Boys' Life/Glenn Wagner research

[MoJo]

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I recently discovered that most, if not all, of the Boys’ Life magazines were put up on line at Google Books.

This is significant in the sense that some of us got our first exposure to model railroading via Boys’ Life.

My first experience was the 1972 HO model railroad.  The first installment was actually in the December 1971 issue:

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=XRg86O4Q61UC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA60#v=twopage&q&f=false

 

The rest of the installments:

 

Right-of-Way Construction Tips

http://books.google.com/books?id=PkU4Tw30BkYC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA80#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Control Panels and Wiring

http://books.google.com/books?id=sfXpaT4q89EC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA56#v=twopage&q&f=false

 

Roads and Crossings

http://books.google.com/books?id=kxEH9YZ9Vh0C&lpg=PA1&pg=PA78#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Scenic Realism

http://books.google.com/books?id=J_D1dgNcTGAC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA50#v=twopage&q&f=false

 

Main Street Comes to Life

http://books.google.com/books?id=TZYQnTTdKn8C&lpg=PA1&pg=PA64#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Industrial Sidings are for Switching

http://books.google.com/books?id=XnUb0vJT_q4C&lpg=PA1&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Build an Engine Terminal

http://books.google.com/books?id=RF0MClK8qN0C&lpg=PA1&pg=PA72#v=twopage&q&f=false

 

The final installment, which had some color pictures, The Perfect Layout for You:

http://books.google.com/books?id=G5Xabwn9aM8C&lpg=PA1&pg=PA72#v=twopage&q&f=false

 

I kept all of these articles from when I first received them as a kid.  But it’s nice to be able to see them on line.

 

Long before this Mr. Wagner made an O scale layout in 1954.

http://books.google.com/books?id=sLbZf3ECj1kC&lpg=PA60&dq=santa%20northern%20railroad&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q=santa%20northern%20railroad&f=false

 

Next up there was an HO layout that stretched out from 1958 until 1966. 

The first installment is here:

HO Model Railroad You Can Build

http://books.google.com/books?id=LGuXaDBuNhYC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA68#v=twopage&q&f=false

 

There were two other projects that Mr. Wagner did, my research has turned up.

 

After the first HO layout of 1958, Mr. Wagner built a module. 

Here’s the article:

http://books.google.com/books?id=bucfKmW_-kgC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA56#v=twopage&q&f=false

 

Then he delved into N Scale in 1969:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZKRtQ5ap1vQC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA46#v=twopage&q&f=false

 

There’s an article in the December 1971 issue, the same issue that was the first issue of the second HO layout, that had more pictures of the N scale layout.  The subject of the article is how to make a pinhole camera:

http://books.google.com/books?id=XRg86O4Q61UC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA64#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

There was also an article published between the layouts In November 1968, that was about Model Railroading in general:

http://books.google.com/books?id=UzFHWAeBYeUC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA38#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

There was also a booklet published by the BSA that collected a lot of the previous construction articles (prior to the 1971/72 layout), simply titled “Model Railroading.”  I found it on Ebay some years ago.

 

I know there's been some discussion over the years about these layouts.  Now we can all enjoy them, either by re-discovery, or maybe something new to you.  

I think that Glenn Wagner had a profound impact upon the hobby, as youths from the 50's, 60's and 70's were given a small taste of just exactly what can be done with model trains, in the pages of Boys' Life magazine.

 

Enjoy!

 

MoJo

[MoJo]

 I found another layout that Wagner built in 1974, the N scale Santa Fe Northern.

http://books.google.com/books?id=dShLHOHZJ0UC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA68#v=onepage&q&f=false

Part 2:

http://books.google.com/books?id=LBf4cf6Rye8C&lpg=PA1&pg=PA80#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

There are some others I'm sure I'm missing.

 

MoJo

 

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[MoJo]

So do any of you remember these layout?

Did any of you build them?

Were you inspired by them?

[dandrea]

My brother and I built this layout in the late 1960s, our first attempt at a "real" modelrailroad.  We built it with old Atlas brass snap track. It was really a fun project, and the layout, while never completed ran reasonably well. The lack of passing sidings limited operation, but at that age we didn't do much more than run the trains.  Glenn Wagner's booklet fueled our imaginations, and inspired our ambitions. Would love to find a copy of the old book that Boy's Life published on this layout. My brother still has his, but it is pretty ripped up from use. My biggest regret was that when we decided to build another layout (which never got even to the track-laying stage, we never photographed this one.

Dan Dossa

[fiatfan]

I remember spending hours drooling over the 1958 layout,

 

Tom

[cedarwoodron]

If I am not mistaken, Boy's Life was a publication of the Boy Scouts of America. I know that I always saw issues at my Cub (and later Boy Scouts) Scouts meeting house. There was an article in 1964     or 1966 about making a Fuel Tank from a coffee can that sparked my interest in HO scale modeling.

Too bad these inspirational resources no longer exist to attract young people to the hobby.

Cedarwoodron

[AltonFan]

I would have been receiving Boys Life about the time frame these articles were published, but I don't remember them.   I do remember seeing ads for the Cox HO train set .

I think I was first introduced to Railroad Model Craftsman around 1971, when I discovered copies at our public library.  I think I discovered Model Railroader a year or two later.

Somewhere in my stuff I have a booklet for the Boy Scout Railroading merit badge.

[wholeman]

I subscribed to Boy's Life from 1994 to 2003.  While I don't remember any of the articles posted, I do remember others that were easy for any kid to build.  The HO scale barbed wire fence was the first one that came to my mind.

[jwhitten]

MoJo

So do any of you remember these layout?

Did any of you build them?

Were you inspired by them?

 

Wow, cool info! Thanks

I remember reading boy's life as a kid, but don't recall (m)any model railroading articles-- I'm sure I would have been thrilled to read them. I was very much into model railroading at the time.Then "grew up", discovered girls, and journeyed forth to "make my fortune" and now, 30-sumpthin' years later, here I am again :-)

 

John

[rrinker]

 I came along to Scouts a bit too late to see the 1972 layout, but I rememebr some of those cartoons and the joke page very well.

 Interesting to look at the suggested supporting benchwork int he Dec 1971 article and compare it to what was in last month's MR (to go along with the 4x8 layouts). Check dimensions - the small 3/4" pieces for the long side braces - looks familiar, doesn't it? Just goes to show you, very little is new when it comes to the basics of model railroading. Had I known about those layouts, I may have attempted one or more of them. Probably the 1972 version, would have been more interesting than the last 4x8 HO layout I built. And a lot more complicated.

                                 --Randy

 

[Ron High]

I did not build the layout but I did build two of the buildings. He had articles about the grain elevator and the brick wholesale grocer. In the articles he printed sign doors and windows to HO scale.there were instructions about how to build them with cardstock stripwood and building papers from Walthers. I thought they came out well for my first attempt at scratchbuilding. I wish i still had them.

[Train Modeler]

Thanks for the post

Richard

[leighant]

Interesting.

In 1953-56 when I was in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th grade, I was interested in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts but my parents did not allow me to join because "It is a waste of money to buy uniforms," etc.  I read Boys Life and he various Cub Scout manuals at the branch public library.  I studied, and built various projects on my own.  No one to share them with.

[IRONROOSTER]

Thanks for sharing.  I really enjoyed these.  Although I was long out of scouts, December 1971 was when I started on this hobby.  Who knows - If I had had this issue of BL, I might have built it as my first layout.

Enjoy

Paul

[slotracer]

Although interest in trains was a seed planted by my Grandfather when I was 3, I didn't get really hooked with an interest in trains until seeing the Nov 67 Boys lIfe witht he Glenn Wagner 1958 HO layout (Including the 1963 yard addition). I too drooled over that layout as a kid.  As I got older I becam elike most others and developed mor sophisticated and updated tastes in layouts (Around the wals, operation prototype etc). Right now I don't have much room for a layout but wanted something to run my nscale equuipment so I have started on a 4x6 foot N scale version of the 58 layout with the 63 yard just for fun.

[DSchmitt]

You can view Boy's Life Magazine from Mar 1911 through Dec 2008  at  http://boyslife.org/    They have a "wayback machine" under Archives scroll to bottom of page for link.