Model Train Journal

Hello Keepers of the Door Stops
I do not think Mel would appreciate the term "Door Stop" to describe his beautiful master building of engines.
Thornburgh advertised custom building of engines in the early 40's , unknown who long he was active for but his models were shown next to Lenoir as a contemporary .... so he was in very good company .
At York (again) my brother in law ( so it's in the family ) picked up this beautiful engine .. No markings that I have yet to find. Incredible detail down to working Stevenson valve gear.
At one time sported outside 3rd rail ( not actually prototypical for Civil War era steam engines).
Old photos found in Model Railroader and a 1941 book of Mel's work. I flipped through Leniors' book .. But no match ... Both Lenoir and Thornburgh seemed to enjoy populating the cabs of the engines ... Which is far more believable in a steam engine than automatic train control

So please take a look at the photos and weigh on as to who may have built this lovely engine .
Cheers Carey

His series on building an HO 4-4-0 started in the December 1952 issue of Model Railroader and was a 5 part series.
From what I have read, it's a good start to understanding what he did, as the construction is the same...or close enough given the half size.

Lots of hobbyists have built their own. I always try to remember to put a note inside.

The late John Dill would go nuts trying to tag a medium quality scratchbuilt as a Lenoir, Icken, or Alexander, when it was obvious we were looking at a one-off by a home builder.

This one looks like a good builder made it, including those gorgeous drivers. Look inside for a note.

Beautiful locos.
I think Thornburgh also did a series for Model Railroader building a PRR K4 in HO.
MR made a big deal of this because Thornburgh did O scale and usually B&O.
For that article he did not use any power tools Made brass turnings using a hand
drill mounted in a vise. This may have been his usual way. MR had many photos
of his work.

Some of the old MR's have Mel's stuff. Later one has a "Looking Back" section by former editor John Page (?), where he visits Mel, asks about making all the parts...asks him to make something...Mel asks "what?"
John says "Pop Valve". So Mel clamps an old electric drill in a vise, chucks up a chunk of brass rod, locks the drill motor on, picks up a file and makes a pop valve.
I still use a drill motor (or now a Dremel), and jeweler's files, to make parts I need.

Hello O scalers ....

I'll see if taking the engine for a peak inside will shed any info...
Here is a photo of Mel in the cab is something a bit bigger than O scale .

The one photo above of the 3 engines coming at you really shows the "wide" gauge -ness of 1 1/4", compared with the early little engines at proper 1/4" scale .
Here's Mel

Which side of 40 is the sunny side?

bob turner wrote:Which side of 40 is the sunny side?

Bob,
At my age, 83, any side of forty looks pretty sunny.

Carey Williams wrote:The one photo above of the 3 engines coming at you really shows the "wide" gauge -ness of 1 1/4", compared with the early little engines at proper 1/4" scale .

It looks like @ code 190 English bullhead rail.

Carey Williams wrote:Hello O scalers ....

The one photo above of the 3 engines coming at you really shows the "wide" gauge -ness of 1 1/4", compared with the early little engines at proper 1/4" scale .

I think that point could be debated. Look at the rail in those pics.....looks huge to me....I wonder what code it is? Look at the profile of those wheels and those flanges.....How many slices do you want your pizza cut into? It is my opinion, that you can distort the look of one dimension with other elements in a picture.

Rich

Keep in mind that the real early equipment was quite small, and that the gauge might well have been inches less than the carbody width. And, a lot of early track was indeed five foot gauge.

Hey as long as those engines were operating south of the Ohio river they would be mostly on 5 foot gauge anyway. At least before that was converted to standard gauge in the 1870s or 80s'?

Hello all...I was able to identify the early American engine ..flipping through Model Railroader October 1955 ...there is was "Red Bird" by James E Cromwell ..of Mass ..an HO 'er moving up in the world .

Cheers Carey

Hello Keepers of the Door Stops
I do not think Mel would appreciate the term "Door Stop" to describe his beautiful master building of engines.

Actually “Door Stop” is a light hearted term of endearment here. I actually don’t recall who coined the term. I’m guilty of referring to vintage Lionel and Ives as “zinc ashtrays”, though.
What’s not appreciated here is the word HO.