The Duplexes that friends built.
The people that model the "TM" in "O" scale have historically been at a disadvantage in regards to model selection.
Other than an 1100 series interurban that was imported by Ken Kidder in the 1960's and a M series freight motor kit
produced by Wayne Hammelman also in the 1960's, the modeller was left to scratch-building.
In the late 1980's members of the Milwaukee Electric Traction Club, spearheaded by Fred Oakland, arranged for
Dave Waddington to produce a duplex kit. In 1993 or 1994 the kits were delivered.
Jack Galloway and myself started
working on our duplexes in the spring of 1996. Unfortunately Jack became real sick in July of 1996 and the work stopped.
Later in the year, Fred generously volunteered to solder all the bodies together. There was alot of soldering
to do on each of bodies, and Fred did a fantastic job, for his friends. I worked on the cars on and off over the next 2 years,
finally having them ready for paint in November of 1999. Jeff Kincaid then offered to paint and decal them, and Jack received his
for Christmas of that year.
The pictures don't do justice to the quality of the paint work. Model building is not my favorite part of the hobby
and I didn't finish my duplexes until March of 2001. The part of trolley modelling I enjoy the most is the friendships
made. I am truly blessed to have Fred and Jeff as friends, thanks guys. Mike Kraczek
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