I came across a thread last night on the forum about Roadside America, a commercially operated layout that is about to be demolished after 85 years as the deceased developer's family moves on with their lives.
It got me to thinking about layouts that I admired that are now gone. Two that immediately come to my mind are (1) Gary Hoover's HO scale Santa Fe layout and (2) Lance Mindheim's N scale Hoosier Line - Monon layout.
Of course, there are more famous "lost layouts" like John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid RR. But, the two that I cited really had an impact on me and my modeling.
When Gary Hoover added a Dearborn Station module to his already completed Chicago to Los Angeles Santa Fe layout, I was totally impressed with his attention to detail, closely simulating the prototype. When Lance Mindheim completed his Hoosier Line - Monon railroad, I was fascinated with his open country scenery that created the illusion of endless space.
Anyone else have a favorite lost layout?
Rich
Alton Junction
Did you check the lost and found.?
ok. the V&O original and second build. Guess that counts as two. But they had a huge impact on the hobby.
shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
NVSRR the V&O original and second build. Guess that counts as two. But they had a huge impact on the hobby.
the V&O original and second build. Guess that counts as two. But they had a huge impact on the hobby.
The Virginian and Ohio is both the name of a fictional railroad company created by W. Allen McClelland and the HO scale model railroad he built near Dayton, Ohio featuring this railroad. The V&O is famous in the model railroading world for setting a new standard for freelanced model railroads designed to operate in a prototypical manner and was a major influence upon many model railroaders of the time. He used the words "beyond the basement" and "transportation system" to reinforce the idea of moving freight from shippers and industries beyond the confines of the limited model railroad geography and layout you had in your basement. This required the notion of interchange with other railroads as well.
Great Topic Rich!For me it was John Allen’s original G&D.I tagged along with my Mother to the grocery store one day back in 1951 when I was still a teen (14) and while she was shopping I was looking through the magazines when I stumbled across the Model - Railroad Handbook, Fawcett 133.Starting on page 28 there is a very nice good article on John’s original G&D.I was hooked before we left the store. HO became foremost in my tiny mind. I had a paper route and before the week was out I was at the H&H Hobby Shop on Pershing Drive in El Paso TX. I spent several hours driving John Henderson the owner crazy. I ended up with a part time job cleaning his store and before the end of the month and $6.85 I was the proud owner of a Model Roundhouse 0-6-0 kit. I was short on money so Mr. Henderson let me work off the balance.It still runs like new.That book really helped my get going. On page 36 there is an article on hand laying track, back then that was all there was, iron rails, spikes and a roll of fiber tie strip. My original copy of Fawcett 133A bit worn after almost 70 years of use.
Sorry I got a bit carried away.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Trevor Marshall's S scale Port Rowan (CNR) was dismantled this year. I've followed it for years, and as someone who loves simple track plans, rural-scenic switching and using details and framing to expand modest spaces, my thinking about my own layout and modeling has been heavily inflenced by that layout. It'll be interesting to see what he builds next.
Phil
Say Mel, does the book say where the cover photo was taken? I know there was (is?) a big O scale model railroad club in Milwaukee that shows up in several Kalmbach books over the years.
Here is a scene from Lance Mindheim's Hoosier Line-Monon layout. It is my favorite scene in all model railroading.
08-31clearcreek2.jpg (768×506) (monon.org)
I've always liked the Santa Fe,Rich.I'll second your vote for Gary Hoover's great layout.
Another one that I admired was Chuck Hitchcock's Kansas area Santa Fe layout.
Mike
I sat hours looking at layout pictures in the Kalmbach books when I was a kid. Of course, one of my favorites was Bill McClanahan's layout, in addition to the G&D layout of course.
Simon
wjstix Say Mel, does the book say where the cover photo was taken? I know there was (is?) a big O scale model railroad club in Milwaukee that shows up in several Kalmbach books over the years.
Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I always like David Barrow's Cat Mountain and Santa Fe. Imaging having that large layout covered in desert sand around those Santa Fe locomotives.
A few times I thought of tweaking the stuff he had to fit my taste. I would also use the Southern Pacific and a passing Amtrak train like the Southwest Chief or the Sunset Limited.
Another one I remember is 5x9? DRG&W N Scale layout back in the early 90s. I like the style of scenery with one building. Looping itself twice I think. Mike Danneman I believe who designed it.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
richhotrain Here is a scene from Lance Mindheim's Hoosier Line-Monon layout. It is my favorite scene in all model railroading. Rich 08-31clearcreek2.jpg (768×506) (monon.org)
Having spent 25 years working and traveling around Indiana, I can say that layout captured the scenery of the rolling hills of the Bloomington and limestone quarry area very well. I've been to every small town he modeled on the layout. That issue of MR is one that I have saved and recently looked at again.
Its unusual because it is a winter scenicked layout. No snow, but there are a lot of 35 degree and cloudy days in Indiana that look just like that scene, and many others in that issue.
To answer your question for me, its the V&O. I was just getting started in the hobby and the concepts McClellan wrote about triggered my interests exponentially. There are several other layouts.
One was the Lowville and Beaver River project layout published in RMC around 1990. I thought it was lost, but a quick search shows that its in a museum in upstate NY, at least as of the time of this web link.
CNY NRHS -- L&BR
- Douglas
The two "Lost Layouts" that were biggest influences on me were the VIRGINIAN AND OHIO and the ALLEGHENY MIDLAND.
They live on in tribute on my layout. I sent STRATTON AND GILLETTE boxcars to both Allen McClelland and Tony Koester. I hope they have circled these classic layouts a few times (I guess Tony's would have been on the NKP, the AM was gone by the time I sent it).
John Allen was my hero, but the GORRE AND DAPHETID is not my personal style of a layout.
I plan to duplicate the last twenty years of John's life with the last twenty years of my life. No working, and just enjoying model railroading and building my final lifetime layout.
For layouts that are not lost... I would say the UTAH BELT and the MAUMEE ROUTE are two of my favorites.
(I do not have a MAUMEE freight car yet)
-Kevin
Living the dream.
The NYSME still exists, still has an O scale layout - just not in the same place they were in when that photo on the cover of the book was taken. They have a large HO layout as well.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
richhotrainAnyone else have a favorite lost layout?
As a "little shaver" my dad used to take me to Mack Lowry's Railways of America in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio in the Cleveland-Akron area.
RR_Postcards_0018 by Edmund, on Flickr
Besides this large O scale layout he had several Pennsy passenger cars outside and a 3" scale Aerotrain you could ride.
RR_Postcards_0016 by Edmund, on Flickr
As I recall the story he was "forced" to vacate due to a planned highway interchange but something may not be right with this story as the bulding, a replica "depot" still stands and was a waterbed store and carpet store until recently.
Some of the PRR cars were moved to the "Quaker Square" complex along the B&O in Akron but much of that has since been abandoned and now turned ofer to University of Akron.
There was a feature on the layout in the August, 1974 M-R.
Regards, Ed
When I finally made it to Helen, Georgia, the HO scale Layout "Charlemagne's Kingdom" had just been closed.
Hello All,
When we moved to Colorado in 2001 there were two model railroads in the basement of the Union Station.
The remodel of Union Station began in 2011.
In 2013 both were evicted from their respective spaces.
One, the Platte Valley & Western Railway, relocated to the White Fence Farm.
Unfortunately, the space that the railroad occupied was damaged by fire in October of 2020.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
RR_Mel Great Topic Rich!For me it was John Allen’s original G&D.I tagged along with my Mother to the grocery store one day back in 1951 when I was still a teen (14) and while she was shopping I was looking through the magazines when I stumbled across the Model - Railroad Handbook, Fawcett 133.Starting on page 28 there is a very nice good article on John’s original G&D.I was hooked before we left the store. HO became foremost in my tiny mind. I had a paper route and before the week was out I was at the H&H Hobby Shop on Pershing Drive in El Paso TX. I spent several hours driving John Henderson the owner crazy. I ended up with a part time job cleaning his store and before the end of the month and $6.85 I was the proud owner of a Model Roundhouse 0-6-0 kit. I was short on money so Mr. Henderson let me work off the balanceIt still runs like new.That book really helped my get going. On page 36 there is an article on hand laying track, back then that was all there was, iron rails, spikes and a roll of fiber tie strip.A bit worn after almost 70 years of use.
Great Topic Rich!For me it was John Allen’s original G&D.I tagged along with my Mother to the grocery store one day back in 1951 when I was still a teen (14) and while she was shopping I was looking through the magazines when I stumbled across the Model - Railroad Handbook, Fawcett 133.Starting on page 28 there is a very nice good article on John’s original G&D.I was hooked before we left the store. HO became foremost in my tiny mind. I had a paper route and before the week was out I was at the H&H Hobby Shop on Pershing Drive in El Paso TX. I spent several hours driving John Henderson the owner crazy. I ended up with a part time job cleaning his store and before the end of the month and $6.85 I was the proud owner of a Model Roundhouse 0-6-0 kit. I was short on money so Mr. Henderson let me work off the balanceIt still runs like new.That book really helped my get going. On page 36 there is an article on hand laying track, back then that was all there was, iron rails, spikes and a roll of fiber tie strip.A bit worn after almost 70 years of use.
pt714 Trevor Marshall's S scale Port Rowan (CNR) was dismantled this year. I've followed it for years, and as someone who loves simple track plans, rural-scenic switching and using details and framing to expand modest spaces, my thinking about my own layout and modeling has been heavily inflenced by that layout. It'll be interesting to see what he builds next. Phil
I really need to step in for a moment and thank everyone who has contributed to this thread so far. There are so many replies and so many great layouts to consider that I will have to leave it to the forum members to check out each of these layouts as I have done. Thanks again and keep the replies coming.
For me personally, I miss this layout the most. I spent may hours there operating and hanging out...
Jim Vail's Glenwood & Black Creek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev108AAi5p8
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
middleman I've always liked the Santa Fe,Rich.I'll second your vote for Gary Hoover's great layout. Another one that I admired was Chuck Hitchcock's Kansas area Santa Fe layout. Mike
http://coastdaylight.com/hoover_layout.html
One really amazing one back in the day was Irv Schultz's St Clair Northern. What a well done turn of the 20th century layout. Suppsoedly donated to the NMRA after his death - does it still exist? August 76 MR cover was a shot of it.
rrinker One really amazing one back in the day was Irv Schultz's St Clair Northern. What a well done turn of the 20th century layout. Suppsoedly donated to the NMRA after his death - does it still exist? August 76 MR cover was a shot of it. --Randy
I dont know if it still exists, but I remember that layout. That's about when I started reading MR. I think that layout was in a series of large shadowboxes? or very narrow shelves?
Doughless rrinker One really amazing one back in the day was Irv Schultz's St Clair Northern. What a well done turn of the 20th century layout. Suppsoedly donated to the NMRA after his death - does it still exist? August 76 MR cover was a shot of it. --Randy I dont know if it still exists, but I remember that layout. That's about when I started reading MR. I think that layout was in a series of large shadowboxes? or very narrow shelves?
GMR-1995.pdf (tbmod.com)
Narrow sahelves along 3 walls, at least as of the 1976 article. Lots of detail. He was a pioneer in using aluminum flashing for a continuous backdrop. And also write many scratchbuilding articles. A bunch of stuff on 'pickle cars' too. I think at one point he sold a series of dry transfer decals as well.
Another one not shown much love is Paul Larson's Mioneral Point & Northern. A layout WAY ahead of its time. Gordon Odegard wrote a great article on it in the May 1981 MR. Biggest problem is, there aren't many pictures ever taken of it. He was only in his 20's when he was editor of MR, left the hobby for a while, and came back in RMC in the late 60's. Only 42 when he passed in 1973.
I'll second Dave's remembrance of Frank Ellison's Delta Lines.
Two of my other favorites were Roy Dohn's Victoria Northern and Whit Tower's Alturas & Lone Pine.
Ray
Oh! A lovely thread.
Modelers/layouts I have admired.
The G & D 'blew my mind'. I had never seen anything like it.
Here in the U.K.
Mike Sharman's -- Victorian Railway.
Rev. P. Denny -- Buckingham Central. Set in the year 1907.
P.D Hancock -- Craig & Mertonford. A narrow gauge adventure extraordinaire.
David Jenkinson -- The Long Drag and the LMS A layout that draws me into the scene.
Mike Charman -- The Charford Branch. Originally built in a small caravan before being extended a little. I saw it at an exhibition in London. Absolutely charming.
All have influenced me in one way or another.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
One thing that I notice about the lost layouts cited in this thread is that they mostly fall into one of three categories: (1) the owner has passed away (2) the owner has lost control over the location where the layout was housed (3) the owner voluntarily demolished the layout to build a new one. Of course, it is always sad to learn of the passing of a dedicated model railroader. It is always unfortunate to learn that an owner of club layout or commercial layout has lost his lease.
It is the third type that perplexes me, a great layout demolished in order to build a new one. My two favorite lost layouts fall into that category - - Gary Hoover's Santa Fe layout and Lance Mindheim's Hoosier Line-Monon layout. It must take some substantial level of inner fortitude to tear down an outstanding layout.