FM "B" drop equalizer truck plans or drawings?

[PRR5406]

I am working with a professional who is interested in obtaining plans for the Fairbanks Morse "B" truck, which was found under C-Liners and H16-44 road Diesels. He is going to draw them up as 3D print data, scaleable too. FM units are rare in the large scale railroading, and this would be a huge step forward to seeing some memorable model locomotives. Email me at richard.glueck@gmail.com if you have drawings/blueprints for these trucks.
I have downloaded drawings of FM locomotives with the trucks under them, but it's the truck drawing I really need.

[Mark Landgraf]

Hi

Well I can give you a few leads.....

Lake States Railway Historical Association, Baraboo WI - 608-356-5555 - open M-F 9-noon -
internet searchable database of cataloged collections - lsrha.org
CNW 12,024 drawings, 800 photos, 83 maps
CRI&P 8486 drawings, 1 photo
Fairbanks Morse - Locomotives - mostly uncatalogued - estimated at 100,000 plus drawings
Fairbanks Morse - Sheffield Motor Cars - cataloged - 26,000 drawings
Milwaukee Road - mostly uncatalogued
Soo Line - mostly uncatalogued
CB&Q - mostly uncatalogued
Illinois Central Steam locos - Bruce Meyer collection and another collection
Copper Range
Unfortunately you may need to visit Baraboo for a week or two to find what you want. It's my understanding that it is a HUGE collection. One positive, it's housed in a nice new building.

California State Railroad Museum has the FM drawings from locos purchased by ATSF
also has a searchable database at: https://csrm.andornot.com/

B&O Museum - Baltimore MD - some drawings for H-12-44 switcher that was owned by B&O

A lot of these FM locos went to Canadian rrs. You might also try

Library & Archives of Canada in Ottawa Ontario
The Merrilees Transportation Collection contains about 5 000 publications of several types including books, trade literature, technical manuals, timetables, broadsides, periodicals and pamphlets. While the collection consists primarily of publications concerned with railways and shipping, a wide range of other subjects is also represented. Included are works dealing with agricultural, logging and mining technology; iron and steel industries and their products; early automobiles; bicycles; fire engines and saw mill machinery. Travel and tourism are also a significant component and there are many miscellaneous items. Publication dates range from about 1840 to about 1970. Canadian companies are well represented, as well as a large number of American and other foreign organizations and individuals. The Collection was originally part of the much larger Merrilees Collection, which was donated to the National Archives of Canada by the estate of Andrew A. Merrilees in 1983. The Merrilees Transportation Collection was transferred to the National Library in 1995.

Canadian Rlwy Museum - Exporail - Delson PQ
Exporail.org there is a searchable database
The Canadian Railway Museum
Delson, Quebec
Josèe Vallerand, Archivist
josee.vallerand@exporail.org
450-638-1522 ext 237
They have a large collection of locomotives on the property. You might get lucky and find one.
The archives of CN (PA029) and CP (PA030) ended up here. The collection definitely favors MLW (PA001).
They don't have anything indexed for FM but it might be found in the CN or CP collections. Josèe is knowledgeable and helpful.

Archives Canada - Ottawa Ontario

I have no idea of what locos may have been preserved, or where they might be hiding.
There is book entitled The Railfan's Guide to Museums and Parks by Randolph Kean, published by Harold Cox in 1973. Sold by Nat'l Capital Historical Museum of Transportation, PO Box 5795, Bethesda MD 20014. It's 251 pages long. It's organized by US and Canadian locations, then by city, and then by museum, and the equipment in their collection.

If you find these drawings, I'd be interested in a set too.

Mark Landgraf
mark_landgraf at yahoo dot com

[PRR5406]

Mark: That's good lot to check out, and I will get on knocking it down. I checked out ExpoRail Canada and they don't have it in their digital archive, but would research the paper files at a cost of $40/hour. I've contacted FM in Baraboo, but they pointed me toward an independent archivist. I will contact the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa sometime this morning. Here we go on a chase!
Hey, thanks!

[Mark Landgraf]

According to Wikipedia there is a preserved H16-44 somewhere in Canada, and a couple more in Central America. I thumbed thru the Canadian Museums in the guide but didn't see it.

Who was the FM archivist in Baraboo?

Mark

[PRR5406]

mark: Apparently he's a private individual who has connections with FM. He has directed me to the collection at Mid-Continent Rwy. Museum and explained that's where FM's blueprint collection went after yet another collector and archivist passed away. I feel like I'm chasing my tail. There is an H16-44 preserved in Nelson, B.C., but I don't know if it's indoors or out. There is an operable C-Liner there as well. I've got pictures of the preserved C-Liner in Ottawa, but that is another set of tail chases. Most recently, a friend scanned me a page from the Model Railroader Diesel Cyclopedia. While those a clear, they don't include the specific data required. Ugh.

[Mark Landgraf]

Hi,

Research isn't always that easy. It take time and patience. Some times one lead doesn't have anything, but they are able to point you toward an answer. Also realize that you are searching for the equivalent of Edsel drawings. You may be one of the few people that has so far expressed an interest. If any of these collection sites can provide you with with a organization list of how the drawings are numbered, that would be helpful. The system that was used by Alco, Baldwin and Lima used a numbering system wher drawings of a given family all started with the same number, ie. Axles were 11, Truck Journal Boxes were 17, Brake Equipment was 19, Brake Details were 20, Engine Trucks were 40, Engine Truck Details were 41, and Wheel are 95. When encountering a huge collection, knowing what numbers to look for is a big time saver.

A little bit more web research found that:
CPR 4104 in Nelson is owned by John Burbridge of Ottawa Ontario
In Nelson, Tom Thompson is/was the Executive Director of Nelson and the District Chamber of Commerce
CPR 4065, also a CPA-16-4, is in Ottawa at the Canada Museum of Science & Technology. At least that's closer than Nelson BC.
Google Earth failed to show anything that looked like a gon and two locos near the station or the former shops location.
I have no info on the archive holdings at Mid-Continent.

When the whole health thing improves, I see some traveling in your future.

Where was the loco truck photographed that you have in your first posting on this topic?

Mark

[PRR5406]

That truck was in Ottawa, prior to construction of the new museum building. The collection is amazing by the way, and steam lovers should make it a stopping point. The C liner you spoke of is deteriorated, but intact and will be put inside the new building along with the rest of the collection.

[Adirondack]

https://csrm.andornot.com/en/permalink/techdrawing60735

[PRR5406]

ADK, the truck which you made reference to is a standard "B" truck used on yard switchers, not the road unit truck. Thank you for that lead, but unfortunately, it didn't quite hit the bullseye.
Anyone know if CLC's drawings wound up at Exporail?