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This week I'm again posting photos of something other than pictures of my layout. Many of you know that I live in Pittsburgh,  but probably most of you don't know that we actually have a subway here...in fact many Pittsburghers aren't even aware of it. But it has always been one of my favorite things about my home town. While no one would ever confuse it with the NYC subway or the DC Metro, I don't think there is any city our size that has anything like it. It is only two miles long (though the full rapid transit portion of our 24 mile Light rail system including the subway is about three miles long), but it is quite impressive with beautiful architecture and a portion that actually goes under the Allegheny River. Though my pictures were taken right after cars pulled out in both directions and there are no passengers on the platforms, it is heavily used. In fact, it is packed during Pirates and Steelers games.

I went out for a walk this past weekend on the North Shore and poked my head into this station (the North Side Station) which serves PNC Park. I always thought it kind of looked like a DC Metro station with its high vaulted ceiling. I kept hoping MTH would make an articulated light rail vehicle like they use here in Pittsburgh and in many other cities, but I could never convince them to do one. Anyhow, enjoy the pics!

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Last edited by PRRMiddleDivision

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Came across this old photo today of our FIRST set-up at a local nursing home with our new modular layout. We used ScaleTrax which looked pretty realistic and had wide curves so we could run scale sized equipment. One of the lady residents came over to my wife at the time and said "See that train over there - That's the Santa Fe Super Chief. I rode it from Chicago to California when I was a girl". My wife was impressed!  We had a lot of good stories from those visits. The most memorable was a man in a wheelchair who sat by the tracks with his face beaming like a little boy - very excited. A nurse took me aside and said "That man has been here 7 months and this is the first time I've seen him smile!" I get choked up even now when I relate that story - what memories did we unlock in him that brought such joy?

That's me to the left with Professor Dave Alsop (center) and Ed Rynning (right) in photo. Both of them have passed and are missed in the club. This first outing was over 10 years ago now! We really generated some good will with these set-ups around our area but as we've gotten older it has become impractical to manage them anymore due to us being older and less able to physically handle the work!

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Last edited by c.sam
@c.sam posted:

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Came across this old photo today of our FIRST set-up at a local nursing home with our new modular layout. We used ScaleTrax which looked pretty realistic and had wide curves so we could run scale sized equipment. One of the lady residents came over to my wife at the time and said "See that train over there - That's the Santa Fe Super Chief. I rode it from Chicago to California when I was a girl". My wife was impressed!  We had a lot of good stories from those visits. The most memorable was a man in a wheelchair who sat by the tracks with his face beaming like a little boy - very excited. A nurse took me aside and said "That man has been here 7 months and this is the first time I've seen him smile!" I get choked up even now when I relate that story - what memories did we unlock in him that brought such joy?

That's me to the left with Professor Dave Alsop (center) and Ed Rynning (right) in photo. Both of them have passed and are missed in the club. This first outing was over 10 years ago now! We really generated some good will with these set-ups around our area but as we've gotten older it has become impractical to manage them anymore due to us being older and less able to physically handle the work!

Great picture and story!

That's what it's al about......thank you for sharing......this is what we've all missed during the pandemic......

Peter

@c.sam posted:

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The most memorable was a man in a wheelchair who sat by the tracks with his face beaming like a little boy - very excited. A nurse took me aside and said "That man has been here 7 months and this is the first time I've seen him smile!" I get choked up even now when I relate that story - what memories did we unlock in him that brought such joy?



That's a great story.  Thanks for sharing that.  Anytime we can make someone smile is what it's all about.

The new Sunset GP9 and GP7 in PRR

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I am glad Scott offered the rarer passenger version of the GP7 with the air tanks on top.  The Pennsy ordered only  handful of them.  There is a photo in Wither's book "PRR DIESEL LOCO PICTORIAL VOL 8 EARLY EMD ROAD SWITCHERS" of one pulling a passenger train under the wire in Camden NJ,   So that's all I needed as an excuse to get one.

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Another temp 7’x9’ layout built out of boredom.  I’ve been showing images of the 1st one the last several weeks (Easter) and decided I enjoyed that enough to do another.  This was built back in mid-February.  As I’ve mentioned before with my Easter temp layout, I have so many beautiful Christmas pieces that I could never use them all on my 11’x14’ Christmas layout and I dislike having them just sit in boxes where I don’t get to enjoy seeing them, so I did this temp Christmas layout.

- walt

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Here's a photo more typical of what I usually post. This is a westbound passenger train hauled by a pair of K-4 Pacifics as they enter the east end of Jack's Narrows. This area of the layout is under construction and has a long way to go. It's the first photo I've posted of this part of the layout which after over 23 years of construction is now about 85% (or perhaps a bit more) complete:

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Last edited by PRRMiddleDivision
@c.sam posted:
.....A nurse took me aside and said "That man has been here 7 months and this is the first time I've seen him smile!" I get choked up even now when I relate that story - what memories did we unlock in him that brought such joy?

The National Capital Trackers has set up layouts at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in DC, and I was there in 2016.  We got the same reaction from the nurses and care givers that brought in residents of the home.  They said that was the first time many of their residents smiled in a long time, especially those with severe memory issues.  Not sure if the NCT will still do it, but I would go back again.  My biggest regret was not taking pictures of the residents when they started coming in.  This was during setup and those are my bridge modules.

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Last edited by CAPPilot
@Artie-DL&W posted:

Actually, there’s at least one on The Public Delivery Track site. As soon as I saw the one you did, I thought I’d look for one myself, and immediately went to Beth’s site. I still have to order benchwork and track for my layout expansion, so why don’t you take advantage of my find?

An LD car with shipping would be over 72 bucks.

@Alan Rogers posted:

Chaz Walking on Track [1)   Chaz Walking on Track [3)

My cats have been permanently banned from the train room. Tigger bit part of the cross off the steeple of St. Francis church, then stepped on the roof of the Texaco station, causing a cave-in. Midge was seen emerging from tunnel #2.

@Alan Rogers

Alan:

It was impossible to keep Chaz away from the layout. The layout is in an open family room in the basement. There are no doors.

Chaz was very good. When he got on the layout, all he would do was walk the track around the city portion of the layout and occasionally sit on the track to admire his image in the mirrors we have as backdrops around the city. He sometimes knocked over a tree, but, nothing serious. Chaz always liked to watch the trains run from his perch on the arm of an over-stuffed love seat. He was a great cat and we miss him very much.

@Alan Rogers

Alan:

It was impossible to keep Chaz away from the layout. The layout is in an open family room in the basement. There are no doors.

Chaz was very good. When he got on the layout, all he would do was walk the track around the city portion of the layout and occasionally sit on the track to admire his image in the mirrors we have as backdrops around the city. He sometimes knocked over a tree, but, nothing serious. Chaz always liked to watch the trains run from his perch on the arm of an over-stuffed love seat. He was a great cat and we miss him very much.

I am SO sorry for your loss.

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