KCS/MILW operations in KC. Both roads switch cars in Knoche Yard and deliver to industries in the KC area.
I only have one MILW locomotive, a (PK2) GP9 and need to pick up some additional MILW locomotives, probably SD40-2 and GP40. I am having difficult finding MILW rolling stock appropriate for this era.
JIM
Athearn has MP15ACs out now. Very nice. Much easier than hacking up an Atlas. Billboard scheme SD40-2s have also been announced, with 3200 gallon fuel tanks. Atlas ran GP40s in the early scheme, without billboard lettering, about a year ago. Might still be able to find these.
Walthers makes nice bay window cabooses, rib-side and International. Atlas made a wide-vision a while ago, hard to find. Not quite accurate, but much better than Athearn. MILW only had 2 wide-vision cabooses, anyways.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MILWmodelers/ for more than you ever needed to know about the MILW.
I do not particularly model the MILWAUKEE, I just try to purchase steam engines I like, and therefore I have very nice brass models of the as built F-7 4-6-4 (model by PSC) and the as built A 4-4-2 (model by OMI) - the F-7 factory painted, the A SUPER pro painted. I am still looking to get proper HIAWATHA consists for these, but in my eyes the 4-8-4s and F-6 4-6-4s are VERY nice looking engines, too, and someday I hope that I get models of these, too. Someday.
I model the Northern Pacific, however I recently was captivated by a visit to Montana. There was a small town that the NP and Milwaukee interchanged traffic called Lombard. Really neat place to visit even to this day. Its a ghost town now but the scenery is like nothing seen before. I believe the Milwaukee ran electric and steam here, while the NP used all sorts of modern steam locomotives. The picture below is not the best but shows lots of RR action in a small space. the best view is actually sitting on the bridge…which still mostly intact…
The Milwaukee was pretty much my favorite RR growing up in the '70s… my dad’s family lived in N. Central South Dakota, right along side the mainline at MP 764 (from CUS). I remember orange and black diesels working the house (elevator) track in town, and SD40-2s on the Big Stone and Columbia coal trains. The MILW was in decline then - BN took over the main in '82 - but I have fond memories of The Road to this day. Long car trips “back home” allowed me to follow the Milwaukee Road west from Chicago each year.
That being the case, I have a pair of Proto 2000 MILW GP38-2s (350, 352) and a second pair of SD45s (4000, 4002), along with a CNW SD45 for pool service. Three of the Walthers International Bay Windows plus one Atlas PC&F wide-vision car make up my modest caboose fleet. I also have a few Proto E8s in the UP-inspired passenger paint that need minor relettering (remove the RI heralds and numbers and decal for MILW) but will likely wait until Walthers releases their Hiawatha cars in yellow and gray.
I’d like to get a few more diesels in MILW; perhaps Walthers’ new FM switcher for the yard when they’re available in the later simplified orange and black scheme. I’m not shooting for a large layout at this time - a modest yard in a medium-sized town, perhaps with a foreign interchange (either CNW, SOO or BN) and some industrial trackage to switch, all fed by staging. I’ve been pouring over MRHA back issues, MILW books and maps searching for a good prototype location with no luck so far. I’m leaning towards a proto-freelanced location - what Iain Rice calls “factional” - combining features of several actual MILW locations.
Will Ironton, Mich. on the 1:87 MILW Superior Division ever get built? Maybe, but in the interim I’m having a lot of fun dreaming, scheming and drawing plans like any good armchair modeler. [;)]
D.M. Mitzel, Div 8-NCR-NMRA, Oxford, Mich. USA
I am still trying to build my Milwaukee Road freight and locomotive fleet. I purchased a 1978 MILW (ILL-IA Division) Timetable at a train show. The line into Kansas city from Ottumwa is the 20th Subdivision, but the time table is blank; no scheduled trains.
Can anyone give me an idea of how may freights the MILW ran in and out of Kansas City in a one week time period? I have photos of MILW rolling stock and locomotives in Kansas City, but no information on the frequency of trains.
JIM