Model Railroading > Vic Shattock Steam Railroad sampler

Ok Guys--
Here are a few more shots of the late "Victor Shattock's " LIVE STEAM railroad in 1/2" scale.

In this photo, an SP 2-8-2 "Mikado" approaches the Junction Switch in the Yard. This was a number of hand-made single switches as well as a double-slip "puzzle" switch.
The rail was 110-pound scale BRASS furnished on special order by the Rollin J. Lobaugh Company in South San Francisco.

Photo courtesy of "Key Route Ken" Archives.

SPECIAL NOTE:
Because of his numerous visits to the basement railroad in his boyhood days, and his fascination with Vic's elaborate scratchbuilt trackwork--
RUSS SIMPSON decided to go into the MODEL BUSINESS which today we know as Simpson Products of Placerville, CA.

RUSS SIMPSON and KEY ROUTE KEN attended Oakland Public Schools in the same class rooms from GRADES 1 thru 12... How 'bout THAT ??

KRK...

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A FAST freight rolls under the signal bridge on Vic Shattock's layout in Oakland.

Photo courtesy of "Key Route Ken" Archives.

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An uncompleted SP "Pacific" type loco pulls a train of Harriman coaches on Vic Shattock's basement Live Steam railroad.

Photo courtesy of "Key Route Ken" Archives..

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"HIGHBALL" in the Basement !!!

SP 2422 pulls a short freight consist on Vic Shattock's live steam basement railroad in Oakland, CA.

Photo courtesy of "Key Route Ken" Archives.

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THREE locomotives on Vic Shattock's live steam basement railroad in Oakland, Calif, on DISPLAY to a contingent of SP "railfans".

Note: I lived in the house that contained this "Wonder of the World" for the first 14-years of my life. My bedroom was right upstairs! It's a wonder I ever got schoolwork done! (grin)

KRK...

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The late Victor Shattock is seen inspecting something on the tender of one of his beautiful SP 2-8-2 "Mikados"..

Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, was entirely scratchbuilt from the ground up.

The 55-inch long turntable took over six months to construct and has hundreds and hundreds of rivets in the bridgework.

Photo courtesy of "Key Route Ken" Archives.

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In the few years before Vic Shattock moved into the large Oakland house with the basement, Vic lived out in the Melrose District of East Oakland and had "backyard operations" in lieu of a basement.

Here we see SP 2422 and SP 2753 leading a local freight drag.

This photo would have been between 1926-1930.

Photo courtesy of "Key Route Ken" archives..

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KRK -

What kind of fuel did your grandfather burn in his engines that it was (more or less) safe to run them in an enclosed environment like that?

Here is another Pre-1930 shot of Vic's SP 2422
with some local freight activity in his backyard.
Note the engineman oiling the running gear and also note the MOTORCAR with trailer about mid-way down the siding.

The motorcar was cool and it had a typical little HOUSE to layover in. It ran on a windup clock mechanism..

It lasted for many years until a particular
"Grandson" ran it into oblivion in later years down the line. Who, Me ???? (grin)

Photo courtesy of "Key Route Ken" archives..

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This includes this evening's SAMPLER of photos of Vic Shattock and his famous live steam railroad in 1/2" scale, 2 1/2" gauge in Oakland, Calif..

I hope you have enjoyed it..

There may be a few more down the line if your interest continues.

Vic Shattock built close to THIRTY live steam locomotives in 1/2", 3/4" and 1-inch scales.

SP Pacifics, SP Mikados, SP Consolidation types, B & O "President Washington" type,
Canadian Pacific types, three British types too..

A Single Sterling, a Crampton, and the famous "LION", aka The Titfield Thunderbolt...

All locomotives and cars and other items were scratchbuilt by VIC himself.

I have a file cabinet FULL of news clippings, magazines, photos, negatives, employee journals, even stuff from overseas,about THE MAN I personally credit for making me the railfan I am today.

Note: When he died in 1974 at the age of 87 years, all of the SF Bay Area newspapers did lasting tributes to him. Thirty days after THAT, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a special SUNDAY piece on "NOTABLES" of the World such as Russian Activists, Golda Meir of Israel, Bobby Fischer and on and on.
There were about 12 people listed and what they accomplished or whatever. Either they did something special or had died or whatever.
They were famous to the extent that a common person would probably recognize their name.
I tell you all because of this:
In the center of that large page was the name of "Victor Shattock" and how he had built the World's smallest STEAM driven train.
I feel honored that he is listed with those famous people of the World and YES, I have that article..

He was my paternal grandfather and yes, I loved him deeply and still miss him at almost 60 years of age myself.
BUT, I hope to share the history of this Man and his Legacy with those that just "might" like to know.

TODAY, the memory of Vic Shattock carries on in the club in Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley, CA, almost SEVENTY years ago:
the "Golden Gate Live Steamers"... The club HE founded in Oakland in 1936... I wonder if he ever thought it would last this long.
Who can really say!!

Thank you for your time in sharing some memories, guys.. And thank our Webmaster, Todd, too.

"Key Route Ken"...

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The fuel was DENATURED ALCOHOL burned in a special vaporizing-type burner he designed himself, unlike the British-wick type burners.
Vic's was easily controlled with a needle valve and resembled the flames on a kitchen stove.

Neat stuff, Ken. Thanks for sharing it.

Africansteam

Ken,
I've been fascinated by all these Vic Shattuck photographs. The craftsmanship is amazing. My grandfather too scratchbuilt locomotives (they're family heirlooms today), but they were Lionel scale and ran on 3-rail Lionel track. I can't imagine constructing working boilers and valve trains in miniture. What was the steam pressure? When he had them all steamed up and running didn't the house get smoked up? What did Mrs Vic think of all this, that's a huge time commitment?
Clarence

Hi there, Clarence and everyone:

To answer some of your questions:

Boiler Pressure: 80-90 lbs. PSI on 1/2" scale models.
100-110 lbs, PSI on 3/4 & 1" scales.

Fuel: Denatured Alcohol (Wood Alcohol)
Methylated Spirits (British)
Type of Burner: Vaporizing, flat shallow pan,
controlled by needle valve-- high BTU output..
Operates CLEAN-- No Smoke-- No Soot..

Boiler Construction: COPPER thruout-- standard firetube boiler with Stay Bolts, Crown sheet,etc.
All fittings and boiler silver soldered or brazed.
Boiler "lagged" with ASBESTOS paper for insulation and heat retention..

Locomotives equipped with axle-driven feed water pumps, in some cases additional feedwater pumps, check valves, safety valves, water glass, pressure gauge, superheater and feed water heaters, mechanical lubricators, piston-valve cylinders and walscharts valve gear..

Operation: NO REMOTE CONTROL AVAILABLE...
TIP of THROTTLE handle extended just barely thru opening in cab roof so as to be adjusted, on the fly.

Power: Each locomotive from the basement could pull FOUR ADULTS on flat cars on an outdoor track. They each weighed around 85 pounds..

Injectors: Basement engines did NOT have Injectors, but most of Vic's larger engines were so equipped..

Hopper Car: The single hopper car that Vic had on the layout had fully operating side and center drop doors and was used to ballast the track.

PFE Cars: The TWO "PFE" cars that Vic had on the layout had operating doors and roof hatches. The icing chambers were lined with galvanized sheet metal and you could keep sandwiches cool, by dropping cocktail size ice cubes down thru the roof hatches ..

Turntable: The turntable was 55-inches in overall length. SP 110-foot Common Standard prototype.
It was electrically operated by an old electric train motor and gear train. You would line it up on a roundhouse track, and then reach thru it with a stick with a hook on the end, and snag a locomotive by its smokestack. Pull the loco onto the table, turn it around onto the "Firing Up" track, and when all set to go, turn the engine to the outbound track to the mainline.

An engine was usually run by itself for a half dozen laps to see if it was running ok and so forth. Then a train was made up from the Yards and attached to the engine. Two "toots" of the whistle, and your wildest dreams were set in motion ! STEAM trains running around your basement..

With several locos running, as well as visitors smoking, we just opened the basement door and a couple of windows..

My sister, Patty, who is currently 70 years old, shared the same house with her kid brother so many, many years ago.
About three years ago, at a family dinner function, she told those in attendance that she still has vivid memories from time to time, of THAT house...
She remarked to me: How did we ever survive in that basement as kids ?? Why ?? ,I asked..
Well, she said, you had the smells of the locomotives, the constant men visitors smoking cigars, pipes and cigarettes, the gas fumes from Grandpa's soldering iron heater, the gas fumes from the old furnace and water heater and the large heater pipes to upstairs from the furnace which were white in color from the ASBESTOS paper wrapping !! We looked at each other, laughed and cried... Too many childhood memories.

Grandma Shattock (Mrs. Vic) was content to stay upstairs and read or watch TV..

They were both from England and during WWII they entertained dozens of British Sailors who were visiting SF Bay, who had a great time with dances in the large upstairs of THAT house, and who, in some cases, never made it back home. But THAT's another story!

EACH locomotive took an average of 1500-hours of SPARE time to construct from the ground up. You have to know a bit of EVERYTHING to do what Vic Shattock did.
Foundry work, tin smithing, sheet metal work, soldering, machine tool operation, tool and die making, brazing, silver soldering, welding.. You name it!!

He told me when I was very young, that he "READ" everything he could on those different subjects. He was a long time correspondent with Britain's "LBSC" and the "Model Engineer" folks published by Percival Marshall, Ltd..

TIME AVAILABLE (grin): What time?? Ha,Ha...
He raised SIX children of his own.. Was active in his Masonic Lodge.. Was Co-Chairman of the Live Steam Standards Committee for the NMRA in the 1940's ...
Worked on the Southern Pacific Railroad for 36-years.
Was Secretary-Treasurer for Lodge 407 of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees RR union..
Was Asst Chairman as well as Chairman for the "Pacific Federation" for unionized railroad employees on the West Coast. Was SP Western Division "Water Service Foreman" with office in the Tin Shop in West Oakland.

Used to be the "PUMPER" at the pumphouse at Oakland Pier, years earlier..
And then this: Took in an 18-month old BABY at the age of 59 years, cause the kid needed a home. So he raised ME as his 7th child. How could I escape trains ? (grin)

Anyway, that's another story too. I've gotten carried away here, Clarence-- but I hope I've answered some questions.

Cheers.

"Key Route Ken"...

Note: If any of you are interested in my 72-minute VIDEO about the "Vic Shattock Story" , let me know off-list at my e-mail address of: keyrouteken@msn.com

The video contains 110-photos and about 800-feet of film, including a quite lengthy bit of footage of Vic's basement RR in action. Thanks to all of you and to Todd too.

Ken Shattock
(aka "Key Route Ken"...)

Ken, I'll say it again and again: Wow! Simply amazing, and truly artistic craftsmanship! I just regret that I never got to meet your Grandfather. - Chris

Ken you may have answered this before on an earlyer post.
But what has happened to Vic collection? I hope its in safe harbor or in a museum some place.
It would be great to see the works of art on some level not necesarlly running, but in some type of exibit would be nice someday.

Thanks for sharing
Tony