Kenosha County Wisconsin40 et 8 Voiture 410

I think I mentioned that when Tim and I started working on the Locomotive 2 years ago that i made an electronic sound system. If you need to update the sound system on your locomotive, I put the plans, blueprints, parts lists, and code on GitHub here: https://github.com/lpcia/Parade-Player.

This winter I will be working on version 3 which will include a second set of speakers and a PA system so we can work the crowd. The marine speakers are definitely loud enough, but only in the front. The second set will be mounted on the roof pointing about 45 degrees from the front.

I originally made this system for my model railroad. To modify it for our parade locomotive I added an old auto “head unit” I had lying around, and a set of huge marine speakers.

I added a wired remote this year. I may convert that to wireless with nRF24L01 transmitters and receivers.

Here is the current playlist: Do you have a suggestion?

• 01 On the Road Again-WN.mp3
• 02 Beach Boys I Get Around.mp3
• 03 Walking on Sunshine.mp3
• 04 Armed Forces Medley.mp3
• 05 This is my Country.mp3
• 06 Grand Old Flag.mp3
• 07 Little Nash Rambler.mp3
• 08 Sousa The Thunderer.mp3
• 09 Sousa Stars & Stripes Forever .mp3
• 10 French Whistle.mp3
• 11 Multi Whistle Blast.mp3
• 12 Startup Chuff.mp3
• 13 Brakes -Grinding to a halt.mp3
• 14 Steam Loco Regulate Steam.mp3
• 15 Steam Loco Brake Compressor.mp3
• 16 Ozzy Crazy Train All Aboard.mp3

If you have any questions, suggestions, etc, let me know through this website, or through GitHub (although I don’t go there often)

Tim Green is the 40et8, Voiture 410’s Locomotive Engineer. IMHO, If it weren’t for him, the locomotive would have sat in the garage for at least another 12 years collecting dust. There were even some members considering selling her off at one low point. Then came Tim.

Tim is one of those very rare guys that can seemingly fix anything. And that was a very good thing for Voiture 410, because there were doubts when we took 12 years of dust and junk off of her. For my part, it was a real treat working with him and watching him tackle one problem after another. I’ve only met a few guys like him in my life. I think of them as Leonard DaVinci’s. If I’m being honest, watching Tim work reminded me a lot of working on cars with my Dad (another Leonard DaVinci) whose wizardry helped me get a 65 Plymouth Fury that I bought for 50 bucks on the road.

As Voiture 410’s Locomotive Engineer, Tim not only got her running, he made the 86 year old vehicle safe to be on the road. There is another article below that gives an accounting of a lot (but not all) of the work he did.

Tim also had a lot of help from his son’s Tim and Chris who did the heavy lifting, and some of the wizardry they inherited from Dad. Chris’ son “CJ” was a big part of the team, always there to lend a hand. Tim’s wife Sue also made some important contributions.

While Voiture 410 is grateful for all the work he did, Tim’s most important community job is as the de facto leader of the Kenosha Area Vietnam Veterans Honor Guard (https://sewivets.org/kavv/). If your veteran loved ones have had military funeral honers in Kenosha County, there is a good chance Tim was behind the scenes helping coordinate it.

While searching through Post 21’s Newspaper Archives, I found an article showing when Voiture 410 received the Title and Keys for our locally famous Locomotive. According to the article the Locomotive was turned over on Thursday September 11, 1941. That would make her 82 years old as of the date of this article. Here’s to the next 82 years!

Kenosha Evening News Friday, September 12, 1941 The Caption reads:

KENOSHA VOITURE GETS NEW LOCOMOTIVE – The gift of the Nash-Kelvinator Corp. and other public-spirited individuals and organizations in Kenosha, the new volture locomotive for the Kenosha Forty and Eight Society was formally turned over to the chapter Thursday afternoon at the Nash plant. Above, R. A. DeVlleg, Nash-Kelvinator works manager, is presenting the certificate of title to Nick Raschke, retiring Chef de Gare. In the upper picture Mr. DeVlieg is with the nembers of the crew of the locomotive. They include Raschke, Jake Willems, Julius Roepke, Carl Gardner, Al Krahn, Ross Phelps and Dr. L E. Erling.

The pertinent part of the article reads as follows:

The chassis and motor were donated by Nash-Kelvinator, while a voluntary group of Legion and 40 et. 8 members helped with the assembling and finishing. A large number of other local firms donated various materials. The locomotive is built to the scale of the famous French locomotives of the World War. A box car will be added later.

Crew members are Jake Willems, Engineer; Carl Gardner, conductor; Julius Roepke, fireman; and Al Krahn brakeman. The locomotive will appear in the pre-convention parade to be held at Racine Saturday afternoon, and in the national 40 et 8 parade at Milwaukee Monday afternoon and evening.

Our locomotive is making an appearance at the Kenosha Expo on Saturday March 9th, and Sunday March 10th. We are there at the invitation of Bill Zimmer of the Kenosha Garden Railroad Society, of which I am a member. Ol’ 410 will be parked next to their large G Scale layout sporting an upgraded audio system that I redesigned, a new backup/front facing camera system, and a new, very loud, PA system all of which Tim Green and I installed last week.

You can find out more about this Kenosha tradition here https://kenoshaexpo.com/

If you’re a geek and want information about the sound system, visit my GitHub here: https://github.com/lpcia/Parade-Player/tree/main. If you can use it, please consider donating to one of our causes.