Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Discuss park gauge trains and large scale miniature railways having track gauges from 8" to 24" gauge and designed at scales of 2" to the foot or greater - whether modeled for personal use, or purpose built for amusement park operation or private railroading.

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davidqueener
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by davidqueener »

WF&P wheelsets use 8" cast iron wheels and steel axles, whose stubby ends are designed to mate with the peculiar WF&P side frames which almost lack journal boxes, but instead employ a pocket and cover for ball bearings.
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St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 216 - Crop.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 214 - Crop.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 217 - Crop.jpg
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davidqueener
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by davidqueener »

And finally, WF&P couplers are cast bronze, and compared to an prototypical AAR Type E, are amazingly simple on the interior of the coupler body casting:
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St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 283.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 282.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 281.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 280.jpg
Pastor, St. Paul Presbyterian Church
www.StPaulPres.com (865) 209-5654

Owner, Cumberland Model Engineering
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davidqueener
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by davidqueener »

Track on the WF&P is built from 12 lbs. rail. One of the interesting bits is how the WF&P uses its own #6, #8 and #10 cast steel frogs. Guard rails are not cast but formed from other bits of rail. Points are milled from rail. There are no tie plates, but plenty of fish plates made specically to fit the 12 lbs rail profile.
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St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 384.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 385.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 390.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 381.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 382.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 388.jpg
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by 0351 »

Thanks for posting your photos! This RR is not to far from me but I haven’t made it up there yet.
Did you happen to get a look at the brake setup used on the trucks?
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davidqueener
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by davidqueener »

Sadly, no. That should have been on my list. I do not think every WF&P riding car is braked, but the "crew cars"--flats at the front and end of each passenger consist, do appear to be braked. One can just make out the brake rigging in some of the pics, and on some of the locomotive tenders. Here are the archbar tender trucks on #180. You can just make out the little inboard brake shoes.
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St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 375 - Crop.jpg
Pastor, St. Paul Presbyterian Church
www.StPaulPres.com (865) 209-5654

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davidqueener
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by davidqueener »

Likewise on this MOW flat:
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St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 320 - Crop.jpg
St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 322 - Crop.jpg
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by 0351 »

Interesting, I would have figured each riding car would have been braked.
Regarding the turnouts, any ideas of the gap width at the frogs and guardrails? I have a couple of 12lb frogs that I’m planning to use on my future 12” for my RR. However after some checking I think the gap is to big for my 8.25” wheels. Gonna have to disassemble and tighten up the tolerance. By the way those WF&P frogs look great!
Last edited by 0351 on Wed Jul 13, 2022 8:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
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Mike Walsh
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by Mike Walsh »

Dave! I completely bombed and forgot to get down to Glencoe and finally meet after all these years. Bummer.

Hope you can make it up again soon. Would like to talk shop, for sure!

Lots of detail shared in this post. I have volunteered with the WF&P for 20 years.

The cool thing about that 2-bay is that it was built by a rolling stock manufacturer (1:1) and they gave the hopper to us, but would borrow it whenever they had a trade show to attend.

Definitely hit me up next time you're in town.
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davidqueener
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by davidqueener »

Hi Mike,

I'm so sorry I missed you as well. My son Jonathan and I had a great visit out there. Jonathan even got to do a bit of hostling on the 928. It was his first time to put his hand on a throttle! This absolutely made his day . . . and mine as well :)
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St. Louis Trip (July 2022) 339.jpg
Pastor, St. Paul Presbyterian Church
www.StPaulPres.com (865) 209-5654

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NP317
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by NP317 »

Wow!
Thanks for sharing.
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Andrew Pugh
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by Andrew Pugh »

That style of retaining the bearings can’t be good for bearing life, but it may not reduce it enough to matter. Neat to see some of the big stuff!

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Mike Walsh
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Re: Visiting the WF&P in St. Louis

Post by Mike Walsh »

The archbar equipment rarely sees service... MOW service or special event runs only.
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