Image provided by: The Willamina Museum; Willamina, OR
About The times of Willamina. (Willamina, Oregon) 1972-1974 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1973)
Page 4 WILLAMINA TIMES, Willamina, Oregon, Wednesday, January 24, 1973 "Wimpy" Lange's railroad Grand Central Station is second floor of home “ I’ve always liked train s.” If a man’s hobby tells anything about the man, that statement from Ervihg ‘ ‘Wimpy’ ’ Lange is unnecessary. Wimpy collects and builds trains for a hobby. Grand Central Station for Wimpy is located on the second floor of his home in Valley Junction where his trains sit on num erous sidings and the locomotives wait for I their call to pull one of the many trains around the track that circle his entire up stairs hobby room. Starting his hobby back in 1945 with the purchase of one of the first Lionel trains on the market for his son, Wimpy has since broadened his hobby into the actual construction of the. engines. Building the engines straight from the blueprints of the big train to a 1/4 inch scale by making patterns of the steps, doors, windows, water pumps and other accessories on the tra in .. He then send the patterns to. Florida where brass castings are made. The engines themselves are mostly made of brass. According to Wimpy, if he is lucky he can get one engine a year done by working at it on evenings and weekends. He said that if someone were to work at it day in and day out and all the parts were avail able they could get it done in one and a half to two months.. While building trains is still just a hobby with Wimpy, he is going commercial, 'especially after he retires to ‘‘help keep the wolf away from the door.” The first engine Wimpy built back in 1946 still runs. Since that first engine Wimpy has built numerous .more, just how many he isn’t sure. Everything he builds /for the , trains is custom made by .him. Probably the worst experience he has ever had is when he loaned a working crane he had built to a man in California Who then sent it to Japan where it was copied. When the crarte was finally returned to him it was badly in need of a paint job. He is still pursuing legal action concerning this. Wimpy used to exhibit his trains, but he finally gave up on this because, of an accident that, a l most cost him the loss of one engine. While only a hobbyist Wimpy is nationally known for hi strains. When building the trains he likes to travel around and examine the train that he is building in addition to taking pictures of it and learning the history of that particular model. | All of the trains are powered by electricity On a 12 volt system. Concentrating on the transition era between steam and diesel Wimpy’s collection features many late model steam and early model diesel locomotives, Great Northern is Wimpy’s fav orite line because they have a l ways been very friendly towards him. As long a s he had the correct passes they never denied him access to anything and cooperated to the best of their ability according to Wimpy. As for the eastern railways Wimpy would rather not say any thing about them; the western, lines he .says have always been quite cooperative with the ex-' ception of Southern Pacific who often leave quite a bit to be de sired. Wimpy is not by any means through with his collection,. he is constantly building new mod - Tony Staley Wimpy Lange engineers his trains around the track encircling his upstair’s hobby room in his Valley Junction home, Several members of VFW Post and A uxilliary reported on sick list V.F.W. Post 4211 and Auxil iary met Monday night for their monthly business transactions. Five Auxiliary officers were p re sent, but several members were reported on the sick li$t. Among these are: Delores Nickerson of Sheridan who is in the hospital at Cor vallis with pneumonia; Gertrude Humfleet has returned to her home in Sheridan after spending two weeks in the Mc Minnville hospital suffering from a heart attack; 5 Commander Shirley Rogers is in the’Veterans’ Hospital in P o rt land recovering from his second hip socket surgery in the last Wimpy’s knowledge and enthusi asm about the railroad is un believable. In fact when he takes control of his trains and begins to run them around the track, even Casey Jones must take a back seat. three months; Lester Reed, the husband Of past president Ruth Reed is in Salem Memorial Hospital under going a series of tests. - ’ ;Their friends would like to offer them their best wishes for a speedy and lasting recovery. Last Saturday night at the V.F.W. Hall the Auxiliary held a bake sale. In charge of the sale were Mrs. Florence Lux of Sheridan and Frances Johnson of Willamina. The sale was held in connection with the /sm o k e r” boxing matches being put on by the V.F.W., Boxing Club. Sitting back to see what is going to happen before venturing out again is the way Cliff Bride Sheridan Post M aster and Chair man of the Sheramina Industrial Group describes the activities of that group now. Organized to. bring industry irito the Sheridan-Willamina area the group has been buying property for future industrial Sites so that when art. industry has been lured into the area the land will be available. ‘‘We want to give the area a chance to adjust tb Liberty H om es. before going out for rnore. “ We have more property, but we are riow waiting to see what the impact wilbbe on the community, “ Before we can really get more industry into the area an in creased amount of water must be secured,” Bride said. The city councils of both com munities are currently working on this according. to Bride, who stressed that water is the main ingredient. “ Increased supplies of water must be, available before we can . hope to get any more industry. We were lucky with Liberty Homes, they did not need great amounts of w ater.” According to Bride studies are currently being conducted by the city councils of both towns on the feasibility of damming up the creeks in the area. The water from these dams would have many uses including irrigation, récréation, flood con trol and municipal. As to when the Sheramina group will be active again .Bride said “ I wouldn’t hazard a guess. There-are, justloom any factors. involved.”. The engines sit in the roundhouse as they await the call of duty. Wimpy has built his own engines for his hobby. United telephone elim inates charges Effective January 1, 1973, many Oregon customers of United Tel ephone Company of the North west will enjoy a reduction in their telephone bills. H. D. Terry, General Commer cial Manager for the Hood River based Company, said that ap-, proval had been received from the Oregon Public Utilities Com mission to, discontinue color charges for standard dial desk telephones artd for standard dial wall telephones. ‘‘Customers having such telephones have p re viously paid thirty cents per month per col’o r telephone.” T erry said, ‘‘and effective Jan uary 1, their telephone billsw ill be reduced by a proportionate amount?’ The company’s announcement emphasized that the rate reduc tion,; applies only to standard telephones. Premium and spe cialty telephones such as the dial-in-handset and princess- type telephones do not have a color charge and will have no change itt rates. HI-WAY THEATRE Sheridan 843-3211 FRI. & SAT. at 7 p.m. SUN. - 1 p.m. FILMED AT NEWPORT j Paul Newman - Henry Fonda | Listen to KPDQ 9 a.m. weekdays New mild reporter "Sometimes a Great Notion” plus George Peppard ^ONEMORE T R A IN TO ROB* I .833, A' UNIVERSAL PICTÜRE TECHNiGOLÖR® Is it a bird? . . Is it a plane? No, it’s the Time’s new mild- mannered reporter Tony Staley. Tony is a native small-town Oregonian, being born in Prine ville and moving here from Stay- ton. ■ His wife, Andrea, from Waipahu, Hawaii, is, like Tony, a graduate of the University of Portland. Besides working as a reporter, Tohy enjoys fishing, camping and listening to old-time radio on tapes. He and his wife will be moving from Stayton to McMinn ville as there is no place avail able to liVe in Willamina. '69 Ford Gal. 500 '65 Chevrolet Impola 4?door hardtop, V-8 automatic, air cond., 62,000 actual miles. '58 Ford Wagon PO LLY'S FLO W ERS A LONG JOURNEY BEGINS WITH A SINGLE STEP 1495 2 door hardtop - Sharp! 6 cyl. with 3 speed 247 S. Bridge Sheridan Open 9:30 - 5:30 of his passenger couches by adding seats and other interior appointments, not to mention passengers to make it all even more life-like. For someone who has only briefly worked on the railroad Sheramina planning for future Notice to local dog owners The Willamina Police are asking all dog owners to keep their dogs tied and this applies at night also. Dogs have been allowed to rub', causing lawn damage and up-setting garbage cans. The police havetried, for the past year to work on a warning basis for dog offenses and it has proved unsatisfactory. H ere after there will be no warnings is sued and all owners disregarding the law will be cited into mun icipal court. els, working on old ones or helping others with their trains. Right now he is preparing to rework his tracks, add scenery and finish putting automatic ■couplers on his trains, in add ition to finishing the interiors $ 495 $ 150 Roger's Car Corral 333 S. Main ite Willamina The same can be said when it comes to a successful insurance program. Once you’ve taken out an insurance policy you're one step closer to insuring th a t your fa m ily’s future w ill be a sound one, even if you aren’t there, insurance broker Tom Alien can help you chart th a t future. As a broker he handles policies fo r insurance com panies from across the United States. He finds the policy to fit your needs and pocketbook. Stop in and see him today. It may be the firs t step to insure your fa m ily’s journey through life. Willamina Insurance 102 E. Main 876-2123
