Model Train Journal

......and something I’ve never seen before. It appears a little shorter than the original. Thoughts?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224039185201

Peter

TrainZ just sold an identical one, so it's not a one-off.

Kidder.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:Kidder.

As in "Ken Kidder", west coast guy, mainly traction as I recall, from waaaay back, maybe 50 or 60 years. Never have seen one up close and personal, but they always appeared to be a bit shorter and wider than the ones from PSC.

E7 wrote:

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:Kidder.

As in "Ken Kidder", west coast guy, mainly traction as I recall, from waaaay back, maybe 50 or 60 years. Never have seen one up close and personal, but they always appeared to be a bit shorter and wider than the ones from PSC.

There was a full scale version from Kidder, actually in O, S, and HO. O version of the full scale version had a functional clutch in the drive. I've seen just 1. Thought the price was pushing ridiculous then and maybe it still is, but I still regret not buying it. Somewhere I have/had a scanned in advert for it that was in RMC.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:There was a full scale version from Kidder, actually in O, S, and HO. O version of the full scale version had a functional clutch in the drive. I've seen just 1. Thought the price was pushing ridiculous then and maybe it still is, but I still regret not buying it. Somewhere I have/had a scanned in advert for it that was in RMC.

I've seen at least one O on Fleabay. Quite a few years back. It was painted yellow and sold for (as I recall) $700. Looked to be in pretty decent condition, but I wasn't bidding so I really didn't give it the hairy eyeball.

RMC is where I saw all my Kidder ads, but I don't remember any for a McKeen, but my purchase of mags was hit or miss. Hard to forget that name! (KK)

They look like something out of a Jules Verne novel, though I think the prototypes actually were built in various lengths and had a variety of window arrangements, not all portholes either, at least based on their photo histories.
Very cool model short or not.

De Bruin wrote:They look like something out of a Jules Verne novel, though I think the prototypes actually were built in various lengths and had a variety of window arrangements, not all portholes either, at least based on their photo histories.
Very cool model short or not.

There are several models and variations. McKeen also built freight cars and those are just as odd and unique - https://mckeencar.com/

There is a restored McKeen car at the Nevada State Railway Museum, Carson City

https://www.carsonrailroadmuseum.org/ex ... ilroad-27/

It sold for $750.00; somewhat more than I expected it to.

J. S. Bach wrote:It sold for $750.00; somewhat more than I expected it to.

Indeed. Someone or 3 might have been thinking it was a PSC version?

There was one in Tucson for a while. It carried miners to and from the mines.



I didn't see it in the Western trips article but to start the thing three cylinders were set up as a compressed air motor and air pressure supplied. When the other three lit off, the first three were converted back to gasoline.

From: https://westerntrips.blogspot.com/2011/04/

At the turn of the century the Union Pacific began adding shorter less profitable spur lines to their routes and were searching for an economical way to operate. This is when E.H. Harriman, Director of the Union Pacific Railroad, asked William McKeen his Superintendent of Motive Power and Machinery to find a way to lower passenger traffic expenses on the shorter routes.

There was no reverse gear. To run the car backwards (rail cars sometimes must) you had to shut down the engine and manually reverse the cam shaft.

Madison Kirkman is restoring the Cuyamaca: McKeen Motor Car Company Historical Society

Chris Webster wrote:Madison Kirkman is restoring the Cuyamaca: McKeen Motor Car Company Historical Society

Yes, he used to post quite a lot over on OGR about this but seems to have been silent for a long time now. Quite the challenge.

Look on page 25, 26,27 of the July/August 2020 issue of O Scale Trains. Two photos of Gunther Holzgang's McKeen railmotor.