A layout “must”

Here’s a sad fact. I’ve built and torn down three O gauge layouts in the past 15 years. All have been fun but none have been entirely satisfactory. Now I’m planning my next O gauge layout – version 4.0, you might say – and I’m determined to get it right this time. Or at least more right than last time!

It’s early in the process, but I’m leaning toward a fairly toy-like layout but one with slightly more developed scenery than, say, a carpeted platform. On the other hand, the new factory built structures sure make it easier to build an O gauge layout with nearly scale details – a “hi-rail” layout, to use an old toy train term. I’m sure I could do a decent job with realistic scenery, but I’m not certain I have the patience or the time.

As you can see, decisions need to be made before I start sawing and drilling.

No matter what, I’m sure to find a prominent place from my Marx no. 413A Switchman Tower. I purchased it during my first visit to the Eastern Division of Train Collectors Association meet in York, Pa. and it has been on every layout I’ve built since. The 413A  looks neat and reminds me of my first York and all the great people I met for the first time and still see when I attend the show.

Standing 9 1/4 inches tall, but with a footprint of just 2 x 2 inches, the lithographed tin cabin and steel tower is kinda-sorta O scale. The cabin has a light bulb and one wall has an oversized window covered with red celluloid. I’ve never hooked it up but perhaps I can rig it so the light comes on to warn of an approaching train.

The tower’s age is uncertain. Marx cataloged the towers in both pre- and postwar eras. It appears as early as 1938 in a circular for F.W. Woolworth and was priced at 50 cents. By 1952, the tower’s price had risen to $1.75. In the mid-1990s I paid $15 for mine, which is still the going price for a 413A in good condition, according to the most recent Greenberg’s Marx Trains Pocket Price Guide (Kalmbach Books 2011).

When it comes to layout planning, it’s a “no-brainer” – the Marx no. 413A Switchman Tower will definitely guard the busiest junction on my future layout.

Maybe I’m just sentimental, but the tower will always have a home with me. What item will always grace your layout?