Waterville & Washington Railroad

I built a Lake Junction Models (LJM) Mopac double privy like the one found at Waterville.  I took photos of it and the LJM Mopac tool house.  The Mopac used the tool house to store equipment for the section crew.  There was a wooden track to store track vehicles inside and also to the side of the tool house.  The double privy was interesting as the Waterville station agent, Milford Godsey, said that he didn't use it unless he had to.  The track workers would occasionally use it. Items were stored in the female side after the passenger trains stopped in November 1960.  Hopefully I can get back to the FMC 4526 models after the first of the year. 

This picture was taken of Wateville looking west between 1977 and 1982. The train order signal in the picture came from Blue Rapids after the Blue Rapids depot was sold and moved off location. In 1982 the Waterville depot was moved. Great looking picture for modeling because the double privy can been seen and the tool shed has two track car drops. Milford Godsey's, Waterville station agent, vehicle is seen in the left hand side of the picture. The dirt path to the left of the tracks is where the old passing siding was located during the Passenger train era.

It's been roughly 5 months since my last update. Time has flown by with minimal modeling done. I'm now working on a Lake Junction Models Mopac tool shed. Hopefully that'll spur my modeling and I can once again be on track again.

Don't have any pictures, but I'm currently laying track. I followed Lance Mindheim weather steps and I feel my track looks pretty good. The first solder feeders are complete, track is over 60% glued down and I should be able to run trains on it come next Saturday. Oh, need to find legs for it.

Here is a picture from circa 1964 of Milford Godsey getting ready to hand up orders to the caboose. I hope to have an oil painting of this ready to present Milford (who's 93) this Christmas. (Picture enhanced by Keith Wilhite)

Waterville, KS, depot circa 1970. Notice the Chicago and Eastern Illinois boxcar behind the depot for grain loading.

I've placed an order with Fast Tracks for their Bullfrog turnout control. They look easy to install and are simple. I'm hoping my 2" foam does not interfere with the operation. I also ordered a new tip for my soldering iron and some super thin solder from Fast Tracks. I hope this solves my soldering issue. Since the order is coming from Canada, it should take about 2 weeks to get here so I'll have to find a project to work on in the meantime. Maybe I can finally install the levelers in the layout legs.

I jumped around to another project. I have started the Waterville train order signal. I really need to figure out how to properly tin my soldering iron. I'm not satisfied with my soldering on this project. The prototype signal was originally in Blue Rapids, but when the railroad closed that depot in 1977, they moved the signal to Waterville. I'm happy I have extra tubing as I'll probably try building the signal again.

I've been asked about my track plan and I'm following the prototype as closely as possible. I'm modeling the towns of Blue Rapids, Waterville, Barnes, and Greenleaf, Kansas. I'm starting with Waterville as I'm hoping to have it complete so the I am able to show it to Milford Godsey who was the Waterville station agent and it is my hometown. These are from the 1977 Mopac spotting code book.

Roof frame Test fit on depot Roof complete - ready for shingles and chimney

Updated progress view looking down the tracks to the west. The depot is to the immediate right with the Blue Valley Elevator adjacent to the covered hopper. The tape measure on the left will be the large COOP fertilizer Quonset hut. Prototype view of the Waterville depot circa 1950s. I model 1979 so my depot will be painted white and have the old Blue Rapids train order signal in front of the depot. View of my depot progress. I haven't done a lot to it in a year. The tool shed will be replaced with one from Lake Junction Models. The bottles on the right side will be the location of the town fuel dealership. Prototype view and model view of the Blue Valley Elevator. View looking down the rails to the west and my modeling of the same scene. Where the glue bottle is located will be the location of the large cement grain elevator.

I'm using a waffle style design for my module construction. My modules are Free-mo compatible so I can take them to shows and use them with others. Compare my progress with the aerial picture of Waterville. This picture was taken a couple weeks ago.

Waterville, Ks, circa 1977-80. This gives a great view of what I'm modeling on my layout. COOP complex