Ken, I might be able to get you a MILW switchctand. I happen to know where there are 2 of them still attached to the switch but the tracks into where they are have been long gone for years now. I was thinking of trying to get one for myself.
Beware. If they're the same style I'm thinking about, they're heavy! You'll need to have several hefty friends along to help! Hope the tops are not cut off? Not sure how I'd be able to get one, if you got it. I'm a long drive away. Probably a 1000 mile round trip. But I sure wish..... Kinda miss the old valley.... I have a beautiful lantern, and a feather target. They just need a place to be attached. :teeth: I have been wondering- Is the GN feather target, the same size as a Milw version? Maybe Hemi can measure one? Boxcab E50
Yes, they ARE heavy! The MT Museum of RR History here in town has a MILW stand with 'feather' target. It is a heavy sucker! The GN version is just as heavy, if not worse. I somehow manhandled one, solo, into my truck. (and my back didn't get hurt in the process!) Going to the gym had its perks that day, I reckon it weighed between 200-250 pounds. The targets on the MILW and GN versions are similar, if not very close. I would have to measure it.
Ken, I these are the ones you are talking about. The red & white feather target with the green diamond above it. Both of these switchstands I am refering to are in an old abandoned sawmill and are almost overgrown in Blackberry bushes. If I do decide to go get them it will be a chore in itself just trying to get to them. I would also like to walk sections of the line that is not overgrown and see how many date nails I could find. I bet there are some old ones in there.
Hope you can get them! If you don't, and nobody else does, eventually, a developers bulldozer will.... Happy date nailing! I enjoyed many hours of doing that as well! Boxcab E50
Not even close... The GN target is much smaller. The MILW target measures 15" wide, and 30 1/4" tall; while the GN target is only 12" wide, and 22 1/2" tall.
My Milw measures about 33 & 1/2" tall. I wonder if there is a variant, between the old steel version, and the later Scotchlite aluminum issue? I always wonderd why there wasn't a Federal standard adopted for switch targets. Hmmmm..... Boxcab E50
It's not in the listed of preserved GN cabooses. Surprising they don't know about it? :sad: Boxcab E50
It's not exactly easy to see from any main road... You really have to know it's there! I think I should email Ben Ringnalda (sp?) and have him add this to his GN Empire site.
You might also let Lindsay Korst know at www.gngoat.org ... he's also the GNRHS website guru ... :shade:
Now, when you guy's go "date nailing", where are they on ties? on the very end, on the top in the middle? The only GN ones I found were on Epay that I've bought!
I have a bag of GN nails. They can be many places. Usually on top of an end, outside the rail. Or into the end itself. Now and then between rails. Also look at timbers, ties as fence posts, cribbing, down embankments. You name it. Look. But watch for critters, snakes, bees.... Boxcab E50
I generally find them all on one side, outside a rail, on top of the tie. I dunno why, but they seem to always be on the west end of the tie, on N/S lines, and on the north end of the ties on E/W lines.
