B&O steeple cab arrive today

Really nice....love it!

Parker,

That appears to be an Al Merris steeple cab.  Is it and did he make it for you recently?

Below are a few photos of some of his other steeple cabs.

Bob Nelson

Al's body, Ira Keeler painted it and used his motor in it and finished it up. 

I just checked your original post on your new B&O steeple cab and discovered that Al Merris did not make it.  That said, it appears to me that Ira Keeler likely used an Al Merris-made steeple cab body.  Did he?

As a Milwaukee Road collector I am very interested in steeple cab locomotives since Milwaukee used several as switchers in its Western Division.   Wanting a Milwaukee Road version I called Al (Allyn) and asked him if he still produced any steeple cabs particularly ones with Milwaukee Road style pantographs.  Al indicated that he had manufactures some with pantographs and actually preferred that design. Unfortunately, he then told me that he no longer was making any steeple cabs since his source for motors, i.e., McCoy, went out of business.

Al did indicate, however, that when he originally started making steeple cabs he produced 100 cab bodies of which 60 remained (Note: The body of your steeple cab could easily be one of these.)  Al indicated that my call to him was the second he had received based on an eBay listing of one of his steeple cabs and that he was thinking about going back into production using a design with can motors.  At that time I got the impression that with a little more encouragement from others he might actually go back into production so I gave him my contact info and told him I wanted to be first in line to order a Milwaukee Road version of his steeple cab with pantograph.  Unfortunately. he never got back to me so my dream of owning a Milwaukee Road steeple cab never materialized.  Your new steeple cab gives me hope that I might get one made.

Can you please send me or post here the contact information on your steeple cab's manufacturer, Ira Keeler?

Regards,

Bob Nelson

Believe me Al told me himself just days ago he was completely done with building these steeple cabs-said he had bigger fish to fry  Ira has taken up the task of finishing out some of these and any coming out in the future your have to deal with him.  Ira's phone number is 707-448-1358...My B&O looks even better in person-first class job all the way ( I feel like a ten year old on Christmas morning right now)  And the Ira motor is a lot better than the McCoy motors used before-but Ira only uses one motor-said there is no use for two.  ))

As a Milwaukee Road collector I am very interested in steeple cab locomotives since Milwaukee used several as switchers in its Western Division.   Wanting a Milwaukee Road version I called Al (Allyn) several years ago and asked him if he still produced any steeple cabs particularly ones with Milwaukee Road-style pantographs.  Al indicated that he had manufactures some with pantographs and actually preferred that design. Unfortunately, he then told me that he no longer was making any steeple cabs since his source for motors, i.e., McCoy, went out of business.

Al did indicate, however, that when he originally started making steeple cabs he produced 100 cab bodies of which 60 remained (Note: As you confirmed your steeple cab's body is one of Al's.)  Al indicated that my call to him was the second he had received based on an eBay listing of one of his steeple cabs and that he was thinking about going back into production using a design with can motors.  At that time I got the impression that with a little more encouragement from others he might actually go back into production so I gave him my contact info and told him I wanted to be first in line to order a Milwaukee Road version of his steeple cab, i.e., with pantograph.  Unfortunately. he never got back to me so my dream of owning a Milwaukee Road steeple cab never materialized.  Your new steeple cab now gives me hope that I might still get one made.

Thank you for posting the phone number of your steeple cab's manufacturer, Ira Keeler.  I will be contacting him.

Regards,

Bob Nelson

hojack posted:

Parker, I need to talk with you about MESG book but I cannot find an email in your profile. Is there a way I can contact you off-forum?

thanks

david

Sure David parkerh138@aol.com  or call 740-689-1029 I'm in the Eastern time zone.