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Bernhard, I am always completely thrilled!

What kind of material is used for your soldering gauges — black HDF?

Have a wonderful trip with lots of impressions! Come back safe and sound!

Thanks Chuck, Barney, Stuart and Frithjof.

QuoteWhat kind of material is used for your soldering gauges — black HDF?

The material for the soldering jigs is called Resopal. It's something between MDF and Pertinax. I buy it cheaply at the hardware store as leftover material.

Bernhard

This isn't directly related to model building, but I'd like to tell you about my nearly three-week "study trip" to the USA. I was traveling with our older daughter. The trip took us from Chicago via Terre Haute, Bowling Green, Cleveland and Niagara Falls to Toronto.

First, we spent a few days in Chicago. I live in a small village with 350 inhabitants. The houses here are no more than three levels high. So, the city was quite impressive. Especially when you consider that Lake Michigan is larger than Switzerland in terms of area.

Our first visit was to Tim Murphy. He was fortunate enough to be able to enter the factory premises twice and take photos during the scrapping of the last two machines on Whiskey Island. He was also able to remove and take some original parts with him. I have already reported on this erlier. We had a great time together.



Then we visited the library at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Archivist Mark Sprang had already digitized many original drawings for me. Now we had the opportunity to meet him in person and browse through the collection. Mark digitized some interesting documents for us right there on the spot. It was a very inspiring day.



The next meeting was with Mike Pascucci. He is designing a digital model of a Hulett based on the original drawings from Bowling Green. In doing so, he is meticulously tracing every single part on a scale of 1:1. What a job! We had a very interesting exchange of ideas.



Then we visited Northern Ohio Scrap Service Corporation in Euclid, Ohio. The company scrapped the last two machines on Whiskey Island in early 2024. They keep a bucket with a piece of the leg on their premises. It was really impressive to stand in front of this gigantic thing. It looks a bit bizarre with its caterpillar tracks. But these were only fitted to make it easier to move the thing. We were given a very friendly welcome by the owners of the scrap yard and were able to measure and photograph the bucket extensively.
The bucket is to be installed at the entrance to the company premises in the near future.



Henry Brooks, a former foreman who was responsible for the Huletts' operations in Conneaut, Ohio, accompanied us on the visit. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to speak with a contemporary witness.

Next stop: the Ashtabula Maritime and Surface Transportation Museum in Ashtabula, Ohio. There is a bucket on display there, which we also measured and photographed. With full commitment, as you can see.



The last stop was the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society in North East, PA. A shunt locomotive that was formerly used on Whiskey Island is on display there. Here, too, we measured and took photos.



With that, the work was done and the vacation could begin. We were able to relax for a few days in Niagara Falls and Toronto.

It was a truly unforgettable trip. We got to meet some extremely nice and helpful people and gathered a lot of interesting information for my project. I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone for that. Of course, special thanks also go to my daughter. Her language skills were a valuable asset in our conversations. And she accompanied her nerdy father everywhere without complaining, even though it may not always have been that interesting for a non-technician.

I will now spend the next few days processing the information I have gathered and using it to complete my design.

Bernhard

Research is half the fun of modelling!

What an enjoyable and productive trip. Your daughter must be very patient or else she inherited your modeling genes. Either way you're lucky. -- Russ

"Incredible Stuff" absolute monster equipment - and just look at those sleepers (ties) in the last shot
Barney

Bernhard, looks like you had a fun and productive trip.
All those new details will surely become part of our model.

HI Bernard.
What a golden opportunity, the working cabin must have been an amazing ride,

I'm so glad you had a good trip!

Hello Bernhard,

I'm glad you were able to explore so many great details to incorporate into your model!
Oh yes, the bucket has a great chain.

As inspiration, here is a link to the Buntbahn forum (in German), where Jürgen shows an ingenious implementation of a double roller chain for his Bundesbahn Köf2: click
I'm looking forward to seeing how the construction progresses!

Fantastic Engineering in miniature
Barney 

Quote from: fspg2 on October 16, 2025, 01:50:04 AMHello Bernhard,

I'm glad you were able to explore so many great details to incorporate into your model!
Oh yes, the bucket has a great chain.

As inspiration, here is a link to the Buntbahn forum (in German), where Jürgen shows an ingenious implementation of a double roller chain for his Bundesbahn Köf2: click
I'm looking forward to seeing how the construction progresses!

Thanks to everyone for your comments!

Fortunately, flyer chains are used on the bucket instead of roller chains. They consist only of links and bolts. Since you can't buy anything like this, it's time to get creative again. I'll have the links cut out of nickel silver and then rivet them together like the original. This is going to be fun!

Fun? Really? -- Russ