I'm not talkin' 5, 10 or even 15 years back! Let's try 20+ years......You know, when your work was really mediocre to poor by today's standards. This puts this post in the category of mostly older model rails.
My first self-built, small road was in HO and constructed while in jr. high school back in 1958, but no pix of that...sorry. However, I do have some B&W pix of my old Disputanta and Danville Western from 1979. The D&DW was actually started on an earlier layout in 1969, built right after I returned from Vietnam. I'll try and dig up some of those pix and scan them in. I'll post 'em down the line in this thread, later.
For most here, this would require a trip to the boxed stash of old MR snaps and then some scanning.
Whatcha' got to show?
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
Here are a few of my original Fundy Northern layout photos:
My 027 layout with Louis Marx equipment about 1968:
Sold off the 027 gear and switched to HO scale around 1964:P
Even did some close up pinhole photos with a friend. This is my first brass engine, hand painted and lettered by me:
Lots of fun as a teenage model railroader!
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
Ah....Fond memories of fiber ties and steel crimped fake spikes. You had two nearly identical engines in one pix. Would they be reworked Varney "old lady" kits?
edit: OOPs...I shoulda' read that it was a brass loco. But, it did have that classic Varney front end look.
You captured the best of what I was looking for in my first posting. Thanks a bunch. Let's hope some more geezers can get some more cool, ancient images up.
Your original layout looks a lot better than mine 15 years ago (:-)
51% share holder in the ME&O ( Wife owns the other 49% )
ME&O
old-time Steam loco “kitbashed” for 7-inch gauge from Yardbird riding handcar, garbage can and refrigerator carton
“Tiny Town” 1955 age 10
1955 Lionel layout built by Dad
1969 first N scale layout Colorado generic
1970 layout in friend's (open!) garage
1971 West Berlin, Germany N layout
1973 attempt at staging yard for 4x8 N scale layout
1976 N layout Generic Southwest built in 10 days
Nice to see such good work from the John Allen/Linn Westcott era. Here's mine:
By the time I was a senior in high school (1975) I had built 2 N-scale layouts. I was very dissatisfied with my results after the second one, so I sat down with a stack of Model Railroader magazines and decided to figure out what I was missing. What it came down to was that I was trying to do too much and be too dramatic; I was not planning, and I was not thinking "in scale." I decided to build a smaller layout using a published track plan, and do it "by the book." The track plan was the Epithet Creek Railroad and the Epithet Creek Terminal; these plans were published about six months apart in 1972.
These were my results: It's an N-scale layout with code 55 hand-laid track (I spent 2 years of free time laying track). I scratch built the ground-throws and the turntable. I used an SCR controlled walk-around throttle. All in all, I'm still very proud f the layout. It was never "finished"; the track was complete and the plaster shell was done, but I finished college and had to venture off into my new life (1978). I simply couldn't care for the layout as I moved from apartment to apartment, so I gave it to a promising young model railroader.
Here are a few pictures:
All of the structures except for the station and water tower were scratch built.
The locomotive was an Aurora 0-6-0.
With practice, I got to where I could hand-lay a turnout in about 4 hours. I mass produced ground throws in lots of 4. That would be a full day's work.
This portion of the layout was less finished than the other end, but I think it showed real promise and I'm still proud of the hand-laid track.
This was one of my favorite scenes on the layout. I've always liked the feel of over and under track. Timber truss bridges are among my favorites.
When I finished the track I bought a bit of 14k gold wire from a jeweler and fashioned a real gold spike. I drove it somewhere on the layout, but soon forgot where it was.
All in all it was pretty good stuff, if I do say so myself. It's nice to get a chance to show it off a little.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
What a great idea NGN,
some great photos too.
It prompted me to scan some old photos I found when cleaning up my Dads estate.
They are of a club display layout. The club is long shut down and I only contributed a little to this layout from the late 60's into the 70's.
Scanned images are not great, but the best I could do.
Overview
L
Left end tunnel which was later covered by a branch line station
Shunting/Switching area
Mainline station
Narrow gauge line on the right hand end. A 4 ' drop in section with a brick arch bridge was later installed where the earthmoving equipment is.
Athern Blue box, Crown, Rivarossi and hifi diesels were used mainly, although we did also run some British and European trains. The layout was originally 22 ft long. The added 4 ft section, that was just a bridge, gave us a 26 foot long layout. We had a hifi drive Hustler whichused to fly down the main straight. (and off on the 2' radius curves!) Ahhh those were the days......
cheers
Alan Jones in Sunny Queensland (Oz)
This is the only photo that I have of the original East Central Indiana HO railroad. It was taken about 1983.
Roger Hensley= ECI Railroad - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/eci/eci_new.html == Railroads of Madison County - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ =
Here is a picture of a layout I built about 15 years ago, after re-entering the hobby again.
Christmas of 1976, although I'm not sure this qualifies as a layout.
A few pics of my old layout at my parents' house.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
Here's my very first layout circa 1992:
My dad built the table and covered it with Lifelike grass mat. He also bought me the tunnel. I made some buildings out of Legos (the only scratch building material I had on hand), which looked like they were downwind of an explosion at the paint factory. I remember I would save my allowence money and get my folks to take me KB Toys to by another Bachmann freight car for $3. Engines were about $20 in those days (a lot of money to 8-year-old).
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
I found some... Here's one of my old HOn3 layouts built when I was a teenager, dismantled probably in 1987 or so.
Rob Spangler
Sorry no pics remain of my ancient HO plywood pacific circa 1975 or my once amazing Hot Wheels Hot Train layout circa 1972, or of my early 80’s 2x4 N layout that morphed into a failed attempt at HOn30 empire or my angst ridden attempts to re-enter that gauge back in the early 90’s. I have only documented my large scale endeavors which are not all that ancient, well for you maybe.
Left to right, layout begun back in 2004, garage since torn down and rebuilt, layout rebuilt twice after that, surprisingly still using all the same track and control stuff
This got taken down a few months after these pics. Quite a bit of the buildings ended up on my portable layout, but I’m still reusing quite a few on the new layout. Man, this layout seams so long ago for me.
Have fun with your trains
Fabulous old layouts! I dare say what the lacked in many respects when viewed now they more than made up for in the exhilerating spirit of youthful MR building. Will we ever have that same kind of fun again? I especially liked the 2,000 foot tall timber rail span.... I got dizzy looking at it, and I was sitting down! My hat dgoes off to the uphill battle in hand laying all that N gauge track!
More, more!
GREAT WORK...especially that long ago!
I'd post pictures of my first layout from when I was a kid, but Photobucket won't let me upload cave paintings. I don't wanna say I'm old, but Fred and Barney took pictures of it with their Polarock cameras!
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
Well, mine are much older than 20+ years - these are from ca. 1955:
The depot is by Plasticville, the box works is by Suydam, the interlocking tower is by Alexander; the others are hazy. The F3 is Varney, the cars are mostly Varney except for the flat car, which is Athearn metal, and the log buggie is scratchbuilt. The layout is on Tru-scale roadbed, with Atlas brass flextrack on fiber ties. the board is Celotex.
---
Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
===================================
"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
I do not have pictures of some childhood layouts from the 1950's and early 1960's. Perhaps, that is just as well.
In the 1970's I had an N scale home layout, and I was a member of a an Ntrak modular club in Michigan. My module depicted an auto parts plant. It was part of the a large Ntrak layout at the Dearborn, MI NMRA Convention. MR did a report of the Ntrak layout in 1978 (I think). A black and white picture of my module was in the article.
In the 1980's, I was building what I hoped to be the ultimate HO layout. I was inspired by John Allan layouts, and wanted the midwest equivalent of his legendary layout. My layout was a long way from completion when it was destroyed because of moving to a new home.
The curved trestles in the last photo were from Campbell kits. The picture was taken before completing scenery. The trestles have been salvaged and rebuilt as a long single trestle, and it is on my current layout.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
I have some really REALLY dark Super 8 movies of my Lionel layout from about 1973 when I was about 14. I have some slightly better movies from about 1978-79 of the later expanded layout, but I don't have any still pics until a later layout from the mid-eighties.
These aren't mine (my parents weren't even born then ), but they are great shots of the same model railroad in 1925 and 1929 respectively. Interesting stuff::
http://www.shorpy.com/node/7676
http://www.shorpy.com/node/7789
http://www.shorpy.com/node/7711
Pete
Very nice work guys! Love it