Trains in the Town Hall 2018

Photos-

1. Shows our clay tile factory circa 1919-1924. Complete with a scale downdraft kiln.
2. Shows our milk condenser circa 1908-1940. Complete with a coll mist vaporizer producing steam from the powerhouse.
3. The snow side, showing the elevation change via Hells Gate Bridge
4. Another view of Rieck-McJunkin, (based out Pittsburgh)
5. An over view shot of the summer side
6. Our main street featuring 7 scale models of our main street in 1915
7. Winter incline
8. Lake Side, campfire made from a flickering LED tealight wired to a buck converter & running from track power
9. Another shot of Bloomfield Clay Products
10. A local fella turned the Kiln on a lathe, and cork was used for bricks
11. Another main street shot
12. one of the activation buttons
13. Our PRR Passenger train, last passenger train went through our town in 1932
14. The mountain flats were made from ceiling tiles
15. The kitbashed OGR fire station that I built, added working doors, (another activation)
16. Winters incline

Where is this, exactly?

It's in our Town Hall, in North Bloomfield Ohio 44450. 

Nice setup... how many members participate?  Our club would like to do this but it's tough to staff.  Who keeps an eye on it during "closed" hours?

Lots of fun, lotsa kids, I'm sure!

Roger, I'm glad to see you and the group have it set up again this year!  The layout looks great, and as before there are a lot of local interest scenes to interest all who come in!

eddiem posted:

Nice setup... how many members participate?  Our club would like to do this but it's tough to staff.  Who keeps an eye on it during "closed" hours?

Lots of fun, lotsa kids, I'm sure!

It is put on by our Historical Society. I'm the president, and this was my dumb idea, now I can't figure out how to get out of it!
I build, design, lay the track, and wire the layouts. Once the track is down, four others start on the winter side. I build the entire summer side. On days that we open, normally I get things up & running, and stay close by while others man the popcorn and drinks. I've got two retired local guys that help me a lot- so much so that without their help this wouldn't be a thing. One of their wives is a high strung firecracker. She is constantly in motion and building new things. There are a couple other ladies that help out as well. I function on 4 hours of sleep a day, so I normally am at the Town Hall from 1-4am putting things together and running wire. 

When its closed, the doors are locked and no public are in the building. When we are open, we average 100-125 people in a couple hours.

Mark Boyce posted:

Roger, I'm glad to see you and the group have it set up again this year!  The layout looks great, and as before there are a lot of local interest scenes to interest all who come in!

Thanks Mark-

The local scenes are my equivalent of sneaking kale into a pot of Chili- The kids think they are looking at trains, but they don't realize they are getting a little history as well. My kids are eating chili without any clue that there is vegetables in it.

Kinda like the Archie Campbell version of Rindercella? Ya gotta get creative in order to get them to do what you want.

Very good, Roger!  Archie Campbell's Rindercella!!  Yes I remember that one!  Excellent!

rogerpete posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Roger, I'm glad to see you and the group have it set up again this year!  The layout looks great, and as before there are a lot of local interest scenes to interest all who come in!

Thanks Mark-

The local scenes are my equivalent of sneaking kale into a pot of Chili- The kids think they are looking at trains, but they don't realize they are getting a little history as well. My kids are eating chili without any clue that there is vegetables in it.

Kinda like the Archie Campbell version of Rindercella? Ya gotta get creative in order to get them to do what you want.

Roger;

Kale??? Those poor deceived kids.

The layout looks great... I love the history aspect, but I’m no kid - but detest kale!!! And that kiln looks fabulous. Thanks for posting the pics and all you do for the hobby.

Paul,  LOL!

We all have weaknesses...

mine happens to be history and hiding kale in foods, just to see how far I can get away with it.
Personally, I hate the stuff. lol

You remind me of my wife’s grandmother.  She would hide horseradish in one person’s jello salad every holiday 

Mark Boyce posted:

You remind me of my wife’s grandmother.  She would hide horseradish in one person’s jello salad every holiday 

WOW!!! Don’t get on grandma‘s bad side   

Mark Boyce posted:

You remind me of my wife’s grandmother.  She would hide horseradish in one person’s jello salad every holiday 

Knowing that, might have been fair play to search it out and swap it out with Granny's. I can see the steam coming out of her nostrils now!

I love horseradish...but probably not in Jello.
We're lucky- we have a beautiful Town Hall to set up in. Our ceiling that many folks don't notice...

Todays running with the school

That’s great, Roger.  Students can have fun and learn something about their town

Awesome!  Our hobby needs to reach out to as many hearts and minds as we can!  Great job!  Your town is lucky to have you and that group of train guys!

Jim

RogerPete, this is awesome. I love that you have included things on the layout that are historically accurate.

If I had better modeling skills, I would try to build a layout (1) based on The Put Railroad, that ran from Bronx, NY  (near the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium) to Brewster, NY (that had coal or iron ore mines) through scenic Westchester County; and/or (2) based on my hometown which was Mt. Vernon, NY that had train stations for the New Haven and NY Central, a downtown shopping area on 4th Avenue, a beautiful park known as Hartley Park, and a Bordens Milk Plant.

It is also terrific that others pitch in to help you with your gorgeous, historic layout based on your hometown.

I would think that to make an historic layout happen, you would need at least a couple of very good modelers who can scratch build models and/or kitbash in order to make the unique historic structures on the layout. Arnold