# Headed to Wisconsin, Going to Walthers



## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

Well I'm pretty excited, I'm driving the family out to Wisconsin to visit well...family 

While we are there I thought this time (I missed it last time I visited) I am going to take my son and visit the Walthers store. The website states they have a layout and my son just loves to watch the model trains. I thought it would be a good time to go shopping as well 

Has anybody been to Walthers? Worth a quick stop??


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Ohhhhhh....so jealous.


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## sawgunner (Mar 3, 2012)

i'm jealous too!! i'll be heading to Iowa next Wednesday and will be there for a few dasys and can't get up there to Milwaukee!!


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

I can't wait...I bet it's gonna be real fun!!

There is also a really good hobby shop very close to where I am staying as well.

Plus...it is now a tradition (we started it last year) that my brother-in-law and I spend some time at the local shooting range.

Gonna be a great weekend!!!


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Please take and post some pics of the store, their display, layout, etc. Would love to see it all!

TJ


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

tjcruiser said:


> Please take and post some pics of the store, their display, layout, etc. Would love to see it all!
> 
> TJ


Will do, I'm sure the wife will be hoarding the camera, (she's going somewhere else, I'm not taking her to Walthers  but my phone takes pretty decent pictures


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

So I place my Wathers order with you right? 
That should be an interesting trip!


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

So it was a great day, we got up had breakfast and headed off to Walthers. The store was pretty cool, not as big as I had imagined but the guys behind the counter had the whole warehouse available to them, so basically it was anything you wanted. :thumbsup:

I didn't go crazy with the buying, picked up some nice pulpwood flatcars that were on sale and some chain-link fencing plus a few other things.

The layout was pretty cool, my son just loved it. Lotta trees and a little city scene, plus a yard with a turntable. No elevation to the tracks but the whole interior of the layout was a mountain. I have pics below.






















































































































And for you N scale guys...


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

That was the first stop. Next we hit up the LHS because the Walthers website told me they had, once upon a time, the Superior Paper Mill in stock I have been looking for. Well turns out they sold it (once upon a time), but this older gentleman, overheard me asking about it and approached me. He told me that he had it assembled but said it was too big for his layout, and offered to sell it to me for $20. So we met back in the parking lot a few hours later and I picked up the Paper Mill, not too bad, he has it wired for lights but it is missing some roof vents (good thing I have a lot of extra roof vents laying around). That thing is pretty big, I might have to rearrange some space on the layout!!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

It looked like you had to fight the crowds at the store.

Good deal on the building. Is that pink?
The lamp shade looks like part of the roof.

Did they run the trains?


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

big ed said:


> Good deal on the building. Is that pink?
> The lamp shade looks like part of the roof.



That's pretty funny, didn't notice the lamp shade until you mentioned it. No the flash on my phone washed it out, it's somewhere between a red and a burgundy color



big ed said:


> Did they run the trains?


Yeah the trains were running, they had a UP-CNW consist pulling the freight train and a Santa-Fe A/B unit pulling the passenger cars. Don't remember what the models of the engines were, I was trying to shop, look at the layout and keep track of the boy all at the same time, so I didn't have a lot of time for studying.


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## Ranger (Mar 4, 2012)

I would be broke after leaving there.


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## joed2323 (Oct 17, 2010)

awesome store, looks like you guys had a good time shopping and checking out the layout...

Where is this store located again? I go down to green bay/ milwaukee area for road calls, i will have to check this out next time the boss sends me out...


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

joed2323 said:


> awesome store, looks like you guys had a good time shopping and checking out the layout...
> 
> Where is this store located again? I go down to green bay/ milwaukee area for road calls, i will have to check this out next time the boss sends me out...



Yeah we had a real great time!!

It's located in North Milwaukee a few miles east of US 45 (Zoo Fwy).

Wm. K. Walthers Inc.
5601 W. Florist Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53218


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Very cool, and I see the younger generation appreciated it as well.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

The store looks VERY empty of customers?

Maybe because of the holiday weekend?


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

big ed said:


> The store looks VERY empty of customers?
> 
> Maybe because of the holiday weekend?


It was pretty empty of customers, for a few minutes we were the only ones!! I think part of it was the holiday weekend but also the warehouse was located in an industrial district, there wasn't really any commercial buildings around.

Once we left there we went to Hiawatha Hobbies Train store, there was more people in that store but still not very crowded.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Bman said:


> It was pretty empty of customers, for a few minutes we were the only ones!! I think part of it was the holiday weekend but also the warehouse was located in an industrial district, there wasn't really any commercial buildings around.


HUH? an industrial district but no commercial buildings around?
What was around them then?

Nice layout, all Walthers products on the layout?:thumbsup:


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Great pics ...

Kid in a candy store, huh? And I'm not talking about the little guy in front of the camera ... I'm talking about the big kid behind the camera! What fun!

Thanks for sharing,

TJ


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

big ed said:


> HUH? an industrial district but no commercial buildings around?
> What was around them then?
> 
> Nice layout, all Walthers products on the layout?:thumbsup:



Just speaking generally without being too technical, the warehouse was in an industrial park that bordered a residential area. Wasn't the "high rent" district of Milwaukee, more modest inner city homes and apartments. It was only a couples miles off the highway, and the way we came in I remember only a few gas stations and mini marts, no big Home Depots, Targets, or Walmarts. I was the one talking not driving, so I wasn't paying too much attention to the area


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Bman said:


> Just speaking generally without being too technical, the warehouse was in an industrial park that bordered a residential area. Wasn't the "high rent" district of Milwaukee, more modest inner city homes and apartments. It was only a couples miles off the highway, and the way we came in I remember only a few gas stations and mini marts, no big Home Depots, Targets, or Walmarts. I was the one talking not driving, so I wasn't paying too much attention to the area


Then my guess is, it is empty because they just opened the doors? Or because of the holiday.
Nice layout pictures.:thumbsup:


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

Thanks Big Ed, I took those pictures with my camera phone...and I am the worlds worst photographer!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Bman said:


> Thanks Big Ed, I took those pictures with my camera phone...and I am the worlds worst photographer!



Did you count all those empty hopper cars?
Long passenger train too.:thumbsup:

You think they would fill those cars up huh?
Or at least make the insides a little black, I guess they are coal cars?

I have a new camera 14 megapixel/30 optical zoom with a bunch of features I will never use.
I still like my old 2.1 megapixel 10 optical zoom camera better.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

big ed said:


> I have a new camera 14 megapixel/30 optical zoom ...


14 Megapixels ?!?!?

That's crazy ... I can't imagine where one would ever need that much resolution ...

Unless one really, really need to photograph a pimple on a flea's butt at 100 yards!



TJ


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

tjcruiser said:


> 14 Megapixels ?!?!?
> 
> That's crazy ... I can't imagine where one would ever need that much resolution ...
> 
> ...



The 30 optical zoom is nice too.
I can stand on my porch and zoom in blocks away, the picture comes out like the subject is standing right in front of me.

I got my 2.1 / 10 optical zoom for $299.99 when they were going for $700 years ago.
The 14 meg I got for the same price on QVC, it was the hot deal of the day.
But for taking pictures of my trains I like the 2.1 better. For the main reason I can put my eye on it to take the picture, the 14 only takes pictures through the viewing screen. I didn't know that when I bought it, but for taking pictures of wildlife and far away objects it works great.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Can you zoom into Rhode Island from there, too?!?

I guess I'd better stop working on my computer in my underwear!


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## New Berlin RR (Feb 11, 2012)

very nice pics, honestly the most you ever will need is 8meg camera, thats I think equivilant to what the human eye can see detail level wise...I just remember reading/hearing that some where....


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

tjcruiser said:


> 14 Megapixels ?!?!?
> 
> That's crazy ... I can't imagine where one would ever need that much resolution ...
> 
> ...


You'd be surprised.  I have the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10 with 14MB and a 16x optical zoom. It's a nice pocket-sized camera that has lots of capability.

Remember, you can throw away resolution, but you can never add it after the fact.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

That is truly amazing how much techno-power is being packed into such a small package these days, especially when you think about how much things have changed/improved in a relatively short timeframe.


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

big ed said:


> Did you count all those empty hopper cars?
> Long passenger train too.:thumbsup:
> 
> You think they would fill those cars up huh?
> Or at least make the insides a little black, I guess they are coal cars?


I didn't count all those empty hoppers...but as I was leaving I really wanted to go over there and make sure that each hopper had a different number on the side. After all they are Walthers , with all the resources they have you would think they would try very hard to be prototypical.

I wasn't thinking straight I really should have took a video!! (The camera didn't pick up all the flashing lights on the emergency vehicles.)


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

Nice trip Bman. Thanks for sharing the pics. Now I can say I've seen the Walthers train layout. Looks like you all had a great trip. Good catch on the paper mill too. pete


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