TRAIN THEME THURSDAY : close up shots around the layout......

New York Central highball freight shares trackage rights with the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad....

Well it's technically Friday, however, this time is the end of my Thursday schedule.  Delightful photos everyone!!  Here are my close ups for today.

NSDTrains posted:

AGHRMatt posted:

That is a beautiful engine! Do you mind my asking what manufacturer made it? Also, your layout looks awesome.

That's a CNW H-1 Northern by Sunset Models' 3rd Rail Division.  The 3rd Rail website shows the engines are still available and also has a video of the locomotive in action.  It is indeed a beautiful model.

RTR Mark

NSDTrains posted:

AGHRMatt posted:

That is a beautiful engine! Do you mind my asking what manufacturer made it? Also, your layout looks awesome.

Thanks. The SD9 is also a Sunset/3rd Rail model. They're sold out, though. Here's the video they used on their site from the club layout. I made a special trip down to the club the day I got it to shoot the video.

Here's the one I shot along with the above photo after I finally got a set of passenger cars after searching for more than three years.

Two outta three ain't bad.......

TJ

                                                       one out of two.....

PRRronbh posted

Frank, thanks for these images.  I so much envoy seeing the photos you have been posting.  Thought with all the attention to detail in each and every vignette that the space had to be there.  

Do realize joy from these.

Ron

I am very grateful for what you have said here, Ron. Hearing from OGR forum voices that have any  interest at all in my layout is rewarding, but to receive such enthusiasm is beyond fun. Thank you very much.

gandydancer1950 posted: 

without a doubt one of the finest layouts I have ever seen....and I've seen a bunch! Well done!

Super to hear that from you, especially since I have enjoyed so many handsome layouts by our fellow hobbyists that have been posted on this fore, through the years. The variety and success of so much self-expression and creativity is a joy, truly.

Thanks for including my layout among those that your have liked a lot.

FrankM

Diverging Clear posted:

Frank "Moonson": I always like seeing photos of your layout, great detail, and, very realistic scenery! Your photos tell a story to the one viewing them, in my opinion.
Rusty

That's such a nice way of expressing your approval of my layout work, Rusty. Thank you very much.

Its very enjoyable for me to receive such kind words. In my imagination, when I work on any particular piece of miniature real estate, I try to make every element relate to each other, which includes every tree, shrub, vehicle, building, figure, or lack thereof, and miscellany, etc., just like in real life, where everything is present with purpose, isn't it. I'm gratified you are reading my little stories with such awareness.

FrankM

Zeke posted:

Frank - I believe this is the first time I've seen the entirety of your layout. Very impressive! I really like that you created an entire town and got the trains to blend in so nicely, as opposed to trying pack in too much trackage. Thank you for the tour!

Thank you, Zeke, Good to hear from you.

I must confess that I started out like quite a number of us do, with what's been referred to  as a "Spaghetti Bowl" of tracks and switches. I've heard a lot of us do that, in our enthusiasm . I used to have DOZENS of switches on my layout, both 027 and 072, with side tracks galore, even a turntable planned.

However, one day, while my wife and I were sharing our layout with guests, for the umpteenth time, we realized most guests were done with seeing the layout after about 20 min. max. I had never really been throwing switches, much, while having company, and didn't even do so much when running the layout alone. I guess that turned not to not be the way I played.

My wife gestured, during one of our debriefing sessions, in the layout room, while standing next to where the turntable was to be inserted amidst its roundhouse and yard, "Get rid of this." I had an epiphany, at those words. She was right. Guests were not interested in what I had in place, because neither were we.

In the next few days, I stripped the entire layout down to the plywood and began again, one inch at a time, and in no hurry whatsoever.

This is the site......of the previous roundhouse and  accompanying rail yard.

We enjoy this story better.

It gives us more to see and remember and gives our guests a bit more adventure. Nowadays, they stay for approx. an hour-plus, even when urged to return to the first floor for refreshments !

I have a theory. Our affection for trains becomes a creative adventure, an intellectual joyride to create a miniature world that gives the trains purpose, a place to be and a place to go, and places from which to return, beyond our nostalgic love for trains and for times gone by.

 That's my personal theory.

FrankM, Moon Township, USA

Frank - apologies for the lengthy delay in responding to you. Yes, I guess many of us do try to do too much at the start. You seem to have hit on the right "formula", so to speak, if you and your guests enjoy the layout much more now.

And I agree with your creative adventure theory. "Imagining up" scenes and then trying to turn them into reality on the layout is a fun way to spend some time.

Happy Thanksgiving !

Moonson posted:

Zeke posted:

Frank - I believe this is the first time I've seen the entirety of your layout. Very impressive! I really like that you created an entire town and got the trains to blend in so nicely, as opposed to trying pack in too much trackage. Thank you for the tour!

Thank you, Zeke, Good to hear from you.

I must confess that I started out like quite a number of us do, with what's been referred to  as a "Spaghetti Bowl" of tracks and switches. I've heard a lot of us do that, in our enthusiasm . I used to have DOZENS of switches on my layout, both 027 and 072, with side tracks galore, even a turntable planned.

However, one day, while my wife and I were sharing our layout with guests, for the umpteenth time, we realized most guests were done with seeing the layout after about 20 min. max. I had never really been throwing switches, much, while having company, and didn't even do so much when running the layout alone. I guess that turned not to not be the way I played.

My wife gestured, during one of our debriefing sessions, in the layout room, while standing next to where the turntable was to be inserted amidst its roundhouse and yard, "Get rid of this." I had an epiphany, at those words. She was right. Guests were not interested in what I had in place, because neither were we.

In the next few days, I stripped the entire layout down to the plywood and began again, one inch at a time, and in no hurry whatsoever.

This is the site......of the previous roundhouse and  accompanying rail yard.

We enjoy this story better.

It gives us more to see and remember and gives our guests a bit more adventure. Nowadays, they stay for approx. an hour-plus, even when urged to return to the first floor for refreshments !

I have a theory. Our affection for trains becomes a creative adventure, an intellectual joyride to create a miniature world that gives the trains purpose, a place to be and a place to go, and places from which to return, beyond our nostalgic love for trains and for times gone by.

 That's my personal theory.

FrankM, Moon Township, USA

Spoken like a true poet. Your words are what makes this hobby an art form. Thanks for sharing.

And Thank you, Luvindemtrains, for your very kind words.

FrankM

Moonson posted:

Zeke posted:

Frank - I believe this is the first time I've seen the entirety of your layout. Very impressive! I really like that you created an entire town and got the trains to blend in so nicely, as opposed to trying pack in too much trackage. Thank you for the tour!

Thank you, Zeke, Good to hear from you.

I must confess that I started out like quite a number of us do, with what's been referred to  as a "Spaghetti Bowl" of tracks and switches. I've heard a lot of us do that, in our enthusiasm . I used to have DOZENS of switches on my layout, both 027 and 072, with side tracks galore, even a turntable planned.

However, one day, while my wife and I were sharing our layout with guests, for the umpteenth time, we realized most guests were done with seeing the layout after about 20 min. max. I had never really been throwing switches, much, while having company, and didn't even do so much when running the layout alone. I guess that turned not to not be the way I played.

My wife gestured, during one of our debriefing sessions, in the layout room, while standing next to where the turntable was to be inserted amidst its roundhouse and yard, "Get rid of this." I had an epiphany, at those words. She was right. Guests were not interested in what I had in place, because neither were we.

In the next few days, I stripped the entire layout down to the plywood and began again, one inch at a time, and in no hurry whatsoever.

This is the site......of the previous roundhouse and  accompanying rail yard.

We enjoy this story better.

It gives us more to see and remember and gives our guests a bit more adventure. Nowadays, they stay for approx. an hour-plus, even when urged to return to the first floor for refreshments !

I have a theory. Our affection for trains becomes a creative adventure, an intellectual joyride to create a miniature world that gives the trains purpose, a place to be and a place to go, and places from which to return, beyond our nostalgic love for trains and for times gone by.

 That's my personal theory.

FrankM, Moon Township, USA

wonderful, nostalgic photos Frank....Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you, Gandy! Always good to hear your perspective.

One of the houses, a gift to me, in that neighborhood is of our home (tall house, white-n-gray, angular, in the middle of the back row). It was crafted by an architect upon the commission of a dear friend.

Also  present is a model I had crafted of my wife's childhood home (little girl in a red coat on the front porch, reaching for the doorknob).

The whole neighborhood is the result of pure imagination (that sound like a tune I heard somewhere.)

Happy Thanksgiving, indeed!

FrankM

Yes Frank, Moon Township is amazing, fun to watch, and truly a work of thought, Imagination, Determination, a gift from above...Happy Thanksgiving...

Yes, today is a day to be Thankful, eat gobble till we wobble, and run trains . Here’s a few of the Looney Lines RR.

leapinlarry posted:

Yes Frank, Moon Township is amazing, fun to watch, and truly a work of thought, Imagination, Determination, a gift from above...Happy Thanksgiving...

Thanks, Leapin! Good to hear! Real good!

FrankM