Proto 1000 Milwaukee Road Alco DL109 paint job

[rprince]

On the cover of the July, 2006 Walthers sales catalog they featured the Proto 1000 Alco DL109 locomotives for six roads including the Milwaukee Road. The Milwaukee Road model was shown with the paint scheme the locomotive had when it was delivered to the railroad in November, 1941. This was the familiar gray over orange scheme with the yellow stripe going from the frame of the center windshield window and down the top of the nose to surround the uppermost headlight fixture. It also showed the flying wings on the nose and the lettering "The Milwaukee Road" under the wings
I ordered this locomotive from Walthers directly out of this catalog, but when the locomotive arrived, it came with a red/orange paint scheme, no flying wings on the nose, no lettering for "The Milwaukee Road", and an unconvincing circular white decal apparently intended to represent the lower headlight fixture on the nose!
I emailed Walthers about these discrepancies and recieved an email back from someone identifying himself only as "Larry T" in the Walthers parts department, telling me that the actual prototype they chose for the red/orange scheme was pictured on page 35 of a book entitled "Milwaukee Road in Color - City of Milwaukee."
Last weekend I found this book and, true enough, on page 35 is a picture of a red/orange DL109. Two important things about this book that Larry T failed to point out are 1) on page 8 of that same book is a picture of the Milwaukee DL109 wearing the color scheme shown on the cover of the Walthers July sales catalog, and 2) the photo on page 35 was taken sometime during 1952, a good ten years after the locomotive was delivered to the railroad!
I have tracked down several photos of this Milwaukee Road DL109 #14A locomotive from November, 1941 when it was delivered, through June 29, 1947, all showing this locomotive in its original gray/orange paint scheme, including the flying wings and Milwaukee Road lettering on the nose.
If anyone has any dated photos of this locomotive more recent than June 29, 1947, I would appreciate you emailing them to me or sighting the publication from which they can be obtained.
I am trying to convince Walthers that not only did they illustrate the original color scheme on the cover of their July catalog -- with no illustration or disclaimer to the contrary inside the catalog -- (the bait), they then shipped a model with an entirely different paint scheme, no flying wings, no Milwaukee Road lettering, and a rediculous looking round white circle decal apparently intended to represent the lower headlight location on the locomotive's nose (the switch).
Any additional historical information anyone can provide on this locomotive will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Russ Prince
Apple Valley, MN

[jimrice4449]

Ah, the joys of modeling the Milwaukee!    I have 4 Hiawathas ranging from the 1942 Afternoon Hi to the 1952 Afternoon Hi (the other 2 are '47 and "50 Oly HIs )   Each has a diferent color scheme from the others and there's one scheme from that time frame besides these.

I got one of the first run DL 109s in the as-delivered scheme (not the one shown on page 8 of The City Of Milwaukee)   For a pic of the as-delivered scheme check page 130 of The Milwaukee Road Passenger Train Services.   This was shortly replaced w/ the longest lived DL 109 scheme (pg. 8 C of Milw)   Around 1947 the 3rd (of 4) scheme, an adaptation of the Oly Hi Erie built w/o the huge chrome nose piece was applied and finally the 1950s scheme which is the current LL offering.   Personally I think that's a better choice than as-delivered scheme since I don't think I've ever seen a pic of the as-delivered scheme in service.

I agree that the white disc in lieu of a Mars light is a sorry effort.   I revised my as-built scheme to the later pre-1947 by simply masking off the nose wings  and repainting after adding a piece of plastic tube for the pathetic Mars light that was on it originally.   Unfortunately that option won't work w/ the wingless final scheme.

 

 

[rprince]

Jim,

Thanks for your input on the DL109. I have several photos of the Milwaukee DL109 in it's "as-delivered" paint scheme which I'd be glad to share with you. Since I havein't figured out how to post a picture here, send me your email address and I'll forward them to you.
My concern is that when Walthers shows the gray/orange scheme with wings, etc., on the cover of their flyer catalog, I think that's the product they should ship, not some maroon/orange scheme that didn't go into effect until the '50's. Milwaukee Road took possession of their two DL109's in November of 1941! That's the paint scheme I want.
Anyway, drop me a line with your email address and I'll send you the photos.

Russ

[rprince]

On September 26, I received this message from Walthers regarding their admitted publication of the wrong artwork for the Milwaukee Road DL109. Read on...

Dear Mr. Prince,

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail your concerns to Larry T about the HODL. I do apologize for the confusion about the color scheme on the HO DL109. Our front cover of the July sales flyer shows the DL109 color scheme in an ‘N” scale, however the scale is not published next to the picture or any other pictures on the cover. The color scheme shown here in the ‘N” version is a product of a run that was done by the former Life-Like Company in Baltimore, MD. Walthers acquired Life-like in July of 2005 and did not inherit any additional inventory from this run in an HO scale. In 2002, we ran the DL109 in HO scale under a different road name that is a different color scheme as you described. Walthers does run locomotives in various road names based on our customers demand and that is what happened here.

Walthers has based its reputation on honesty and integrity for the last 75 years. It is not our intention or tactic to ‘bait and switch” . Our customers are important and Walthers does everything possible to deliver top-notch products and service to our customers. Again, I apologize for the confusion and hope this explanation makes sense to you. Phil Walthers takes every inquiry seriously and I have forwarded your e-mail message to the proper departments. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.


Sincerely,


Janet A. Schweitzer
Wm. K. Walthers
Sales Manager/Direct to Consumer

[rprince]

On September 30, at Janet Schweitzer's invitation to let her know if there is anything else they can do, I responded with the following email:

Dear Janet,

Thank you for your apology regarding the misleading July catalog ad. All that appears to be missing from your apology is an expression of willingness to "make it right" with your customer(s).

That you published a photo of an N-scale locomotive painted completely different from the one you intended to ship makes little difference, except, however, since you knew the photo was inaccurate and did not represent the HO model's final appearance, you should have said so in the ad! Good grief, this is pretty elementary!

The issue here is not my acceptance of your "explanation", but rather the corrective measures your company intends to take to fix the problem for your customer(s). Let me suggest what you can do to accomplish this.

Have some HO gauge DL109 body shells painted in the color scheme illustrated on the cover of the July flyer, the gray/orange paint scheme with the yellow stripe on the nose. Add the flying wings and "The Milwaukee Road" lettering on the nose, as it was originally applied to the actual locomotive when delivered in November, 1941 to the Milwaukee Road. Also, try to do something creative to correct the "white circle decal" intended to represent the lower headlight/Mars light fixture. Ship the replacement shells to your customers who purchased the bad red/orange paint scheme to correct this problem.

I still hope your intention is not to bait and switch, but all the evidence certainly is leading in that direction. I am not trying to make trouble. I spend several thousand dollars each year on model railroad products purchased from dealers and hobby shows and shops that are supplied with product from Walthers. I relyed on your ad to accurately represent what you were selling. Note that all the other railroad’s color schemes were produced as shown on the July catalog cover. I have no reason to go on a crusade over this issue as long as Walthers (owner of Life-Like) takes the necessary steps to solve the problem, which your firm created, to your customer's satisfaction. I am only asking to receive what you advertised you were selling in the first place.

Thanks for reading this. I look forward to seeing this through to a satisfactory conclusion.

Sincerely,

Russ Prince
Apple Valley, MN

[rprince]

In two brief messages sent to me by Janet Schweitzer, Walthers has chosen to take NO ACTION to make good on their serious problem with the Milwaukee Road version of the HO DL109. In her first message -- intended for someone named "Andy" -- Janet writes,

"Andy – Should I respond and how?"

It would seem as though Walthers is struggling to decide whether to respond fairly, honestly and responsibly, or to do nothing and hope the problem will go away.

In her second message to me, Janet writes,

"Sorry about that.. I am conferring with my product development department. There are no plans to change at this point in time. And once again, I am sorry for the confusion."

Hmmm, looks like they are choosing the do nothing and hope the problem goes away. This does not seem to be an uncommon corporate approach to dealing with a corporate screw-up. Folks, in your future dealings with Walthers, remember, Caveat emptor!

[rprince]

If you look on page 50 of the December, 2006 issue of Model Railroader magazine, you will see the paint scheme of the HO scale Milwaukee Road DL-109 illustrated on the cover of their July 2006 sale flyer. This is the color scheme we buyers expected to receive, but Walthers switched and send out the awful maroon/orange "undecorated" version instead. This is bait and switch, plain and simple. Walthers should be ashamed to claim otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,
Same thing happened to me. I thought I was buying the gray&yellow&orange paint job on the DL-109, but when it arrived it was all wrong. I read all the previous posts, and was very surprosed that the Walthers people acknowledged they pictured an "N" scale model with one paint job, knowing all along they were going to ship something entirely differelt. I also think Walthers pulled a bait and switch.

Walt Willimason