A Tail of having Almost Every "Little Joe"

Hod it right there, cowboy - you're not through yet: on my shelf sits a brass CMStP&P "Joe" offered by Weaver around the same time that MTH offered theirs. I got the 

Weaver because it's TMCC/RS, rather than PS2.

So, you need the Weaver version, also (and I've heard "Joe" types say that the Weaver

is more accurate in the nose contours; I don't have the MTH version for comparison, so I don't know). 

And did you mean "tail"? How about "tale"?

Don:

Thanks for sharing your Little Joe story. I have one of the MTH models as well and I'm very happy with it.

An interesting project for a manufacturer to tackle would be an O scale version of the E78 after wreck damage was repaired using EMD components. I've attached several images of the HO model which was released by Overland. You can see the differences in detail, highlights of which include the EMD grille, louvres at the midpoint of the carbody and the modified profile at the front of the locomotive. As this configuration appeared on only one locomotive, I figure it's beyond even a long shot in O but, what the heck, we can hope. 

Bob

Bob, I would be more than happy if MTH made the Westinghouse Electric. Don

I never got to see these engines in operation, but they sure are cool.  I have always loved Milwaukee Road and with the gorgeous scenery these engines operated in what's not to like?  It always seemed odd to see electrification in the west though.  We all were used to the east coast and GG1's but not in the west.

Art

I know it's way tooooooooo much to ask MTH but it would be so cool if they made the passenger tender for the non-passenger Little Joes. These carried equipment to heat the passenger cars. Don

I agree. Here's the Precision Scale HO model:

That's a paint job they only did with one motor and kept it just a couple years. Love to see a black one pulling heavy weight. Don

In no particular order, my basement; L'L Joe country; Little Big Horn territory; the real Joe

wb47,  thanks for the pictures. That's the closest I'll ever come to seeing a real one. Don

Good(tale) thread Don......

Thankfully, I got to experience the "Joes" in person during a visit to the CSS&SB during the late 70s. Two of the three 800s, as South Shore employees called the locomotives in deference to their 800 series numbers, were still in service at the time. They were very impressive locomotives. The Brazilian FEPASA "Russas" operated into the 90s:

The Russians in Brazil. Don

Does anyone recall that Illinois Railway Museum has resurrected their Little Joe?

---PCJ

One survives in operation at IRM. The pans have to come down through the switches as the overhead is not configured for them.

Nice discussion of the "Joes" here.  I never got a chance to see them running on the Milwaukee Road, but today I certainly have lots of books with photos of them.  I guess that they can be credited with saving the Milwaukee's electrification after WWII, because without them, certainly the wires would have come down.  By that time the older electrics were about 30 to 40 years old and some were really wearing out.  The added service of WWII took it's share of a toll of those older engines, too. 

The Milwaukee should have bought all 20 at the time they were being offered, because by the time they did get their 12, the additional power would have been a real blessing.  Still, it made for great photos to have five different types of engines on the RR for a time.

The three that the South Shore got were never called "Little Joe's" but always "800 class" engines.  I believe that all three of them have been saved.  In addition to the one that operated at IL Rwy Museum last summer, there is one up in Northeast, Pennsylvania at a little local RR museum.  It's in pretty good shape but there's no place to operate her.  But to visit the place is worth the few minutes extra to turn off of I-90 to see her there.  The reason the group brought the engine there, of course, was that the "Joes" were built nearby at the General Electric locomotive plant in Erie, PA.  By the way, it would be advisable to schedule any trips to visit the factory pretty soon because GE has announced that it would be closing the Erie facility and moving operations to Texas. 

I, too, remember the 1960's and 1970's when the "Joes" or 800's were still operating on the South Shore.  It was unbelievable to see an 85' long monster of motive power on what had been an interurban Railroad.

My one and only Milwaukee "Little Joe" is also a Weaver engine.  Pulls like crazy because all drive wheels are powered and the engine has two very heavy lead weights built into the body.  The TMCC system that Weaver used at that ti me was the K-Line version, which gives it remarkable slow speed momentum control.  Yes it does not have the Milwaukee Road pantograph guards but I'll be putting them on myself when I get a chance.

Paul Fischer

Don

Nice collection you got there

As a fan of the New Haven EP-5 I managed to get my hands on a nice MTH PS-1 version.  But I have always wondered why some call it a Little Joe when Little Joe was the name given to the EF/EP-4s, at least according to the MTH catalogs?  The EP-4 and the EP-4 are rather different looking locomotives.

Street running in South Bend, IN, on Bendix Drive, 1977.

There is one outside of my telegraph office at Lake Shore Railway Museum in North East, Pa

Was your topic headline on purpose,or did you just flip heads or tales?

Dan  

Courtesy of Mr. Sandy Goodrick, here we have a 1952 view of the South Sore 803 running along LaSalle Street in South Bend: