1997 MSOE Society of Model Engineers New Member Orientation Program

These pictures were taken at various locations in the Milwaukee area during the Milwaukee School of Engineering Society of Model Engineers New Member Orientation Program in December 1997, and were saved from the SOME files. All of these locations have some connection to trains.

Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory

The Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, more commonly known as the Mitchell Park Domes, consists of three glass conoidal domes designed by Donald L. Grieb Associates and built between 1959 and 1967, covering 45,000 square feet. During the winter, one of the domes features a garden railway display.

Southridge Mall Train Ride

This train ride operated inside the Southridge Mall in the Milwaukee suburb of Greendale, Wisconsin. The Southridge Mall opened in 1970. This train (later repainted to resemble Thomas the Tank Engine) apparently operated until 2012 before being replaced by a trackless train in 2013.

Watertown Plank Road Overpass

This bridge in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, was built in 1910 by the Cleary-White Construction Company of Chicago for the Milwaukee, Sparta & Northwestern Railroad, as part of a 9-mile double track line that opened in 1911 from West Allis north to Butler, location of a 21-track yard with a capacity of 1500 freight cars intended to relieve congestion from the yards in downtown Milwaukee. The 175-foot 7-panel riveted Parker through truss main span was built by the Pennsylvania Steel Company of Steelton, Pennsylvania, and carried the railroad over the route completed in 1855 by the Milwaukee & Watertown Railroad, a predecessor of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Four approach spans built by the American Bridge Company of New York extend the bridge to a total length of 490 feet, crossing Underwood Creek and Watertown Plank Road, which began as a toll road in the 1830s. In 1912, the Milwaukee, Sparta & Northwestern Railroad was taken over by the Chicago & North Western Railway, which was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad in 1995. Meanwhile, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad was purchased by the Soo Line Railroad in 1985, which was subsequently absorbed by its parent company Canadian Pacific in 1992.

Overland Western Lines Paint Schemes

I originally posted these on my old website on June 22, 2008.

(NOTE: This website is NOT affiliated with the club)

These graphics are all paint schemes for the Overland Western Lines, the freelanced road of the Milwaukee School of Engineering's Society of Model Engineers and the alumni club. Some are things the club had, others are entirely my own creations and were not modeled or accepted by the club. All of these are based on drawings from the Railroad Paint Shop.

Steam Locomotives

The Overland Western Lines has no steam locomotives, but that didn't stop me from creating some concepts, such as this 2-10-4.

Here is an Overland Western Lines GS4 4-8-4.

Here is an Overland Western Lines Class J 4-8-4.

Diesel Locomotives

This SD45 displays one of the earliest Overland Western Lines paint schemes.

This F7A displays another early Overland Western Lines paint scheme.

When the club was donated an old C-Liner model, this is one of the possible "vintage" paint schemes I came up with.

Another donation included a Krauss-Maffei diesel hydraulic model. With all the portholes, the newest current scheme wouldn't have worked well on it, so I experimented with this scheme.

An SD40-2 with this paint scheme was part of the club's collection.

An FP45 with this paint scheme was part of the club's roster.

A GP38-2 with this paint scheme was also part of the roster.

A set of F-units and passenger cars were painted in this scheme as the club's 35th Anniversary Special. They weren't lettered, so I made that part up.

Working on the idea that the 35th Anniversary Special wore a "heritage" paint scheme, I decided to see what a GP7 would've looked like in it.

Another possibility for the C-Liner was this variation on the 35th Anniversary Special paint scheme.

The newest official scheme is this gray and red scheme, ideally with the OWL herald on the nose. One of the first locomotives in the club's collection to wear this paint scheme was an SD45 like this one.

Here is the same scheme as applied to a GP38-2.

The club had a GP7 in its collection that could use a new paint job. This was the concept.

A club member had an SD24 that he decided to paint for OWL, with this look as the plan.

The club also had an SW1500, though it's lower hood didn't quite fit the standard scheme. This narrower red stripe scheme was a likely possibility.

The club had another FP45 that was unpainted, and ended up being painted in the standard Overland Western Lines scheme, like this.

I had a more flashy concept, but it was rejected.

Here's a DDA40X in the Overland Western Lines scheme. Its a pretty standard effort, though I gave it red sandboxes with the OWL herald.

It would never actually be made, but after doing the FP45, the idea of a Canadian SD40-2F cowl-body intrigued me. This was one of my two ideas.

This was my other idea for the Overland Western Lines SF40-2F, which required a narrower stripe to fit the lettering under the grills.

I wanted to see what a GE unit would look like in the Overland Western Lines scheme, so I made up this C36-7 concept.

Here is a modern Dash 9-44CW in the Overland Western Lines scheme.

This is my concept for an F-unit in the newest Overland Western Lines scheme.

My idea for a BL2 in the newest Overland Western Lines scheme isn't quite standard, but it fits the BL2's unique carbody.

This is my first of three concepts for an Overland Western Lines bicentennial scheme, based on the newest paint scheme.

This is my second concept for an Overland Western Lines bicentennial unit.

This is my third concept for an Overland Western Lines bicentennial unit.

Freight Cars

This is what I thought an Overland Western Lines 40-foot boxcar would look like.

This is my idea of a late 50's 50-foot boxcar.

This is a more modern boxcar.

This is my concept for an open hopper.

This is a concept for group of four ore cars.

The club acquired a large number of undecorated well cars. This is what I thought they would look like when completed.

Here is an Airslide, showing what I thought a covered hopper scheme would look like.

Cabooses

At one time the club had a caboose that looked something like this.

A caboose with this paint scheme, matching the SD40-2 picture higher on the page, was part of the club's roster.

This was the newest standard caboose paint scheme.

Passenger Cars

This was the basic paint scheme for the passenger cars that made up the 35th Anniversary Special.

I created this concept of what passenger cars would look like if painted to match the new standard paint scheme.

Maintenance of Way Equipment

There was a 250-ton crane like this one on the club layout, so I considered what it might look like as Overland Western Lines equipment.

Though the club didn't have one, a Russell plow was a future possibility.

This tank car isn't the most exciting idea, but here it is anyway.

Structures

Here is a depot in the Overland Western Lines standard structure paint scheme.

OWL-WC Merger

The Society of Model Engineers' layout was based on a real rail line through Waukesha, Wisconsin that was operated in real life by the Wisconsin Central. I theorized that the OWL and WC had merged, an idea I liked more after the Canadian National absorbed the WC in real life. One of my first OWL concepts was a merger scheme, with the WC paint scheme and OWL lettering, as shown on this SD45. The idea never really caught on though.

This merger scheme could also apply to freight cars, such as this modern boxcar with the heralds of both roads applied.

Of course, WC style cabooses would've also worn the merger scheme.