El Paso Model Railroad Association

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In 1949, a collection of retired Army officers started meeting in someone's living room, which next came to a model railroad set up in an unused basement room at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in the early '50's. From there it went to the basement of the Toltec Building in downtown El Paso and got flooded out in the mid '70's. From there it went to the back room of Meston's Travel Agency and in the early '80's came to its final destination at a disused soup kitchen, built to serve a nearby housing project (from a "Great Society" program of the 1960's). My membership spanned some twenty years, and here is some video I did, sometimes making a serious effort, but mostly fooling around. 

 

It was quite by accident, that I discovered that one could shoot video, with sound no less, using a cheap digital camera. And so I did. 

 

 

 

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MoPac on the Move

My dear friend, who prefers to be only known by his nom de plume, "Crusty," is a Class One railroad engineer who's hobbies include model trains. Quite the Bus Man's Holiday. While a fan of the ATSF, he makes a habit of trying to collect at least one of every road name of every car he see's during his daily duties. 

 

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Silver Meteor

On a constrained budget, much of my stuff was Tyco, old Athearn, and things I'd pick up in the bargain box here and there. 

 

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Thursday Night at the Club

We would typically congregate on Thursday nights for regular meetings, whomever had some trains on hand ran trains on the 3 track HO, the two track O, or the two track N. One of the conundrums of an organization collectively using complex stuff was young people. On one hand, it was desired to promote the hobby to the younger generation. On the other hand, while their enthusiasm was appreciated, they had a frequent tendency to throw toggles randomly to see what would happen, and this led to collisions, lost trains, shorts, and one time a lift gate was left up and the president's expensive Roco German armored military train went sailing to the concrete below, where alas, the plastic armor did little to keep it from being turned into confetti. 

 

This is one of my El Cheapo trains, mostly. 

 

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Halseth's Big Boy

 

The relatively large size of the layout, built in fits and starts over a period of twenty years, allowed for long trains. This is Harald Halseth's Union Pacific Big Boy, a radio controlled affaired.

 

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Long Time Gone

One of the things about model railroading is the people you meet. James Howard, and I, had much fun setting up his Southern Crescent. A Southern man, he connected to the nostalgia of Southern railroading. 

 

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Rollin', E60 Style on the Rock

I've always gotten a kick out of fantasy electrics. This Bachmann piece had its lousy Power Torque motor, and would shed pinion gears any old time. Finally, I chopped an Athearn BB chassis in half and wedged it in the shell to make a reliable unit. 

 

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Ranch to Plate: Railroads at Work

In search of inspiration, I turned to vintage promo trailers promoting railroads, and satirized them.

 

Better Living Through Chemistry

 

Trains Rule, Cars Drool

Satirizing America's obsession for automobiles. Me, I obsess about trains. 

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Chops
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Jimmy Jame's Working on the Railroad

The people you meet. Dr. Jimmy James was a most pleasant fellow with an eclectic interest in model trains. Jimmy had had a mild stroke, in the past, and was unable to do much of the work himself. So, he directed, and I laid the track for him. 

 

His layout consisted of 4 4x8's upon saw horses. Anyone who has built a model railroad knows that any reach beyond 2 1/2 feet in any direction is the limit. So, the maximum depth being 8 feet in any direction was very, very challenging. I tried to have him consider a smaller, more easily accessed 4 x 16, but at the end of the day it's his dream, his railroad, so I did my best to accommodate. 

 

 

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Snow Bird Roll By

Having access to a large club layout invites longer and longer trains. And as the Tyco stuff was typically a buck a whack, sometimes 2 for a dollar, it wasn't hard to assemble this 35 car mostly Tyco consist. The Athearn ABA consist are all powered, and it took all their torque to move this rake. 

 

Snow Bird and Tyco Billboard Roll By

 

 

 

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In Memory of Major William Hart

What does it mean to be of service to the country? It means being on call 24/7, 365 days a year. It means taking or giving fire in atrocious conditions followed by endless monotony. It means you are expendable to a government that will micromanage your affairs, and God help you if you don't comply. Major Bill, as we called him, was a thirty year veteran of many campaigns. His duties did not permit him to do much model railroading, which he loved, so he collected a few pieces here and there, which related to his experience, along the way. Finally, after retiring, he put together a little affair in his garage. His health was failing- he gave that up in his service, too, and I helped him with a little wiring to get it going. 

 

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Steel Wheel on Steel Track (er...sometimes).

A spoof on documentaries concerning centuries of progress in American rail.

 

 

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Dutch Maid to the Rescue

 

Another spoof on railroad promo films. The club layout provided a large canvas. 

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El Paso Model Railroad Association Open House Week 2

 

 

Located less than a mile from the Mexican border, we enjoyed our Juarez friends and their amazing trains. Mexican rail, in its entirety, is an astonishing array of narrow gauge, catenary, steam, shop built diesels, ultra modern EMD's, canyons, sea coast, even some European designs. Much of it's been modernized now, reflected here. 

 

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Union Pacific Week 1

This from an open house, I recollect. The Club has HO, N, and O layouts. At the time, I was working hard to attract a grant from the Union Pacific Foundation, which, eventually, was successful. A key ingredient in selling is to speak to the other man's interest. Wasn't hard, we all have a great appreciation for the Union Pacific's contribution to the El Paso economy, and, well, trains are beautiful, no matter how you slice it. 

 

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Rock Island Line: A Mighty Fine Line

 

The fantasy E60 was bashed by throwing the rubbish Bachmann chassis in the dust bin, and replacing it with an Athearn FP 40 chassis, cut in half and filed to width to make a reliable and smooth performer. 

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The New Mexico Northern

I corresponded with this modeler for a long time, and he never got the chance to come to El Paso, I ran his beautiful trains on the layout and shot a video for him, and then mailed them back. The locomotives are his work, I supplied some cars. 

 

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Jello on the Move

 

Who knew you could have so much fun with Jello? Jello: an iconic hospital food. 

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Heislers

Another career Army guy who never had time for a layout. He purchased these fine scale brass Heislers, and Shays, while stationed in Japan. When he joined the Club, he took them out of storage and found them to be corroded into brass door stops. My friend, "Moose," a professional model railroader, took them completely disassembled them into their myriad parts, cleaned them up, even the green crusted motors, and reassembled them. From junk to treasure. Russ, the owner, died a year or two later. Don't postpone your dreams too long. 

R

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Open House: Week 3

 

No coincidence U.P. is highlighted. Speak to the other man's interests. He already has a good idea what you want. 

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Turn Down Day Tyco Doodling #3

And sometimes, I just run trains. A lot of Tyco because it's cheap. 

 

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Penn Central DD40X

A big sand box for big stuff.

https://youtu.be/sVSLTqhSb4w

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Dutch Maid on the Move

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Dutch Maid to the Rescue