Ray Waller engines

[hibar]

There is a sale going on now on a large o scale collection and layout in Texas. a number of custom built by Ray Waller SP locos are included, I have seen this name before in SP loco articles , anybody have more info on Ray, number of locos built, quality of work etc. I have seen Jerry White, Bill Lenoir and Fred Ickens work. Thanks in advance.
Hibar

[bob turner]

I am not a Ray Waller expert. He may have had a hand in the postwar Lobaugh Mike and switcher. You can see his castings in the Stevenson Preservation catalog.

I have always thought that Howard Hansen's Mike was a Ray Waller - it is exquisite. See my post in the SP Mike thread. But these do not appear to be the same high quality.

I use his castings all the time - Bob Stevenson supplies most of them. Domes. Pilots, trailing trucks . . .

[E7]

From what Bob T. says, you might want to ask Bob Stevenson. Maybe check old "O Scale News" if you have access to them.

[R.K. Maroon]

As I understand it, Ray Waller worked at Lobaugh for a while and then started custom-building locomotives. Some of these were builds of Lobaugh models (or at least used a lot of Lobaugh parts) but others were models of locomotives not offered by Lobaugh. I know that Wallers were highly regarded "back in the day", which I am guessing spanned a period of the late 1950s into the 1970s and perhaps even later. My understanding is that Waller built his own drives and weighted his engines, both characteristics of Jerry White, who I guess was more-or-less a contemporary.

This Mikado has a Waller tidbit:



It's basically an All Nation Pacific boiler atop of a Hines chassis. It arrived lettered for SP (kinda). As far as I know, SP never had a Mikado that looked like this, but some of the details seem SP-like. I show this because the solid pilot has "Waller" cast into the backside, which tells us that Waller would, if needed, have castings made for parts. I wonder what locomotive had a solid pilot that prompted Waller to warrant a custom casting? I'm a betting it was not this hybrid 2-8-2.

I haven't talked to Bob Stevenson in several months. I will try to give him a buzz to see what he knows, unless somebody beats me to it.

Jim

[bob turner]

This is from page 4 of my SP Steam 2020 thread:



We believe it is a Ray Waller creation, but have no proof. It is possible that John Fisher could fill in the blanks - I believe he painted it. It went to Frank Bay in Oakland, then to Howard Hansen. It is the best O Scale model I have laid eyes on. I have had PSC and Gerry White efforts in my shop, and this one exceeds those. Frank offered it to me for $500; I bet it is worth two grand today.

I am really happy with my own creations, so do not need exotica done by others around here.

Maroon's Mike above does have a charm. Before giving up on prototype, check out the heavy Mikes owned by EP&SW, and later SP. I think they are in the 3100 class, and are really different from the typical Harriman design. I'll look this evening; I have lots of photos.

[bob turner]

Yes. EPSW had larger Mikes that looked a lot like Maroon’s above. The closest I found was #3305. The All Nation boiler is a match, the cab is close, and the tender is generally the same. The sand dome would need to be changed, but that is true in some respect for all AN Pacific boiler castings.

[Carey Williams]

Hello all Ray Waller was running ads in MR late 1946 -47 under name of F Biondi of Redwood City , CA.

Ray past away in 1975 ...mentioned in tribute by Jerry White found in 48 foot #24 ...at this time his surviving wife lived in Oregon.

Ray worked with and supplied castings for Jerry .
Ray built models for the Smithsonian ... ( assumed some of the 1/2" scale models that were on display at the Smithsonian..now at the B&O museum Baltimore.....only one of two of the models have any maker ID found on them ...them my last viewing of the collection last year ) .

If any one has a photo of the Ray Waller '"drive" I would be grateful to see it thank you

Cheers Carey

[Retroniac1]

This was David Ray’s estate in Houston. I drove 3 hours to purchase several items. The layout was truly amazing. While there was no scenery, the multilevel set up of the layout was remarkably sophisticated. I wish I had met him before his passing; he seemed like a very interesting person.

The Waller engines were already reserved when I arrived and reputedly sold for $10k. The locomotives were SP: 4-10-2, GS-1, Cab forward 4-8-8-2. There were so many unbuilt kits that it was mind boggling. I managed to get several Lobaugh kits and an almost complete Pacific.