Chops

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Do you ever use a micro cam to film or photograph your model trains from the perspective of a scale person? Cab shots, window shots, what do you got? Bamburg Update Filmed when I was starting my first serious attempt at British OO a few years back. Used a Hotwheels Video Racer perched upon a 3 plank wagon.

A 2x4 of El Paso, circa 1960. Trolleys once thrived in El Paso, but then, everyone wanted a car.

A length of PVC pipe, a loose hack saw blade and an old saw were the only tools I have on hand. The reversing circuit is a Bachmann trolley auto reverse.

You've heard of the The Old West, well, this is the Old East. An early attempt at a micro layout. I was trying to achieve a scenic divide from autumn to winter, that I had seen David Popp do.

I did the modeling, but the two structures are by an unknown person. I found them in a junk shop. The scene portrayed here is an area where the railroad first crossed into El Paso, from New Mexico. The river is the Rio Grande, and sand from said river was used in its construction. For water, I used Clear Gorilla Glue. It sets up slower than other "water" products, is more viscous, and thus less likely to dribble through cracks.

Excuse the pun, but it was a hot topic when high pressure (anything over 40 PSI) came about in the early 19th century.

No Worries Every generation has its catch phrases, "Groovy," or "Totally tubular," etc. Today's catch phrase, "No worries," is like finger nails upon the chalk board. My response: The Sweet Life

The appellation alone grabbed my attention. This is a fabulous invention, and you have created an alternate universe. Love it.

My first reaction was "wow!" Scrolling down, my second reaction was "wow!"

Outstanding achievement, if I may say. As much as seeing the place, I feel it.

Ingenious. This is the only other tropical layout, of any size, I've seen to date, except one I did featuring a bit of the Yucatan. Your track plans are most innovative- not seen anything like that, ever. I am studying your efforts with a view to building a micro layout of a Floridian back water branch line.

Grime, rust, fouled water, grease, dirt, and decay never looked so good. A masterpiece. I've no business suggesting anything to this level of excellence, but the thought occurred to me: the rails are too straight. Some warps, dips, and bends might look good.

Pterodactyly Speaking

It started as a joke, when a dear friend and rivet counter, a Class One railroad engineer, and model railroader (talk about a bus man's holiday) gave me a Tyco Pipe un-loader as a gag gift. Little did I realize it, it became a bit of a slippery slope. Tyco, and its knock offs, is generally considered junk by serious model railroaders, though many got there start in it. Cheap and abundant, it is often found stowed under tables at model train shows and stowed in the "dollar bin" at model train shops, large and small. In the hands of the unwary, it is the crack cocaine of model railroading. I was unwary, and soon it began to over run me. At this point, in seems wise to reign in my enthusiasm, at least a bit, and it is slated to be chopped from a 4x8 to a large micro 4x4. I will be doing some serious, and at times, painful, herd thinning. Tyco, unbeknownst to me, produced a truly astonishing array of HO model train stuff since its inception in the UK in about 1927, went through several owners, including General Foods, in its later years. As things transpired, it only seemed natural to incorporate my varied interests of paleontology, theology, trolleys, trolley buses, folk music, and other wonders of our age, like nuclear power. Thus, the back story is something along the lines, a la Jurassic Park, and Jujanji, got fired up by spillage from the sinister Jade Fog plant (an intellectual creation of friend and graphic artist, El Rojo Grande) and leakage from the Armadilloville Nuclear Power Plant, combined to ignite long dormant dinosaur fossils into marauding beasts and animals, such as armadillos and other dinosaurs. If you look carefully, you will see the blue Rock Island box car contains a roasted pterodactyl. It just keeps getting worse. But, the entire creation is slated for demolition and reduction to a micro layout in the near future, as time permits.

Thank you, Kieth. Yes, that would be correct. As far as "false starts," as Bart Simpson said, "The road to failure is begun by a single step." I am constantly reinventing my various projects. Desert to New England, Britain to the Soviet Union, my imagination circles about like a fruit fly. Micro layouts help keep my sundry ambitions in check. To a degree. This site, only discovered by happenstance, appears to be a trove unlike any other I've seen in recent years. It might prove dangerous to my time and wallet.

I did, Ian, hope "Subway Pike" landed in your inbox. One of several submissions I'd enjoy sharing.

Good day, Mr. Holmes. I am most recently drawn into RM Web from hearing about your new online magazine in the UK Model Railway Forums, where they have tolerated my nonsense for several years, now. I did send you a link to a 48 inch square Subway Pike recently, but have not had the pleasure of your reply. I hope you are doing well, and it is my desire to follow your publication with great interest, both in this site, and your own. Micro layouts fairly explode with ambiance and character, and this is the heart of model rail: trying to capture the experience of something, and share it with others. I am not particularly skilled, for all my years in this diversion, but I do manage to enjoy myself, none the less. https://youtu.be/WNw3Rg9Rw9U

Texas greetings. Located on the Mexican border, El Paso is much like the Australian Outback, just not as nice. My interest in model rail started as soon as I saw a dog freight on the Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo, whilst growing up there. In 1966 I received a wind up Wrenn OO set, and having still a surviving piece, a Golliwog van, and the life long fascination began. To cut to the chase, I have a great interest in micro layouts, any scale, any nation. I was drawn to RM Web when I first noticed the brand new Micro Model Railway magazine, which is somehow authored under the umbrella of RM Web, which is turning out to be a rather extraordinary enterprise; so much to discover. However, I'd really like to know how one might contribute to MMR. I emailed the attached address of the editor, but have not heard back. In the meantime, I will endeavor to start chopping through the amazing micro layout stuff I've seen in RM Web. If anyone has any insight into how to gain more access to MMR, apparently associated with RM Web, I'd be grateful. In brief, I regard model railroading as a form of folk art. The common denominator is one of nostalgia, and we are all trying to recreate a memory, typically centered on trains. My wife once remarked, that if we are created in His image (sorry, no more religious blather), then by definition we are mini-creators. It is this desire to create that drives model rail.