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As a boy in Oshkosh, all he wanted was a Buddy L train set but the toy bonded his family following Fenn's death in World War II. High Precision Parts
GREEN BAY — There is no missing the Big Boy.
The 1.1 million-pound steam locomotive is one of the centerpieces of the National Railroad Museum established here in 1956 and was used to pull a 3,600-ton freight train for Union Pacific Railroad Co. on a 55-mile mountainous route in Utah. Because of the locomotive's length, it was articulated with a hinge in its middle to allow the massive piece of steel machinery built in 1941 to navigate curves. The attached 14-wheel tender could hold 32 tons of coal, which allowed the Big Boy to generate 7,000 horsepower and reach speeds of 70 mph.
Visitors to the National Railroad Museum take in the massive Big Boy, a steam locomotive built in 1941 in Schenectady, New York, and used by the Union Pacific Railroad to pull freight cars through the mountains of Utah.
The locomotive exhibit helps tell the story of railroading, ingenuity and commerce during World War II and beyond.
A much smaller train set at the museum chronicles a very different but powerful story. It began with a fascination of trains by 7-year-old George Fenn, of Oshkosh, but turned tragic when, as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces, Fenn went missing in 1943 amid a storm somewhere over New Guinea during World War II while piloting his P-39 Airacobra for an armed patrol. His body has never been recovered.
Daniel Liedtke, curator at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, positions the locomotive of George Fenn's Buddy L toy train. The train set, donated by Fenn's family to the museum in 2021, served as a reminder of Fenn, who received the train as a Christmas gift in 1927 and was killed 16 years later in World War II. His body has never been found.
The train set remained with Fenn's family and for generations served as not only a play toy for his cousins, nieces and nephews but as a conduit to Fenn's life.
"The family never talked about it because they were so devastated," said Ann Reinke Strong, one of Fenn's nieces, who was born two months before his death. "It's been an interesting journey, getting to know him. Really, I think he was just a sweet young man."
George Fenn, of Oshkosh, was a second lieutenant and fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces when he went missing over New Guinea in 1943 while piloting his P-39 Airacobra on an armed patrol in World War II.
The story of Fenn and his Buddy L model train he received as a Christmas gift 96 years ago will be the centerpiece of the museum's displays at three Wisconsin train shows this year, starting with the 55th annual Mad City Model Railroad Show & Sale next weekend at the Alliant Energy Center. The train set will also make appearances at the Titletown Train Show on April 1-2 and Trainfest Nov. 13-14 at State Fair Park in West Allis, and will be part of an exhibit at the museum beginning in June.
The caboose of George Fenn's 1927 Buddy L train is made entirely of steel.
Only Fenn's train isn't electrified, nor is it any specific gauge or part of an elaborate miniature landscape. Instead, it's made of heavy-duty steel, has no motor and only moves when it's pushed. The train, which uses a 3-inch-wide track, includes a 26-inch-long, 9-inch-high locomotive, along with a coal tender, cattle car, flatbed and a caboose, each ranging from 20 to 22 inches long and 7 to 9 inches high. Designed to be played outside, the train is a precursor to electric-model garden trains. Fenn would even set his up outside in the winter when he would make snow tunnels for the train.
"Can you imagine having these as a child," wondered Patricia Nishwitz of Dubois, Wyoming, a visitor to the museum last week. "They're like Tonka's in the 1970s."
When George Fenn was a boy living in Oshkosh he made tunnels in the snow for his Buddy L train set he received for Christmas in 1927.
The train had been set up on Wednesday at our request by the museum's curator, Daniel Liedtke. He had retrieved the train set from the museum's archives, placed the pieces on a cart and rolled the collection into the climate-controlled Lenfesty Center, a 26,880-square-foot building with a 40-foot-high ceiling that holds the A4 Class British locomotive and two railroad cars used by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II. The facility also is home to a Pullman sleeper car and an exhibit on porters and the GG-1, an electric locomotive built in 1932.
The climate-controlled Lenfesty Center, a 26,880-square-foot building with a 40-foot-high ceiling at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, holds the A4 Class British locomotive and two railroad cars, at left, used by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II; a Pullman sleeper car; the GG-1, an electric locomotive built in 1932; and the Big Boy, center, a 1.1 million-pound steam locomotive.
The Big Boy is the largest of them all, so it was quite the contrast when Liedtke donned white gloves to set up Fenn's Buddy L in the locomotive's literal shadow. The toy train sets were manufactured in the 1920s and 1930s by the Moline Press Steel Co. in East Moline, Illinois. The company had made steel parts for the automobile and agricultural implement industries but nearing bankruptcy, shifted to making steel toys like trucks, cars, tugboats, fire engines, construction equipment, airplanes and trains.
A 1927 Buddy L train, which was set up last week at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, will be in Madison for this weekend's 55th annual Mad City Model Railroad Show & Sale on Saturday and Sunday at the Alliant Energy Center.
"They obviously look like a locomotive. They have a lot of the same parts, but they're not always to scale compared to something like this," Liedtke said, pointing to the Big Boy. "And a lot of times, you're looking at the same materials. So even the toys were built to last, and things like the locomotive were, too. It's really a neat thing to see both of them together like this."
In 1927, Fenn wrote to Santa Claus asking for only a Buddy L train. And Santa obliged. Young George already had a Buddy L ice truck and steam shovel, so the train served as another step for his growing collection. Fenn and a friend would also ride their bicycles to the Chicago and North Western Railroad Depot in Oshkosh to greet the Soo Line and C&NW trains, knew the railroad workers and spent hours hanging out.
George Fenn was 7 years old in 1927 when he wrote this letter to Santa Claus asking only for a Buddy L train set.
"Dear Santa Claus. How are your Eskimos. And your raindeers. And you. I forgot to tell you not to bring me any thing if you bring me the buddy 'l' train. From George Fenn."
But airplanes were also a fascination for Fenn, and he couldn't have been in a better place. While in high school, he took flying lessons from Steve Wittman, an air racer and aircraft engineer for whom Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh is named. After graduation, Fenn headed to UW-Oshkosh for his freshman year and then to UW-Madison, where he was a member of the junior varsity crew team. When he was 21 years old in 1942, Fenn enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces, qualified to be a fighter pilot and served with the 36th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group, in the Pacific Theater.
While he was in high school in Oshkosh, George Fenn, above, took flying lessons from Steve Wittman, an air racer and airplane engineer for whom Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh is now named.
In November of 1942, Fenn was given leave to attend the wedding of Reinke Strong's parents in Lawton, Oklahoma, which would be the last time he would see his family. A year later, Fenn was flying his one-seat plane with three other aviators at 20,000 feet when a violent weather front appeared. Visibility lessened, and one of the pilots spun out of formation, recovered at 9,000 feet and ultimately returned to base on the southern coast of New Guinea. The three others, including Fenn, failed to return.
Fenn earned the Purple Heart, posthumously, and is memorialized at Manila American Cemetery on the tablets of the missing and has a memorial marker at Riverside Cemetery in Oshkosh.
National Railroad Museum curator Daniel Liedtke looks over the museum’s collection of vintage rail car drumheads.
The remains of the two other pilots have been recovered, one in 2020, and Reinke Strong believes her uncle will someday be found as well.
"There has to be families all over the country like us," Reinke Strong said from her home in Lexington, Massachusetts. "We're still hopeful."
But it's the train that has brought family members closer to Fenn as four generations of children have played with the train set, which led to more questions about Fenn. Initially, after Fenn's death, little was said, as his parents refused to talk about it. But as the family grew and got older and more time elapsed, there was a desire to learn more about Fenn from other family members.
Visitors to the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay view the museum’s collection of vintage rail cars and engines. The museum was established in 1956.
When Fenn's sister, Lucille, died in 2020, at age 102, the family donated the train to the National Railroad Museum for safekeeping and to honor Fenn.
"It was a difficult decision, I have to say, to give up that train, because we knew it was his favorite," Reinke Strong said. "It was something really tangible that we had that we knew he loved."
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the reference to the U.S. Army Air Forces.
Steve Roudebush takes a break from work on a 1907 steam locomotive at SPEC Machine in Middleton, Wis. Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. Since 2013, the 1907 engine from Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom has been undergoing a more than $2 million restoration. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Welded notations from work done in 1927 to a 1907 steam locomotive are seen on a component of the engine at SPEC Machine in Middleton, Wis. Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. Since 2013, the 1907 engine from Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom has been undergoing a more than $2 million restoration. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Identification plates for the 1385 steam locomotive are closer to being reinstalled. Restoration work on the locomotive could be completed in 2023.
A caliper and blueprints from a 1907 steam locomotive share a workbench at SPEC Machine north of Middleton. About 25% of the locomotive has received new parts machined to the original specifications.
Steve Roudebush works on the underside of a 1907 steam locomotive at SPEC Machine north of Middleton on Thursday. Since 2013, the 1907 engine from the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom has been undergoing what is expected to be a $2 million restoration.
Steve Roudebush views a 1907 steam locomotive at SPEC Machine in Middleton, Wis. Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. Since 2013, the 1907 engine from Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom has been undergoing a more than $2 million restoration. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
A bell from a 1907 steam locomotive awaits reinstallation at SPEC Machine north of Middleton.
Steve Roudebush works on a 1907 steam locomotive at SPEC Machine in Middleton, Wis. Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. Since 2013, the 1907 engine from Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom has been undergoing a more than $2 million restoration. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Parts from a 1907 steam locomotive fill storage shelves at SPEC Machine.
Tyler Roudebush emerges from the firebox at the back of the 1385 steam locomotive that is undergoing a multi-year restoration at SPEC Machine north of Middleton. Roudebush had crawled into the locomotive to help install rocker grates in the bottom of the firebox.
Steve Roudebush has been working on the 1385 steam locomotive since 2013 and is hoping to complete the $2 million project in the next year or so. He even built an addition onto his machine shop to accommodate the 180,000-pound locomotive that had stints pulling the Great Circus Train.
Tyler Roudebush, left, works on the underside of a 1907 steam locomotive at SPEC Machine. Roudebush has spent eight of his 31 years helping his father restore the massive locomotive.
Reference materials for a locomotive restoration project share shelf space at SPEC Machine in Middleton, Wis. Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. Since 2013, a 1907 engine from Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom has been undergoing a more than $2 million restoration. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Barry Adams covers regional news for the Wisconsin State Journal. Send him ideas for On Wisconsin at 608-252-6148 or by email at badams@madison.com.
"It's been an interesting journey, getting to know him. Really, I think he was just a sweet young man."
Ann Reinke Strong, a niece to George Fenn
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As a boy in Oshkosh, all he wanted was a Buddy L train set but the toy bonded his family following Fenn's death in World War II.
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Daniel Liedtke, curator at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, positions the locomotive of George Fenn's Buddy L toy train. The train set, donated by Fenn's family to the museum in 2021, served as a reminder of Fenn, who received the train as a Christmas gift in 1927 and was killed 16 years later in World War II. His body has never been found.
George Fenn, of Oshkosh, was a second lieutenant and fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces when he went missing over New Guinea in 1943 while piloting his P-39 Airacobra on an armed patrol in World War II.
The climate-controlled Lenfesty Center, a 26,880-square-foot building with a 40-foot-high ceiling at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, holds the A4 Class British locomotive and two railroad cars, at left, used by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II; a Pullman sleeper car; the GG-1, an electric locomotive built in 1932; and the Big Boy, center, a 1.1 million-pound steam locomotive.
The caboose of George Fenn's 1927 Buddy L train is made entirely of steel.
When George Fenn was a boy living in Oshkosh he made tunnels in the snow for his Buddy L train set he received for Christmas in 1927.
George Fenn was 7 years old in 1927 when he wrote this letter to Santa Claus asking only for a Buddy L train set.
"Dear Santa Claus. How are your Eskimos. And your raindeers. And you. I forgot to tell you not to bring me any thing if you bring me the buddy 'l' train. From George Fenn."
A 1927 Buddy L train, which was set up last week at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, will be in Madison for this weekend's 55th annual Mad City Model Railroad Show & Sale on Saturday and Sunday at the Alliant Energy Center.
Visitors to the National Railroad Museum take in the massive Big Boy, a steam locomotive built in 1941 in Schenectady, New York, and used by the Union Pacific Railroad to pull freight cars through the mountains of Utah.
Visitors to the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay view the museum’s collection of vintage rail cars and engines. The museum was established in 1956.
While he was in high school in Oshkosh, George Fenn, above, took flying lessons from Steve Wittman, an air racer and airplane engineer for whom Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh is now named.
National Railroad Museum curator Daniel Liedtke looks over the museum’s collection of vintage rail car drumheads.
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