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A newly discovered John Armstrong model railroad track plan
Interesting layout…think I will try this one out.
excellent
Nice plan.
Any idea on the size? (foot print).
Dennis, the plan has 12" squares (listed a couple of lines under the layout and client’s name) so if I counted correctly, the layout seems to be about 24x44 feet, in a room about 24x50 feet.
Absolutely brilliant design!
Great
Very beautiful, and do able plan.
Thanks for printing this. It says it was drawn for “Potter Palmer of Lake Forest ILL.” Does anyone know if it was ever built? I also would like to know more information on how it was rediscovered.
Print the “Mineral Range Lake Michigan digital scan” file on 8.5 by 14 legal size paper, BUT tell your printer that it is a “custom” size 8.5 by 13.12 paper and you will end up with a printed drawing that is almost exactly 1/4 inch to the foot scale so you can use a standard architect’s scale directly on the print to measure it.
(It works on my Canon S520 printer, so I think it will work on any other ink jet printer as well.)
Does anyone have any idea why he used “Ischcanaba” instead of the real city name of Escanaba?
It´s wunderfull. Very realy, Top
@ Thomas
Armstrong sometimes created mashed-up names for towns derived from multiple prototypes or playing multiple roles. For instance, “Wincrosse,” on his Upper Mississippi Railroad, is, as he wrote, “an obvious amalgam of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Winona, Minnesota.”
I suspect the same is true of Ishcanaba: Escanaba and Ishpeming. It is, as the great man might have said, “Escanaba-ish.”
Thanks, MR!
It’s great to know about the printer. I have always wounder about that. This is great thanks.
I was looking for a date on the drawing. Any ideas on when the plan was produced? With the staging and interchanges it has a really nice operating potential. Amazing to see the technique and hand lettering used to create the plan. It is a work of art.
Awsome plan if you have the room.
What master. I was fortunate to visit his layout once to see his handy work first hand
Wonderful find. However, upon opening, we immediately see a right hand turnout at the end of a left hand curve resulting in an S curve. I’d have thought John would have placed a left hand turnout at the end of the curve to avoid the S curve. (Yes, then you’d have a grade crossing on a siding, but being the designer of this world, he could have moved the road.) Anyway, it’s still a masterpiece of a drawing and would look wonderful framed.
That’s a work of art. Computer programs are useful BUT this is the demonstration to do a masterpiece one can do without
I lived near the Michigan UP in Pembone Wi, a junction of SOO and MILW. I like the idea of LSI, SOO, CNW, and MILW equipment being complimentary to the layout. CNW and MILW often pooled their locos and rolling stock in this area.