Idly following some links around....

[shortliner]

.....I found that Bob Smaus has moved home and is building a smaller yet interesting new LA layout in his new house.

http://www.bobsgarde.../NewLayout.html. Enjoy!

[trisonic]

That's funny - when I saw the shot of the urban buildings bisected by the river I thought of Newark's Ironbound District!

 

Bob has a really beautiful backyard doesn't he? To be honest I'd dread that as I get older.....

 

Thanks, once again, Jack.

 

Best, Pete.

[Barry Ten]

Nice bear.

[Ozexpatriate]

Nothing says downtown "LA" quite like the city hall.

[bxmoore]

Bob Smaus has been one of my major influences since I first saw his work in Model Railroader.

 

He's still (slowly) selling off much of his collection on ebay, and a few years ago I was fortunate to win two of his detailed black widow Proto SD9's, and best of all, an accurate tiger-stripe Baldwin AS616 (SP 5231), a picture of which I append below. By today's standards, those handrails could be thinner, but it's got the dynamic brake equipment, correctly-positioned class lights, great decalling etc, and is modelled on a LA regular; all I did was install a Loksound decoder, and it happily burbles its way around my layout on locals.

 

I also came across a picture of my #5231 in a 20-year-old Smaus article in an old MR recently. I like the concept of owning a few items from a guy I really respect and admire as a modeller. Anyway, here it is, running on my own layout.

 

Brian