THE TWO FOOTERS                    

 “2003 Convention – The Story”

 (Click on any picture to enlarge) 

Group Photo at the Tweetsie Railroad

What a fantastic convention this was. All who came along were amazed at what they saw. The trip started out at 7:00 a.m. from St. Marys PA with, Mike, Helen, Bill, Peggy, Tom, Fred, and Greg Bauer, Nick DaMore, Don and Vera Freidl, Mary Pat Fleming, Bruce and Chris Forester, Carenia Berasi, Art Martin, getting on board the charter bus. After an hour and a half drive to Bellwood PA, a short stop was made to pick up Todd, Bob, and Don Hunter, Mel and Nancy Goldy, Barry and Shelva Meckley, Bob Bentley, Bill and Son Decker, and start the long drive to Bryson City, NC.  After a fun trip over the Great Smoky Mountains, we arrived at our hotel where Tom and Anna Diehl, Jack Wood, Reg Weller, Reyna Horner, Tom and Gloria Keenan, were already there fast asleep. We had called ahead to say we would be getting there late.

Friday morning we awoke and traveled down to the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. There we boarded our 9:00 train for a 4-½ hour ride up the Nantahala valley. The ride was scenic but the trees and brush had over grown a lot of the railroad.  But it was a great start to the convention and we all became reacquainted and enjoyed the trip.   When we returned to Bryson city there was no time to waste as we had a 3 hour drive to Tweetsie to catch our 5 o’clock train which was the last one for the day. 

Great Smoky Mountain Railroad

It was almost 2 PM until we got the bus on the road and with the other members following, we mad the dash to Tweetsie.  Along the way, we were looking at maps trying to save time. We took one short cut that worked well and thank God the driver missed another turn and went another way or we would not have made the train.  Please don’t ask Reg Weller why he went the right way and did not make the train. Reg was fine with that as he had more time to tour the shop.  Due to us cutting it so close we called ahead and Chris Robbins, the park manager, was kind enough to meet us at the front gate and hop on the bus and take us right to the main gate.  He passed out a book on the Tweetsie to the entire group.  Also at this stop we met up with Matt and Whiley Helton, Jude and Aaron Raffeinner.  

The Tweetsie Railroad, which is three-foot gauge, owns two steam engines. One is #12, a 4-6-0 and is an original from the ET&WNC RR. The other is #190, a 2-8-0 that came from the White Pass and Yukon railroad.  The ride is a three mile loop with a 5 % grade.  The engine worked up the hill and coasted all the way down and back into the station.  Of course, along the way there is the standard Cowboy and Indian attack.  After our ride, Chris allowed us to tour the shops.  They were just putting the finishing touches on a Walt Disney World engine that they had completely rebuilt.  The shop was very well kept and had all the machines and tools for any major rebuilds.  The whole gang tried to get a price on the Disney rebuild but no one would say.  Chris mentioned a nice place for us to eat for supper and even called and made us reservations.  After supper the group loaded up for another trip over the mountain and ended up in Bristol, Va.  Bristol would be our base for the rest of the trip.  In Bristol, we picked up Frank Anderson.  

Tweetsie Railroad

Saturday morning we headed over to Hampton, NC to ride the Doe River Gorge.  Thanks to Mark Milbourne who allowed the group into the railroad.  Mark runs the Christian camp that was built up around the railroad.  I met Mark last year when he stopped at the B&W on his way to Niagara Falls.  We had kept in touch and he offered if we were down that way to stop in.  Mark and crew went out of their way to make our visit memorable.

The railroad is part of the original 3’ ET&WNC RR. The loading platform sits up on the side of a hill with the camp’s pool and box cars for sleeping close by.  The train is made up of an Opryland steam engine and two flat cars with side rails and benches.  As you start out on your ride, you enter one of the two tunnels.  These tunnels are cut through the granite and are just big enough to get the train through.  As you exit on the other side, you are in a whole new world.  It seems as you have left civilization behind and are now in God’s country.  On one side, you have a high rock wall and on the other, the Doe river over one hundred feet below.  The engine now starts up a 2% grade and sitting right by all the action you would seem to have died and went to heaven.  All agreed that the show put on by that little engine was an experience no one will forget.  The run is about two miles. There is about another mile of track in, but not yet ready for excursion service.  Mark had the train back down to the tunnel and left us off for a photo run-by.  What a site and sound as the engine came thundering out of the tunnel, stack barking and smoking perfectly.  Mark then showed us some other good photo spots for some more run-bys. There are a lot of beautiful pictures of the train and gorge out there.  We will print more as space allows.  Mark then informed us it was time to go as they had over 2,000 people coming in that had rented the camp for a picnic.  Mark was busy the rest of the day but informs me all went well and was glad we stopped.

Doe River Gorge

From Doe River we headed over to Stuart Shurtleff’s Hill Climbers Backyard Railroad. This is a neat little 16-inch gauge railroad built on two by fours and conduit -- an easy way to lay track.  Stuart built a great looking steam engine out of a golf cart and pulleys from a ski lift.  The pulleys sandwich a piece of rubber between them for traction.  Stuart, like most of us, is land locked and had to climb a grade of 27% -- that is right 27%.  In order to do this, Stuart had many trials and errors, but has it down now and he proved it as we watched him go up and down the grade.  Some one in the group asked if he was suicidal.  Stuart did tell the story of a wreck, as he was in his experimental phase, of how a chain broke and sent him free wheeling down the hill and into the engine house, which then needed to be rebuilt.  The layout of his track comes up the hill towards his house and then curves to the left to finish the climb to the top where it levels out and he intends to lay track on a flat surface.  If he would lose his brakes coming down from the top and jump at the curve by the house, he would end up in his living room.  Stuart and his wife Lynn then put out a very nice spread of good eats to hold the members over until later that day. 

Backyard Hill-Climber Railroad

From there, the group headed over to Bristol, VA to the Goose Creek railroad. Matt and Whiley had everything neat and in order for our arrival.  I wonder what the neighbors thought as the bus pulled into their driveway.  The Goose Creek over the years has become a well built and maintained railroad.  With over 3,000 feet of track, lots of switches and, of course, the wye.  The new 40’x50’ building now holds the train and their large collection of tractors.  The immaculate station was a site to behold and the artifact would pass as museum quality.  All of their rolling stock was built and maintained by Matt and Whiley and a few of their friends.  After everybody rode and some operated to death their equipment, it was time for a steak supper and lots of railroad talk.  After supper there were more train rides and even our leader talked Whiley into letting him drive a tractor.  The group then reloaded the bus and headed back to the hotel for the final night.  That night some of the group gathered by the pool and talked about what a great convention it was and of course had refreshments.  Sunday came bright and early and the bus pulled out heading north to return everyone home.  More pictures to follow. A thank you goes out to our leader Greg Bauer, Chris Robbins, Mark Milbourne, Stuart Shurtleff, Matt and Whiley Helton, for making the convention a success.

Part 1

Most of us know Great Britain is the birthplace of two-foot gauge railroads—as common carriers, at least. The Festiniog Railway in Wales, which started trundling slate downgrade by gravity to Portmadoc in 1836, is the granddaddy of them all—and is still there today after playing no small role in directly inspiring the Massachusetts and Maine two-footers in the 1870s. I have been there twice, albeit too soon to see other Welsh two-footers that were built after I left—including the Brecton Mountain Railway, which rosters a delightful two-foot gauge 4-6-2 built by Baldwin in 1930. If I ever get back to Wales, my foremost desire is to see and hear the massive two-foot gauge Beyer-Garrett 2-4-0+0-4-2’s hoot and holler up the rebuilt Welsh Highland Railway to Snowden Ranger.

But “Preserved Railways”—as they are called in Britain—were knowingly impossible to visit when I made my last trip to England. It was January 1996, and I was there as the guest of John Parry and his family and employees at Cradley Heath, about 15 miles west of Birmingham. During my visit, I learned a lot about the tall, ingenious inventor and his Parry People Movers, also called Ultra Light Transit vehicles, whose limited capacity (up to 35 passengers) test vehicles rolled on rails 60 centimeters—oh, all right, 24 inches—apart.

The Parry Company was an unusual operation long before developing its new tramcar. It is a leading maker of machinery for manufacturing building materials—roofing tiles, concrete blocks, clay bricks and other products—sold primarily in emerging Third World countries. Starting in 1988, the idea for an exceptionally low cost people mover running on narrow gauge tracks in those developing countries prompted John Parry to design and build his pioneering cars. Before he was very far into the development of the system, he realized it had more immediate applications in Britain and Europe.

It is not the slim track gauge that makes these vehicles so economical and simple to operate, but their propulsion system—a horizontal flywheel mounted under the floor of the car. Flywheel propulsion is not as unusual as many may think. Model railroaders are aware that the smoothest running model locomotives are those with a flywheel that supplements the work of the electric motor, resulting in smoother stops and starts. The application of this principle my John Parry and his people came from a series of earlier experiments and applications—including gyro buses that operated in Belgium, Switzerland and Africa in the 1950s.

Not surprisingly, the friction of rubber tires on pavement and traffic congestion that slowed and halted the spinning flywheels before the gyro buses could reach their next recharging points resulted in the early demise of this mode of transport. I saw two gyro buses—by then out of service—in Switzerland in 1964. They sported stubby twin trolley poles to collect power at intermittent points along their route.

John Parry’s reinvention of gyro transport was almost the ultimate in simplicity. Instead of running on rubber tires, the cars rolled on light railway track—with one-fifth the friction. The flywheel was brought up to its usual 2,000 r.p.m. Speed via a shoe that contacted a short length of third rail located at intervals along the track, usually at stops. This power source was 72 volts DC, which would cause no harm if the temporarily energized rail—usually difficult to contact—should somehow accidentally be touched by people and most animals and pets.  The car was recharged and its flywheel brought back up to speed periodically along its route at these very short third rails.

The horizontal flywheel not only powered the car, but also provided unusually high stability and an exceptionally low center of gravity. The most recent flywheels were enchased in helium inside a heavy steel container to reduce air friction (wind) noise, although it appeared that maintaining a partial vacuum with a suction pump might accomplish the same purpose. The same mechanical transmission used in light trucks transmitted power to the wheels. Brakes, lights, a horn and other components rounded out the auxiliary systems. The latest models had a small bank of batteries and an electric motor to power lights and bring the flywheel back up to speed if the car should get slowed or stopped for an extended period between recharging points.

The simplicity of this two-foot gauge system, along with the reduced costs of lighter rail and smaller cars, the complete lack of any need for expensive and sometimes unsightly overhead wires and an electric transmission system, and lighter track that reduced the scope of necessary utility modifications under the trackbed considerably reduced the costs of John Parry’s Ultra Light Transit vehicles over more conventional electric rail transit systems.

For Sale: Home-Built 24 inch narrow gauge railroad. 

About 1500 feet of track is available using 40-pound rail.  Over all length of train is 95 feet.  All cars are cup linked together with draw bars.  Also comes with 2 sets of working crossing signal lights that work on a 12-volt system.

Engine: Engine has a 318 Dodge motor, automatic transmission, air brakes. (Engine is the only car that has air brakes.) Engine measures 22 feet long and 5 feet wide.

Flat Car: Flat car measures 22 foot long, 5 foot 4 inches wide.  Top is made of treated 1x6 lumber. Metal frame. (no brakes on flat car)

Tank Car: Tank car measures 22 feet long, 5 feet 4 inches wide. Top opens up with ladder to climb down inside. (no brakes on car)

Caboose: Caboose measures 22 feet long 5 feet 7 inches wide. Caboose is unfinished on the inside and outside. Sides are made of plywood with a metal roof. (No brakes on car)

This is for Train (engine, flat car, tank car, and caboose) 2 sets of working signal lights and ties with about 1500 feet of track. Note the land is not for sale. $250,000

For additional information, contact:        Tom Bauer (tpbauer@alltel.net)

 For Sale: 12 axles including their 24 wheels.

Heavy duty!  Each axle comes complete with 2 wheels that are on bearings, greasable.  Bearings are in excellent condition and well packed with grease, never went dry.  Wheels are independent of each other and mounting is fast to the axle with single nut behind dust cover to remove wheel.  Currently 36" gauge.  15 inch wheel, 3 inch wide tire.  Asking price $150 US per axle with 2 wheels.  Sold in pairs please or entire lot. 

Location Nova Scotia, Canada.  Shipping not included! Price firm, email contact preferred.

            For additional information, contact:  Peter.Freeman@investorsgroup.com

Submit comments and articles to:

The Two Footers
534 Armory Road
St. Marys, PA  15857

 tpbauer@alltel.net

or

tom@thetwofooters.com

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