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 Post subject: Photo visit to the Warther Carving Museum
PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:01 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 9:35 am
Posts: 8139
Location: Wilton, NY
Photos of the locomotive models hand carved by the late Ernest Warther, on display at his museum in Ohio. He reportedly did own a lathe, scribing wheels on a piece of wood, then carving down to the line, an incredible task..

http://www.clevelandtrains.net/ngallery/albums/10.aspx


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 Post subject: Re: Photo visit to the Warther Carving Museum
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:08 am 

Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:02 pm
Posts: 1742
Location: Back in NE Ohio
I remember seeing Mooney Warther in person when I was a kid. On Sunday afternoons he would be near the front of the museum hand-carving small working wooden pliers out of a single piece of wood in about 30 seconds that they sold in the gift shop. I can't imagine what they would be worth now. Mind you, he was into his '80's at that point. He had this unkempt shock of white hair. Just an amazing craftsman.


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 Post subject: Re: Photo visit to the Warther Carving Museum
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:38 am 

Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2004 10:22 pm
Posts: 180
Location: Southern California
I still have my pair, but it was carved by his son-in-law. Very impressive place. I heard about it on "Tracks Ahead" several years back.


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 Post subject: Re: Photo visit to the Warther Carving Museum
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:20 am 

Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:15 pm
Posts: 160
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ
A few weeks back there was a discussion about the Warther Museum on the railfan.net forums tourist RR and museums board. I've copied and pasted (below) my post from there and added a link to the discussion which included many great photos of his carved locomotives.

Sometime during the late 1960's, when I was around 7 or 8 years old, my parents took me on a visit to the Warther Museum. At the time Mooney Warther was alive and still carving in his 80's. I believe he died in 1973 at age 87. Although that visit was nearly 40 years ago, I remember it well. Mr. Warther was a wonderful fellow to meet in person. Like most, if not all, young visitors, he made me a pair of his world famous pliers. He took a pen knife from his pocket and to prove that it wasn't even sharp, pulled it across it his wrist (I remember him telling me "Don't try this with your mommy or daddy's knifes"!!!). He picked a piece of basswood about a 1/2 inch square and about 4 or 5 inches long. He made a few cuts with that dull knife and in about 10 seconds time he had made a working pair of pliers out of a single piece of wood! I still have the pliers he gave me and they still amaze people when I show them. My memories of his carved steam locomotive collection are a bit more vague, but I remember the UP Big Boy he carved from a walnut stump that an Amishman gave him. I also remember he had carved a scale model of the large stationary steam engine that powered the steel mill in which he worked when he was young. Like the locomotives, the steel mill engine had working parts set in motion by electric motors. The museum was quite a place to even a 7 or 8 year old. I've always wanted to make another visit, but unfortunately I've never gone back.

Really enjoyed seeing the above photos, thanks for posting them.

Regards,
Jim Robinson

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?bo ... 89;start=0


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 Post subject: Re: Photo visit to the Warther Carving Museum
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:57 am 

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm
Posts: 6400
I seem to recall a brochure on the Warther Carving Museum which showed a caboose on the property. Don't see any signs of the caboose in the photos of the museum on this thread. Was it removed, or is my memory playing tricks on me?

Les


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 Post subject: Re: Photo visit to the Warther Carving Museum
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:42 pm 

Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2004 10:22 pm
Posts: 180
Location: Southern California
The caboose appears in the second page of photos from the link in the initial post.


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 Post subject: Re: Photo visit to the Warther Carving Museum
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:40 pm 

Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:42 am
Posts: 440
Location: Haslett, Michigan USA
As I recall, there is a small tank engine or switcher on the grounds, too. I saw the place en route to a RRPCA meeting some years ago, many years after seeing a big article in Model Railroader, with Warther on the cover. An astonishing piece of folk art.

_________________
Aarne H. Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, Michigan 48840-0665


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 Post subject: Re: Photo visit to the Warther Carving Museum
PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:21 pm 
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Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:45 am
Posts: 1138
Location: Beaumont, Texas
Jim Robinson wrote:
I also remember he had carved a scale model of the large stationary steam engine that powered the steel mill in which he worked when he was young. Like the locomotives, the steel mill engine had working parts set in motion by electric motors.


Here is an online picture of the steel mill engine:

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/pho ... 9120xJBPkw

According to Rick Rowland, head of the Tod Engine Foundation, it is a single cylinder Corliss driving a train of sheet rolls. The model is animated and all the motion on the engine is functional. There are actually two of these. Actually there were three. The first he wasn't satisfied with and he threw it in the fireplace. The second was better but didn't like it so he gave it away. Finally Mooney built the model pictured here. Models 2 and 3 sit side by side at the museum now.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project


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