Pieces of Marty Fitzhenry's Layout Have Been Preserved by the NJ Hi-Railers.

Well done guys.  I can't think of a better place for it to go, and I'm sure you'll do it right.  Thanks to you, it will fare better than most of our layouts eventually will.

I'll give you a like for preserving but I hate that this had to happen.

I am happy you guys will be the custodian of some of the history.

Good to see a model of South Street Station will be saved.

This is certainly wonderful news....Marty will always live in our hearts, but this serves as a tangible remembrance.....thank you so much, guys!  

Spot on, guys!

Peter

That just breaks my heart all over again.

It's sad to see such a great layout and friend gone, it's nice that his memory will live on at the NJ-HR layout.

We all can thank the Fitzhenry family for this wonderful gift of generosity. Rest assured we all share in your sadness.

Thankfully some of the layout has been saved & hopefully preserved to be enjoyed by others. A sad ending, none the less.

Oh my…

Watching that second video was a bittersweet moment to be sure. It was sad to see the basement looking so bare, but I’m very happy to know that parts of this historical layout will be preserved.

I fondly remember shooting the OGR video of Marty’s layout. He and Dotty rolled out the red carpet for me, that’s for sure! They were very gracious hosts, and the video came out great. Of course, that’s easy to do when the subject is so good!

Kudos to the family and to the NJ Hi-Railers for doing this!  

Well done my fellow NJHIRAILERS. Awesome work saving a legends layout.

I remember driving out to Ohio and meeting Marty and Dotty there for one of Lionel's sales. Mike, Marty, Dotty and I went to the old TrainAmerica building and removed the sign from in front of the building. I had driven to Ohio and took the sign back to NY. Later I took it up to Marty. Nice to see it coming to NJ.

During that trip, we went to Dave Minarik's store and home. It was great meeting him and seeing how he customized his bikes. Marty took a picture of me on one of the bikes and some of my "friends" got a good laugh out of that.

Thank you Wendy and Dean. Marty always liked the NJHR, and I think he would really be pleased to know so much of his layout ended up there.

Gerry

It was 3 days of mixed emotions for me: sad to see the layout go as taking it down was a huge reminder that Marty is gone; happy to have helped preserve the important parts of it, and also happy to have had the chance to spend time with some of the club members. Chris, Chris, John, Scott and Bob, it was an honor to work with you on this project and get to know all of you. I hope our paths cross again soon.

By the way, we had a few laughs at Marty's expense. The number of screws that went into the track was like nothing any of us had ever seen.  And the benchwork and bridges, well...."sturdy" doesn't even begin to describe it.

John

I never got to see Marty's layout, but I'm very happy parts of it will still be around in my home state now. Big thumbs up to everyone at the NJHR for preserving his pride and joy.

The before and after videos were heart wrenching!  What a shame to tear up such an impressive layout!

It would be some or all of this layout could be re produced in the space where the sopranos layout resides.  Never met or conversed with marty but certainty recognize his contributions to the greater community

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The before and after videos were heart wrenching!  What a shame to tear up such an impressive layout!

Yes John it was and I had a knot in my stomach going back to Marty’s house for the first time after is death it was very emotional.  We had our one and only chance to preserve Marty’s memory and legacy and the possibility of the layout meeting a much worse outcome was not an option. Marty built his layout like a battle ship but it was worth all the hard work we did in the end.

Here's my photos of Marty's layout from August 2014.  I'm pleased to hear that some elements of this great layout will live on at NJHR.   

I have to say, I'm happy I didn't participate in that activity, I'm not sure how well I'd have done.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I have to say, I'm happy I didn't participate in that activity, I'm not sure how well I'd have done.

Marty must have gotten some deal on tracks screws.  10 in pieces frequently had 10 or so screws in them. And to make it worse they randomly switched between slotted and Phillips.  Marty got his revenge on us!  It turned out the easiest piece to get out may have been the signature wall.  It was a piece of Masonite glued to the sheetrock.