Bill Bowser founded Bowser Manufacturing in 1946 in Redlands, California. During the nine years Bill owned Bowser Manufacturing he redesigned the Knapp Mountain and engineered the K-11 Pacific and Arc-1 4-6-6-4 Challenger. The K-11 Pacific and Challenger kits are still sold today and are two of the finest engineered locomotives of their time. Bill Bowser was one of the premier designers in HO and made a significant contribution to model railroading. This is the story Bowser Manufacturing's early years and the difficulties encountered in designing and manufacturing a quality locomotive in the 1940s and early 1950s.

	Bill Bowser 1953	Bowser Manufacturing's 1st Ad - 1948

In 1944, during World War II Bill was employed by the Naval Ordinance Plant Indianapolis (NOPI). It was there that George Hockaday, one of Bill's friends and an avid railroad modeler asked him to make some parts for him. Wartime production controls made parts hard to come by and Bill had a shop at his home with metal working capabilities.

There were many discussions with his friend about what the HO modeler's needs were. This was a time when modelers did a lot of designing and scratch building to create their locomotives. Also, Wartime requirements had practically eliminated the availability of any kits that were produced.

Bill's new interest in HO prompted him to purchase the parts inventory for the Knapp Brass Mountain when the opportunity arose. Knapp owed money to Superior Casting that he could not pay and Bill agreed to take care of the amount due in return for acquiring the parts inventory. The total amount was around $200.00. The parts consisted of boiler castings, frames, wheel sets, a few motors, and some valve gear that was nothing like the actual locomotive valve gear.

Many parts of the Mountain, such as the frame and drivers, were not HO scale. Therefore, Bill began the task of redesigning them to the proper scale. The redesign of the drivers presented a technical problem since Bill did not have the casting equipment necessary to make spoke drivers. After reviewing many prototype pictures, it was discovered that some locomotives used a different type of driver known as Scullen drivers. This was a break as the Scullen drivers could be turned on a lathe from solid stock and the holes drilled with a drill press.

Scullen Drivers

At this point, it was not a clear choice that he should go into model railroading. He was also considering camera design and manufacturing model airplanes. But, after much consideration, the model train manufacturing business won out.

Prior to moving, Bill prepared for his new venture by accumulating additional machinery and locating the master pattern for the Knapp Mountain. The master was purchased from Superior Casting Company in Chicago for $800.00.

In October of 1946 the family sold their house and furniture and shipped the shop equipment to Redlands, California where it was put into storage. Bill, his wife, and their two children then packed up, jumped into their 1941 Oldsmobile and traveled to California to begin the new adventure.

When they arrived in Redlands in August of 1946 they could not find a rental house so they moved into the Redlands Hotel. Space for the new Bowser Manufacturing was also in short supply. Not being the kind of person to let things like this stand in his way, Bill bought a small piece of land and began constructing a new building for his business. While the new building was going up Bill's family continued to live in the Hotel.

Bowser Manufacturing on its way up.

Once the building was completed, the machinery was moved from storage and the doors were opened for business. To help make ends meet in the years between 1946 and 1948 Bowser Manufacturing produced experimental rocket nozzles for Redlands Rocket Propellant Company, a mold for a toy colt six shooter, and parts for Bourne Engineering in Riverside. During this period, a small die-casting machine was purchased and a press was built to make plastic compression moldings used in small wheel centers and motor commutators.

Completed home of Bowser Manufacturing

Bowser Manufacturing's first product was the redesigned cast brass, Knapp Mountain. However, as in any new business, things did not go as planned and there were many challenges to overcome before it would be in production.

Bowser Manufacturing's first employees. From the left, Stan Hopkins, Jack Womack, Bill Bowser, unidentified, and Stan DeBoef.

Initially the brass castings for the Mountain were to be made locally by a person who had brass foundry experience. The brass boilers and other parts are made using plaster molds created from the master brass castings. This process produces very fine detail. After ten months of trying, not a single suitable boiler casting was produced and the contractor threw in the towel. The problem was gassing in the mold that created bubbles and destroyed the fine finish and overall quality of the part.

	The plaster used was listed as casting plaster but it was meant to make plaster figures such as dolls. The high temperature of the liquid brass caused the plaster to out-gas and ruin the brass casting. The correct plaster is a special type that is chemically inert and porous enough to allow any gases produced to escape.
Mountain castings before finising

Although the production problem was solved, Bill was running low on funds and could not set up a foundry to make the Mountain castings. To obtain some working capital, the decision was made to take on a partner. As a result, a partnership was formed with Donald Acheson.

Original Supermotor

The armature was produced using fiber insulation and single coated formex wire. If the motor stalled,it would heat up. If it got hot enough, the insulation on the armature wiring would melt causing an internal short. The short, in-turn, would accelerate the heating process. To make matters worse, it was discovered that the person soldering the armature connections to the commutator was using too much flux paste. When the motor got hot, the paste would liquefy and seep into the armature wiring. Since flux is acidic, this would eat away the insulation and cause a short circuit. If all this was not bad enough, train hobbyists were cleaning the track with steel wool and residue fibers from the steel wool were be pulled into the motor by the magnet creating yet another way to cause a short circuit.

Not one to give up, Bill started a complete redesign of the motor. The fiber insulation was replaced with glass insulation, the wire was changed to double coated formex, and the commutator terminals were pretinned (coated with solder) so that flux was not needed. A special baked formex varnish was applied over the armature wiring to protect it. The first five-hundred motors were then 100 percent tested to assure quality. To differentiate the redesigned motor from the old motor, it was now called the Supermotor. A few years later the motor was improved again by adding a stonger magnet.

To counteract the past complaints and to show confidence in the new design, an unlimited motor guarantee was included with each new motor. If the customer developed any motor problems, they just had to send the motor back for replacement at no-charge. A this time, this was unheard of. In fact it was so unusual that it got Bill into trouble with some of the members of the NMRMA (National Model Railroaders Manufacturers Association). As motors were inclined to fail, they claimed the warranty set a bad precedence that could lead to severe financial problems.

The new warranty did not create any problems for Bowser Manufacturing as only a dozen or so motors were ever returned. Most of these failed due to debris in the motor or improper disassembly and reassembly.

	Completed Bowser Mountain with tender

The survey indicated that Bowser could possibly sell as many as a thousand locomotives a month. Based on this information and the pressure from the jobbers, it was decided to sell using jobbers. This decision led to financial problems as sales never came close to the survey results or the jobber's estimates. Later Bill figured out that the survey was flawed. When asked for buying plans, people respond with what they want to buy rather than what they can afford to buy. Based on actual sales results, it appears that people wanted to buy about five times what they could actually afford.

With the decision to sell through distribution, Bill returned the checks he had received for direct orders from customers and told them they would have to buy from their hobby store. This speaks well for his honesty but shows how naïve he was in business matters. Without the promised big sales volume and with the reduced profit on each sale, Bowser was having a tough time.

	With the Mountain in production it was time to develop a new model. After looking at many prototypes, the K-11 Pacific was selected as the next Bowser locomotive. The K-11 was a well known engine that was in common use on many railroads. In HO scale the model would be a good size and could negotiate the small radius curves found on many layouts.
Bowser Manufacturing in action.

Past experience with the manufacturing of the Mountain made it obvious that the following criteria must be met in order to develop a profitable product:

1. Casting costs had to be reduced.
2. Manufacturing costs had to be lowered.
3. The kit must be easy to build and have very detailed assembly instructions.
4. The locomotive must operate properly and remain in top operating condition.
5. Sales volume must be increased to reduce overhead and advertising costs on a per model basis.

To lower the cost of the castings, the K-11 boiler and other parts were made from Zamac 5 instead of cast brass. Each Mountain part produced required a plaster mold. The Pacific parts were mass produced using steel dies in an automated die casting machine. Also, some engine detail was left off. Although leaving detail off upset the more avid, purist modelers, it was a necessary compromise. The idea was to create a quality model but leave off some of the more intricate detail that raised production costs. Being a more seasoned company helped Bowser to get the K-11 Pacific into production in record time. In January of 1951, Bowser was ready to fill customer orders.

K-11 Ad appearing in January 1951 Model Railroader                          (Click on Ad to see full ad)

The K-11 kit was sold with the cast brass tender used on the Mountain. Although the Mountain tender was a good fit, it was more expensive to manufacture than the K-11's die cast parts. An additional benefit from the K-11 development was the 69" spoke drivers. Since the Mountain used the same size drivers, this meant spoke drivers were now available for the Mountain. Bowser offered the new drivers separately and advertised them in their Mountain ads. The Mountain kit continued to be shipped with the Scullen drivers.

Driver ad from May 1950.

The driveline of the K-11 was similar to the Mountain. Bill was very meticulous in the alignment of the driveline parts. Many locomotives drivelines of the time used an angled motor mount with an attached a worm gear on the end of the motor shaft that meshed with the drive gear. In the Bowser design, the drive worm gear is mounted between two sets of bearings. A short flexible drive shaft is used to connect the motor to the worm gear. The motor shaft is on the same line as the driveline and the drive worm gear is perpendicular to the axle drive gear. This system makes for smooth power transfer and reduces stress on the motor bearings.

	The gear lash is set when the worm gear is mounted and is not dependent on the motor mounting. The motor can be removed and reinstalled without having to reset the gear lash and there is little danger of accidentally bending the motor shaft. This system may not be as sophisticated as the gear boxes in use today, but it was quite advanced for the time.
K-11 Driveline with Supermotor

The K-11 also introduced driver axle bearings. Each K-11 driver axle is mounted in a pair of bronze bearings to minimize wobble and prevent wear that causes the mechanism operation to deteriorate over time.

	Bowser K-11 with cast brass tender

Seems that life was never meant to be easy for this struggling model railroad company as economic changes were beginning to negatively affect the hobby market. New competition for the potential buyer's funds took their toll. Low down payments for cars, furniture, homes and appliances were attracting the capital that was previously used for hobbies. Inflation was raising the cost for materials, wages, and advertising while economic pressure kept a lid on prices. This put companies like Bowser in a real squeeze.

Many model railroad companies survived by being a garage shop operation with little overhead. The locomotive business was hurt more than the car kit business since car kits sold for a few dollars while locomotive kits were a significant bite out most people's income. These economic conditions created a problem for Bill. His partner, Don, had a trust fund to live off of while Bill had to make draws against his Bowser capital account for living expenses. This situation would contribute to the future loss of his company.

Although financial success still alluded Bowser, plans went forward to do the next model. This was to be the granddaddy of all projects - the Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 articulated Challenger. A recent survey indicated that a quality Challenger kit could be a good seller. To an engineer like Bill, this was the supreme challenge - something he could really sink his teeth into.

Union Pacific Challenger 3985 (still alive today).

The UP 4-6-6-4 Challenger was designed by Otto Jebbelman and first built by Alco. Two hundred and thirty Challengers were built. Weighing 566,000 pounds with 94,400 of tractive effort made the Challenger one of the most powerful locomotives ever built.

	" I really took a lot of time designing the Challenger kit and was lucky to get Karl Wenzlaff, one of the top die makers in the country, to do the dies." Bill Bowser
Original Bowser Challenger with wood Semi-Vanderbilt tender - 1951                  This Challenger was originally purchased by J. Rhodes in Monterey California

	This shows the original drive for the Challenger model. Notice how all the worm gears are supported by pillow blocks with bearings and all sections of the drive line are connected by flexible driveshafts.
Original Challenger Drive with Supermotor

To create the Challenger tooling Karl rented time in a machine shop to do the machine work and did the hand work at home. He lived in El Monte California and had frequent conferences with Bill about the Challenger project. Karls's son, George Wensel, was a child actor at the age of five. He appeared in "Room for One More" and "How to Marry a Millionaire" with Marilyn Monroe. He probably will never forget sitting on Marilyn Monroe's lap for publicity pictures.

Bill had to rescale about 6000 dimensions from Union Pacific blueprints to create the Challenger design. His only help was a Monroe Mechanical Calculator powered by an electric motor.
	Challenger 3949 builders photo. Note the Scullen drivers.  UP photo
Matching this picture with the builder's picture shows how closely the Bowser Challenger resembles the UP Challenger. With just a small amount of added detail it would be identical. Remember, this was all done in 1951 without computers!
	Forty year old Bowser Challenger made from the original dies.

Early 4-6-6-4 Little Challenger 3915 (later 3815) with Semi-Vanderbilt tender.  UP photo

	When the Challenger kit began shipping it did not have a tender. Around June of 1951 a Semi-Vanderbilt wood tender was added. The Semi-Vanderbilt tender was used behind some of the early 4-6-6-4s that preceded the UP Challenger. These early 4-6-6-4s became known as little Challengers and were renumbered as the 3800 series. They had different sand domes and valve gear.
Bowser Wood UP Tender

When the Challenger went into production, Bowser Manufacturing's financial postion was still pretty poor. Bill had some contacts at the National Bureau of Standards that he made when he worked at the Naval Ordinance Plant. Using these contacts, he was able to negotiate a profitable contract with the Bureau that paid one-half of the comany's overhead and one-half of his and Don's salary. During the year the contracted lasted, the company was in full production of kits building up a nice inventory at a very low cost. The contract with the Bureau ended In 1955.

		Soon after the contract ended, Don Acheson decided to force Bill out of the company using the Buy-or-Sell agreement they signed at the time the partnership was formed. Under the Buy-or-Sell agreement, when Don offered to buy Bill's interest, Bill could have bought Don's interest by coming up with the money to match the buyout offer. This is supposed to protect one partner from the other. However, Bowser Manufacturing had several loans that Don had personably guaranteed. For Bill to buy the company, he had to match Don's offer and cover the loans. Also, Bill had drawn against his Bowser capital account to live while Don had not. This meant Bill had to come up with even more money to match the offer. Don knew Bill could not come up with the necessary funds and he got the company for a very small amount - far less than half of its true value. Since Bowser was iin full production prior to the buyout, Don had enough kits on hand to last into the 1960's. When he started running low on parts he did not have the expertise to manufacture replacement parts and kit availability was affected. By that time he had made a considerable amount of money selling the inventory while operating with a very low overhead.
Bowser Published a comprehensive Reference Manual sometime after the Challenger went into production.

Today Bowser Manufacturing is run by Lewis and Shirly's sons - Lewis Jr. and Lee Bowser Manufacturing continues to manufacture the K-11 Pacific and Challenger kits. It is fortunate that Bowser Manufacturing was purchased by someone with the determination to preserve these great models. Over the years, the English family purchased other companies, such as Penn Line, and expanded the Bowser product line. They have also made numerous changes to the original models. One of the most significant additions to the product line was the UP Big Boy kit that evolved from Bill Bower's original Challenger. Although temporarily discontinued, the Big Boy kit is available again. With the addition of a super detail kit, the Bowser UP Challenger and Big Boy are two of the finest large steam engine models available. Today, Bowser manufacturing is one of the few manufacturers of high quality, die cast locomotive kits in existence. A future article will present more details on Bowser Manufacturing after its sale.

Bill Bowser - May 2001                Click here to email Bill                He would love to talk to you. 8/8/2003	After losing the Company, Bill leased the plant from Don, his ex-partner, and won a contract with the Northrup to design a periscopes for Army tanks. This piece of equipment required some close tolerances and the Northrup was having trouble getting a working model designed and built. Bill formed a new company called Bowser Precision Products and the company grossed $80,000 its first year building periscopes and other contract items. Bill's engineering career continued successfully through the years until his retirement. More details will be available in an attached article in the future. Bill is now over 90 years old and lives in Arizona. He recently had a resurgence of interest in his old company's products and is busy designing a new miniature motor. Bill has a great memory and supplied most of the details for this article. I appreciate his help and his patience. Every time I talk to him I learn something about engineering. One of the brightest people I have ever met.
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