Above - About 1945 to 1950 - As a small child, I still remember a neighbor bringing a standard gauge model train to our house (example only shown) and setting it up on the floor of our living room. Dad and I played with it for hours.
Model Railroads
Page 1
Above - About 1945 to 1950 - As a small child, I still remember a neighbor bringing a
standard gauge model train to our house (example only shown) and setting it up on the floor of our
living room. Dad and I played with it for hours.
Above - About 1950 to 1965 - Eventually, Dad bought a Lionel
O-27 train for my younger brother and me and, over time, built a very elaborate,
two-level layout for us in the basement of our childhood home. We enjoyed it for
many years but when we left home for college, Dad gave it all away! Since we
lived in Kentucky coal country, we did have a C&O switcher like the one
shown.
Above - About 1968 - Fort Wayne - My first model railroad as an adult. The
N-scale layout.
Above - About 1972 - Homewood, Illinois - The N-scale layout got moved with us to
Illinois, got contours, got sold.
Above - About 1973 - Homewood, Illinois - An ambitious HO-scale layout was
started.
Above - About 1973 - Homewood, Illinois - Very ambitious.
Above - About 1973 - Homewood, Illinois - Big yard under construction.
Above - About 1973 - Homewood, Illinois - A brass C & O
collection was started at the same time, with the notion of securing one of each
of all the available engines in a rapidly growing list. The "want"
list grew faster than the budget.
After we moved back to Fort Wayne in 1974, another ambitious HO layout was started. It was enjoyed but never completed so it was taken down in 1979 and most of the equipment and brass collection was sold.
Above - Picture taken in 2001 - Fort Wayne - In about 1995, grandson one Kyle and I built
an HO layout for him to enjoy at our house during the time when we babysat
fulltime with him. We even drove a golden spike.
Above - 2001 - Fort Wayne - There is an actual
"Kyle" Railroad in Kansas so there had to be a model, of course!
Above - 2007 - Noblesville - With the move to be near the
younger grandchildren, another useful blue engine has been spotted on the Kyle
Railroad.
Above - Christmas 2007 - Going all the way back
to something close to my standard gauge beginnings, I bought a Hartland 1:24
scale, G Gauge 0-4-0 and made an automated Christmas display for the front
porch. The motion detector seen on the upper gold box started the train running
when someone approached. Clever wiring made sure the train always stopped in the
"tunnel". Kids young and old did note, however, that it didn't make
any chugging noise. That was corrected in 2008 - video
here.
Above - June 1, 2008 - Trackage rights were
gained in the back yard garden so the Santa train could entertain the children
of all ages year 'round. Above the right-of-way possibilities are considered.
Above - June 17, 2008 - Maybe a loop behind the
bird bath....
Above - June 17, 2008 - .... and a few more curves
leading to the bird bath could be a possibility....
Above - June 17, 2008 - ...now it's looking
better!
Above - August 9, 2008 - The short line has been in business for more than a month, time for some pictures.
Above - August 9, 2008 - Lots of curves on the
front side mean careful running until we are sure the debris is clear.
Above - August 9, 2008 - Some of the crew is anxious
to extend the track south (toward the camera).
Above - August 9, 2008 - After a hard day of
delivering the goods, old Number 7, currently the only engine on the line, heads for the engine house.
Above - August 21, 2008 - Clamping and unclamping
the connector wires every time an operating session was declared got to be old
hat real quick. The answer was a quick and dirty plastic shed to house a quick
connect plug when not in use.
Above - August 21, 2008 - A problem was caught
before the cabinet was installed on the layout. Can you spot it? (No, I'm not
talking about the cheesy looking hinge.)
Above - August 21, 2008 - The problem was fixed and
the cabinet installed. (Yes, the HO transformer does heat up even when running
the 0-4-0.) It has been replaced with an LGB starter set transformer.
Above - August 9, 2008 - Noblesville - Click and enjoy a new invention in the the world of Large Scale models.
Above - August 21, 2008 - Noblesville - Old Number 7 gets a sound system! A complete tour of the TMRRR and a test of the new Ram 53 sound system.
Above - December 5, 2008 - Noblesville - The Santa Train is operational for the second year, this time with more detector range, longer run time and sound!
Above - May 16, 2009 - Noblesville - My door prize from the
Indiana Large Scale Railroaders banquet. Does anyone know what it is? The 69232
tender is common, but I can find no info about this one.
Answer! The Door Prize Chairman later said that the donating shop owner needed the sound system from a 69232 for a customer's repair, so he took it out of this tender. He then used white-out to cover the "sound" logo and to change the item number to a fictional "69230".
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This Page Last Updated - Thursday, December 24, 2009