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Amazing Photo Find

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  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Amazing Photo Find
Posted by SeeYou190 on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 7:18 PM

I was cleaning out a box of stuff in the crawl space to get to the Christmas tree, and I found a bunch of photos of an old layout I built. I did not know I still had these.

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This is the last N scale layout that I built. It was built with the help of my friend Randy, and we called it the "Norfolk Stratton" combining the names of his favorite prototype and my STRATTON & GILLETTE.

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It is a portable layout that was built for the Scale Rails of Southwest Florida to use in train shows. I believe it was built in 1992, so these pictures are 25 years old!

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It was great to find all these old pictures of N scale SGRR equipment. What a bunch of memories these brought back.

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I even have photographs of the two best bridges I ever built.

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The layout broke down into four sections 30 inches by 8 feet. It fit into a custom wooden transport box that fit into the bed of my F-150.

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Thanks for sharing this memory with me.

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-Kevin

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Living the dream.

  • Member since
    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
  • 8,253 posts
Posted by mbinsewi on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 10:40 PM

Nice!  Your wood trestle looks great, and the transport box idea, excellent.  Looks like I see radius sections, did this make an oval for continuous running? or return loops?  Looks like some of it was two levels.

Mike

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
  • 15,797 posts
Posted by hon30critter on Thursday, November 16, 2017 12:26 AM

Kevin!

Nice trestle!

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Duluth, MN
  • 424 posts
Posted by OT Dean on Thursday, November 16, 2017 1:41 AM

Great photos! The trestle is magnificent!

Deano

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, November 16, 2017 7:18 AM

mbinsewi
Looks like I see radius sections, did this make an oval for continuous running? or return loops? Looks like some of it was two levels.

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Thank you for the comments on my trestle bridge. Assembly jigs made it really quite easy.

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There were two loops that ran through all four sections, but they were only visible in three. The section with the trestle hid the staging tracks for the main loops, and had tow independent loops on that module.

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Two of the other modules also had independent loop tracks, and one was a switching module. Six trains ran at once on individual loops, but rarely was more than one train visible. We also had three staging tracks for each loop, so we could switch out trains quickly to keep the scenes alive.

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It was a real crowd pleaser. I have no idea whatever fianlly became of it.

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-Kevin

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Living the dream.

  • Member since
    November 2013
  • 2,756 posts
Posted by snjroy on Thursday, November 16, 2017 4:48 PM

... and the transport system is also quite impressive.

 

Simon

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Thursday, November 16, 2017 5:26 PM

 Somewhere over my life, I managed to lose apparently every single photo of all the layouts I built or had around since I was a kid. Most would have been Polaroids, some of the later ones perhaps on a 110 or a Disc camera. 

 About a year ago I demolished the last N scale layout I ever built - it hd been sitting in the basement for some 35+ years. After it was all hauled out to the dumpster, I found one of the Chooch tunnel portals on the floor and saved it. The one and only item I have from that particular period.

                          --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Friday, November 17, 2017 7:32 AM

rrinker
Somewhere over my life, I managed to lose apparently every single photo of all the layouts I built

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I thought I had too. That is why I was so excited to find these. I was amazed to still have them.

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-Kevin

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Living the dream.

  • Member since
    May 2012
  • 602 posts
Posted by NP01 on Friday, November 17, 2017 10:55 PM

Amazing! 

When you started talking about a long lost railroad I thought it was a small 8x4 ... this was impressive! Great scenery as well.

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, November 18, 2017 2:39 PM

NP01
When you started talking about a long lost railroad I thought it was a small 8x4

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In square footage, I think it is about 2.5 times as large as a 4 by 8. That is a lot of space in N scale.

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Thank you for the compliments.

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-Kevin

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Living the dream.

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