great joy of hosting...

If you are located in the Niagara area,did you know Dr.Randall Swanson?  I had the opportunity to visit with him at many O Scale meets.  I know he had an outstanding O scale layout in upstate New York.  It was themed on the NYC and had many outstanding scratch built structures which were done by himself, and later his son.  Sadly, he passed away several years ago, really a fine fellow.

My layout is designed for "operations"  using switchlists.   I have a bunch of industries and a series of trains that are run to work the industries and move stuff from the yard to staging and from staging to the yards.

 

I am in a round robin group that tries to meet every thursday evening and operate on different layouts.   It is fun to host and it is fun to see the model RR do what I imagined it would do when I designed it.    Not every one in the group has a layout, but all enjoy the sessioins.   And most of the group is HO but the scale does not matter.   

 

You try doing something like that to get more opportunities to show off your RR.   LIke one of my group says, "if the guys don't come to operate, why did I build it".     You could/should start small and invite one or two guys over that you know and like getting together with.   They might know some others and it will grow from there. 

 

We keep ours simple, we put out a schedule of who is hosting about a month in advance.   Our one rule is that you call the host and ask if he has room for you.   Some of layouts can handle 20 people and some 6 and everything in between.   We try to keep it on a first call, first come basis until we fill up.

 

It keeps the interest up and the layout operating for lots of guests.

 I never heard of him. I will do a search.

  There are some good RRs around. I'm not on their list!

Hopefully I can get started soon on re-building the RR in my basement. I've moved the G gauge and I'm slowly getting there. I would like the RR to have a purpose, like I've read. So switching, train movements, etc., can be more like real operations.

 It's still a pipe dream......whatever I've planned to do, sooner or later I've done it.

Randall Swanson's layout was featured in the NYCSHS magazine some time ago.  He had built a separate building for his layout because a basement would not have been suitable since he lived next to a lake.

Hey Joe, if you ever open up the layout again and have an open house make sure you let me know. I'm in the Lewiston area and always like to visit another model RR. Although I'm heavy into O  I've also been into g scale too and have a good amount of stuff left.  I think they do a local tour of area layouts that I hope to make next time it comes up.

Marc

Hi Marc,

 I don't see an email address in your profile. I would send you my address. Joe

jwpcfv (at) msn.com

Joe has a fantastic layout to see - with a lot of potential for his ideas in the future.

 

He is a great host and has a lot of knowledge of trains to talk about.

 

If you get a chance to visit him - by all means do so.

 

Thanks again Joe for the opportunity to see your layout.

 

Jim S.

Hey Joe,  I just updated my profile. Email anytime.

Marc

Marc, I sent an email.

Jim, I wished you lived closer! We'd run some big trains!