Expanded obituary for Barry Hauge

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Harlock
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Expanded obituary for Barry Hauge

Post by Harlock »

Master Design Engineer Barry Hauge Leaves Legacy
By Diana Manchester with Jim Kreider, Hal Hoadley and Karl Hovanitz

A “perfectionist”, “genius”, “master craftsman”, “hobby pioneer”, “inspiration”, and “friend” are just a few of the many descriptions expressed by those who knew SuperScale’s proprietor and master engineer, Barry Hauge.

Although a resident of Grover Beach, CA for the past 20+ years, Barry’s roots were in southern California. Jim Kreider, a longtime member of LALSRM, reminisces about Barry’s pre-SuperScale days: “I first got to know Barry sometime in the early 70’s when he was developing and testing his safety valves. We used to gather in Sun Valley at Truson Buegel’s garage where Truson was working on Tom Miller’s first locomotive, a Little Engines Pacific, along with a set of Railroad Supply passenger cars. Barry was there, prototype-testing his safety valves with a small boiler borrowed from Charlie Dockstader. Barry was a perfectionist (the word ‘genius’ comes to mind). The safety valves had to consistently open and close with a sharp pop. Nothing short of that was acceptable and the design and machining had to work for every valve, not just some. In addition, the valves had to be a perfect scale model of a Consolidated 3-1/2” safety valve. ‘How nice,’ I thought, ‘just what this future Berkshire model needed.’“

Barry earned his mechanical engineering degree from USC. He initially worked for places like Bethlehem Steel, before founding his own company, SuperScale in 1975. LALSRM member and friend Hal Hoadley recalls the early days when Barry was involved at Railroad Supply: “Barry’s engineering drawings became legendary. It was while developing a lost wax water glass for the hobby when past LALS president Chester Peterson stated ‘you super scale guys are driving me crazy!’ that led to Barry naming his business ‘SuperScale Locomotive Works’. That water glass was the first commercial use of the lost wax process for making fine scale parts for the hobby, and is still in his catalog.”

Barry designed and pioneered many highly-detailed scale parts for the live steam hobby.

Hal notes, “Barry was an early adopter of CNC equipment for the production of scale parts. Those same machines were in use right up to his passing. His development of a good “economy” injector to replace the temperamental ones from England led to them becoming the standard of the hobby.” He applied this process to the development of couplers and airbrake components, which also became widely used.

“When Barry started making his parts in the mid ‘70’s there were no professionally-produced parts. Parts were made by live steam machinists in their home shops,” shared Karl Hovanitz of Bitter Creek Western Railroad. “Barry made parts that were utterly reliable. He made our steam engines run. He was our savior.”

Hal described Barry’s recent goals, “Barry demonstrated for several years a working triple valve, and while never put into production, it is a fine example of his incredible machinist skills. Always the pioneer, at his passing Barry was investigating the use of 3D printing for making molds, thus allowing even finer details, often where they could not be seen.”

Barry was active in his business right up to the time of his death, during a surgery to repair his heart following a massive heart attack. Live steam friends commented on social media that they had spoken to him just days before his passing. He was known for being easy to get along with, and willing to converse at length with modelers about any technical issues they were experiencing. He will be sorely missed by the live steam community who expressed shock and sadness at his untimely demise at age 74.

“I first met Barry as a kid hanging around LALS and having the great fortune to be able to simply listen and observe guys like Barry, Doug Alkire, Gene Allen, Glen Anderson, Jerry Brown, and others who were quick with a good story and even better advice. For a kid like me who found great role models and willing mentors, it filled a huge gap ... [Barry was] always an inspiration.” –Larry Fisher, Fisher Detail Foundry
“Barry will be missed. He was a true artist working in metal.”– John Friend

"I called him a few years back and we talked for quite a while about almost everything. Super friendly and nice guy. What a great man and amazing manufacturer. He made a lot of things happen for us live steamers.” – Charlie Giordano

“Yesterday our hobby suffered the loss of a master craftsman and extremely talented machinist. Someone who truly set the bar for accuracy, detail, and performance.” – Anthony Ruiz Duarte

“His contributions to the hobby cannot be overstated, and he will be greatly missed.” – Mike Massee

Karl Hovanitz confirmed that plans are in the works for a railroaders’ memorial at the February President's Day Meet at Bitter Creek Western Railroad in Arroyo Grande. A family memorial will probably not happen until summer 2017. As for the future of SuperScale, please be patient and updates will be given as the situation is sorted out in the coming months.
Attachments
Barry next to a locomotive this past August at Bitter Creek.
Barry next to a locomotive this past August at Bitter Creek.
Live Steam Photography and more - gallery.mikemassee.com
Product Development and E-Commerce, Allen Models of Nevada
JKreider
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Re: Expanded obituary for Barry Hauge

Post by JKreider »

Barry first Nathan Simplex injector was made with a fabricated body and went on Charlie Dockstader’s under construction 4-10-0 for testing. It worked every time.
Here’s a ‘70’s shot of Barry on the left with Truson Buegel and Charlie testing that first Nathan Simplex early one Sunday morning at LALS.
I got one of the first production run Simplex injectors which I installed on my newly rebuilt Little Engines Atlantic which was initially built by Buzz Sutch. The injector always worked flawlessly.
We went on many trips and meets together. He was always a pleasure to be with.
Well Barry there are a lot of people out there who are going to miss you because we all enjoyed your company.
Jim Kreider
Barry1.jpg
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Tom Miller
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Re: Expanded obituary for Barry Hauge

Post by Tom Miller »

I could not agree more with Jim. Barry was a wonderful person and good friend of mine for over 40 years. I will miss him a lot as will the entire live steam community.
Here is a picture of Barry with some of his oldest and dearest friends. From left to right are Lou Soibelman with his back to the camera, Jack Corrick, Jim Kreider, myself, Barry and Charlie Dockstader sitting at his boiler Barry used to test his safety's. Lou, Charlie and Barry are together again smiling down on us while we are left to carry on without them. The occasion is the testing of the Westinghouse air compressors that will end up mounted on my Big Boy. The location is Jim Krieider's back yard on a sunny Saturday afternoon around 1980. I suspect Truson Buegel may have taken the picture.
Tom Miller
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Re: Expanded obituary for Barry Hauge

Post by Asteamhead »

Nothing but my highest respect to Barry as an outstanding model engineer! There was now chance to meet him personally, which I regret deeply. Those injectors of his production are outstanding - no other things ever worked like his. Thus a Nathan will feed reliably my A 1239 still under construction, thank you so much, Barry! You did great things to our hobby!

Asteamhead from (far away) Germany
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LivingLegend
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Re: Expanded obituary for Barry Hauge

Post by LivingLegend »

Tom Miller wrote:Here is a picture of Barry with some of his oldest and dearest friends. From left to right are Lou Soibelman with his back to the camera, Jack Corrick, Jim Kreider, myself, Barry and Charlie Dockstader sitting at his boiler Barry used to test his safety's. Lou, Charlie and Barry are together again smiling down on us while we are left to carry on without them. The occasion is the testing of the Westinghouse air compressors that will end up mounted on my Big Boy. The location is Jim Krieider's back yard on a sunny Saturday afternoon around 1980. I suspect Truson Buegel may have taken the picture.
Tom.... I believe Truson did take that photo.

Not shown in the photo, but also there that day are Dick Bagley, Bill McKelvey, and myself. Dick is another one of our friends who's no longer with us.

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