Hines engines

Beautiful engines.  I have one of the Mikes, and it still runs well.

Pretty sure I posted my 0-8-0s.  Can't find them. Tomorrow I shall re- post them here.

Nope.  I don't even have digital photos of them.  I have three - two came as kits from Don Massey, and the third was from the estate of my friend Paul Stroebel.

Paul was an over-achiever who wound up VP Europe for Dow Chemical.  He had an O Scale basement layout that would knock your socks off - double slip switches that worked, coasting locomotives done by that Japanese master (not Sofue; I cannot remember his name), and a live steam setup in the back yard.  He had an airport a quarter mile from his house, and Linda and I would fly up to visit.

I met him because he was scratch building steam models from my magazine articles.

I found this one on the Bay it's really my only source from Australia. The pics aren't great, I've not done this from my phone before.      cTr....( choose the Right )

Very nice model.  With your permission I could lighten it up a bit with the iPad editor?

Sure Bob why not!!  Thanks  O! and Merry Christmas from the other side of the world!

Here are two Hines Lines 2-8-2s that I own. These engines were on the Dells MINIRAMA, pulling a 22 car circus train.  I'll include pictures of them.

I did lighten it up, and got all set to post, and forgot to go to the bottom and hit the post button.  I seem to do that a lot - I need a checklist.  The lighter picture is on an iPad, so it will have to wait.  Jeff - very nice.  How  did you get them to print so many times in the same post?

I found my Hines Lines/Pearce stuff - my photo organization sucks.  Here is 40% of my Hines collection - I have two more 0-8-0s and a Mike in the early stages of assembly:

Here is Steven's model - photo lightened and enhanced on the iPad.

Who did the pre-war C&O Mikado kit?  Hines or somebody else?  Was that kit one that one that could be built either two or three rail?

Nekid pics of the same Hines posted elsewhere.  It is undergoing sporadic clean up and detailing sessions whenever the mood strikes.

Bruce

Great pictures Bruce looks like the cab edges have been thinned from the casting, and just those few extra details really help refine the model.    cTr...( Choose the Right )

Stephen

Yes, the rear of the cab roof has been reworked a bit.  The front edge is where reworking is seriously needed.  The casting is about 3/16" thick in that area and would require separation of the cab from the boiler to perform the grinding with ease.  Then again, if the cab were removed, I'd probably consider making a new one in sheet brass.

  Not enough brainstorming has occurred yet to determine what quality level end result I'm expecting of the finished project.  That said, I have decided on a direction and want to replicate B&O #4500, the most remarkable of all USRA locomotives.

Bruce

Good to see all the Hines products ...   from the pictures ..  the Mike was the big seller along with the 080 ..as both had life with Pearce ... and Stevenson Pres....

More elusive  are the Berkshire ... which was to be a Hines product designed by Lenoir but due to lack of payment to Adams for castings on the Mike ..the Berk went to CLW .

Late in the Hines game ..1949 ...the Pacific ....and Consolidation ....any of those floating around out there ? 

Hines era Mikes seem to have serial #'s on them   below photos  of #188 and #295 .......anytime you  can produce and sell an O scale engine in the 300 + unit range you are doing really well ...which accounts why they can be found today . 

By 1953 Hines had gone to Simons of KC , KS ...and by 56 Pearce had the line ..

Jim DeBruin  did a very good article about Hines ..in Jan/ Feb 2018   O scale Trains....

Cheers Carey 

Carey,

I can only speculate that some enthusiastic milling has removed the serial number on mine.  There is very little of the raw casting left in the area just ahead of the rear truck attachment.

Bruce

Carey -- do you happen to have the Hines Lines catalog page for the 0-8-0?  I have one, and I'd like to get a little more info about it -- and about Hines Lines in general.  For instance, what years were they producing trains?  1946 - 195???

A pic of mine is at https://inventoryexpress.xyz/c...C=255&UID=100001.

Hello Clint  

I have yet to see a Hines catalog ...ads only ... Jim Debruin did an article about Hines in O Scale Trains #95   Jan/ Feb 2018 ...here is the ad introducing the Hines 080  in Dec 1947 ...

Hines was a very small company...he had Bill Lenoir's ear to design the engines...but Hines reportedly had a few issues  when it came to paying Adam and Sons for the engine castings...

The O scale market was just too small for many to successfully stay afloat in .. 

I enjoy your website and your many interesting pieces and projects .

Cheers Carey

There sure were some beautiful models offered back then...which leads me to ask:

Why do you suppose Varney opted for a design in their 4-6-0 that caused the cab to be filled with a motor? I get it that at some point motors were still so big that having it show was a nescessary evil, but gee...

Mark in Oregon 

 there were many poles regarding a desirable engine for the O scale world...Gordon Varney a wise man went with,the poles. 

The Varney ( B&O) 4-6-0...had been covered with articles in MR...as an Ideal engine ..small enough for right turns ..but big enough to drag some cars ..could be back dated ..used for branch or main ...

Gordon did a run of 1000 of them ....which in the O scale world ....is huge !!!!!! Gordon quickly realized volume wise ....HO had a much larger,....and faster growing market...dump the O scale to Matthews of General Models and never look back. 

Motor wise ...many- most engines of all gauges in the scale world during this period ...had thier cabs filled with a motor ...

I clicked onto this thread out of curiosity, knowing nothing about Hines. I certainly didn't expect to solve a longtime mystery...Where did the stuff from Minirama go. Being somewhat of a Wisconsin Dells historian and casual friends of the Reese's, I have been unable to find many answers regarding the fate of Minirama. 

Jean Dyer Reese, great granddaughter of famed pioneer photographer, Henry Hamilton Bennett, AKA, HH Bennett. Many of you may recognize Bennett's photographs commissioned by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad of the 1880s. More about HH Bennett in this link:

https://www.wisconsinhistory.o...cords/Article/CS3954

Jean with her husband, Oliver, continued operation of is now known as the nations oldest photographic studio, along with several other enterprises, Minirama being one of them. It was located in a storefront that was previously a Bennett postcard and souvenir shop.

The shop was located nearly across the street from the studio, where I spent many wonderful afternoons talking with Jean and Oliver discussing Dells history. The shortest topic of conversation I ever had with them was regarding Minirama. It was dropped like a hot potato after just one question. My takeaway was that Minirama was a complete flop and a very sore subject within the Reese family. I never spoke of it again. This view suggests the the writing, quite literally, is on the wall for Minirama...

Here's a more current view of the building...

Haunted indeed. The studio, however, is now a museum. 

Sadly, both Jean and Oliver are gone, but I can't help but chuckle a little whenever I look through the glass and think about the many hours spent casually sitting in those spindly chairs...

incidentally, the Reese's spearheaded the comity to rebuild the historic Wis Dells after it was demolished due to a derailment. Original...

And current station...

And my all-time favorite, the interim station...

Now, back to the topic...

@Carey Williams posted:

 there were many poles regarding a desirable engine for the O scale world...Gordon Varney a wise man went with,the poles. 

The Varney ( B&O) 4-6-0...had been covered with articles in MR...as an Ideal engine ..small enough for right turns ..but big enough to drag some cars ..could be back dated ..used for branch or main ...

Gordon did a run of 1000 of them ....which in the O scale world ....is huge !!!!!! Gordon quickly realized volume wise ....HO had a much larger,....and faster growing market...dump the O scale to Matthews of General Models and never look back. 

Motor wise ...many- most engines of all gauges in the scale world during this period ...had thier cabs filled with a motor ...

Thanks Carey

A couple of questions:

By "poles" are you talking as on an armature...or do you mean "polls", as in asking a question?

So are you saying that my example is one of "only" a thousand ever made?  

I get what you're saying about the large motors of the time. Yet I look at these Hines engines (as well as many other brands) and their motors were often barely visible in the cab. Heck, not only does the motor in the Ten Wheeler fill the cab, it sticks out the back a little!  

Fascinating stuff, this...

Mark in Oregon 

Carey -- Thanks so much for the ad -- and for the kind words about my website!  

The ten-wheeler doesn't have much room for a motor.  Even the smallest Hines had a giant firebox within which to hide a motor.  All of my Harriman ten wheelers are tender drive except one.  You could redesign around an NWSL and an 8000 Pittman, but even then it would be tough to get it all in there.

Sorry yes Poll ....MR did annual polls to keep a finger on the model railroad market .....which wise manufactures read ... Jon ..thank you for the additional info about Mini-Rama ....  a childhood favorite ...I can see how it was a one and done for all but the die hard train folks ...   

Cheers Carey 

OOPs the 1000 made issue ..... in the tin plate  and mass production worlds   ...1000 is nothing ...you base your tool and die costs on 2000 - 3000 production runs .....  

in the scale world  Max Grey brought in 50 of this and 100 of that ... Icken and Alexander single digit productions of many models ... Blum's / Mi-Loco M1   12 sold ...numbers are tiny .....so Varney with his 1000 run of the 460 was lucky there was so much pent up desire to buy due to the war ... but Gordon quickly realized that wave was not coming back .....in HO the market was huge 2000 - 3000 + quantities sold post war ( prewar small numbers ) ......

Lobaugh claimed to have sold 2000 of his Berkshire kits ...granted it's probably the  most common Lobaugh engine out there ....but many remain as kits or partial kits ... 

If ebay is any guide you see 5 or more Varney 460's to every completed Lobaugh Berk. 

Hines Mike is the most seen Hines product ..with serial numbers up in the 300-400 range ... which is a healthy sales record ...  the Mike had more appeal then the 080 as a all around engine for the masses ...   the Hines Pacific seems to have just fallen through the cracks of time ... with very few out there ...from my searching ..

cheers carey 

bob2:

Yeah, you're no doubt correct on that score...although a Pittman can might not be as "tall", it might be longer and stick out the back even more...

Carey:

You know, after I asked you about "poles"/"polls" I re-read your post and figured that ("polls") is what you meant.  

Both (or anyone):

When we talk about Max Gray or US Hobbies and the like; we are generally discussing imported, ready to run models, correct? Whereas Hines, Varney/All Nation, Lobaugh, etc. offered their locos in kit form only...(?)

Mark in Oregon

is this the one Bob?

That is indeed mine. I gave up on photobucket several years ago, but OGR lets me paste photos here, seemingly without restrictions.  Happy to do an 0-8-0 or 2-8-0 thread.  Meantime I shall share my ten-wheelers on the obvious thread?

@bob2 posted:

That is indeed mine. I gave up on photobucket several years ago, but OGR lets me paste photos here, seemingly without restrictions.  Happy to do an 0-8-0 or 2-8-0 thread.  Meantime I shall share my ten-wheelers on the obvious thread?

Yes please...to both. 

Mark in Oregon

Well, as long as we're sharing pics <g>...  Here's my 0-8-0.  Haven't tried to run it yet -- we shall see...

Just give it juice after a good oil and turning over by finger ...

Here are the Mike and 080 offered by Pearce in the Boxcar Ken catalog of 1962 

Mill City:  Are those layout pictures you posted???  If so, kind of awesome -- and where can I see more???

Yes, the last pic is of the display. I assume the Reese's (Bennett's) had it professionally designed and built, as it was very well done and had a rather extensive amount of rolling stock. Sadly, it's been gone for many years. Google thingy here:

https://www.google.com/search?...bih=646&biw=1280

Oh...the things they made their poor children do for the sake of commerce...lol.

I'm a little slow some days.  And here I was thinking it was your personal layout! <g>.  I found this tidbit in Googling Minirama:

Jeffrey Haertlein writes:

The Wisconsin Dells MINIRAMA was an O scale layout in operation as a tourist attraction from 1960 thru 1969. It was a great train layout, one in which I marveled at for decades, even after it closed.

Long story short, after many years I was able to purchase quite a bit of it starting in 2005. It was sold to a guy in Milwaukee (130 mi.), and now a good amount of it is only 15 miles away from where it started.

I can't help wondering who 'a guy in Milwaukee' is -- and what (if anything) is left...

Interesting. I've always assumed and the indication I received from the Reese's is that everything salvaged from Minirama had long since been disposed. I'm glad to learn that portions of it have remained intact,

Their final years efforts were focused on establishing the HH Bennett foundation and museum. Their children had no interest in continuing the studio as an enterprise. The studio was still producing prints from Bennett's original glass negatives until they ceased operation sometime in the mid 90s. I added many prints to my collection. It's difficult to resist 16"x20" (nominal) contact prints. They're stunning by the way. The Reese's owned the studio and two adjacent buildings to the west that make up the museum. Oliver passed in '95, the museum was dedicated in '98, and Jean passed, if i remember correctly, in 2000. With all that in mind, I would be surprised if any physical Minirama artifacts transferred over to the museum. 

May do a little more digging during my next trip to the Dells this fall. Any Minirama leads would be much appreciated.

The website where I found the above is: https://thetrolleydodger.com/t...nsin-dells-minirama/.  I, of course, have no idea how accurate it is...

Thanks, Jeffery. Ton's of interesting stuff there besides Minirama. I believe that's Oliver Reese at the control panel smoking his pipe. Perhaps this was his way of escaping that tiny darkroom up the block...

Should have thought of looking here first...