Family business took me into Indiana, PA on Friday. I figured I would just pop-in and say hello to Chip [a.k.a. SpaceMouse] in his store, since I was in his neighborhood. He had an even better idea: Running some trains at the Central Indiana Model RR Club’s layout, located in the basement of an Episcopal church in the downtown area. Since my own under-construction layout is not yet DCC-equipped, Chip kindly let me test-run my new Atlas Gold-series CW40-8 to pull a ‘local’, switching-out a few of the many trackside industries there. I spent about 3 hours operating, then another hour snapping photos of various scenes around the layout. Here are some of the stops along the way:
[Chip, if you want to fill-in the blanks on some of the place names, go ahead…]
A panoramic view the main yard. A scratch-built electric power plant can be seen in the background. The utility’s board of directors came under fire from the local town council saying their industrial-looking structure “compromised the city’s natural beauty”, so they hired the late Andy Warhol to do a makeover on one of the cooling towers. Can you spot it?
A close-up view of the same yard;
I nicknamed this place “Timesaver Junction” because it reminds me of the late John Allen’s masterpiece that spawned thousands of track plans over the years. Here is where I did my first swap-out of cars with the ‘local’ I was in charge of – kept me occupied for quite awhile!
A view looking down the mainline on the upper level, with a closeup of an ivy-covered building.
Ahhh…Beer and television, what a combination! People enjoying that lifestyle obviously are the target market of this t
That third picture, the one that reminded you f the timesaver is my favorite part of the layout. It’s not as big a problem as the timesaver, but challenging in its own way. I learn a lot about switching when I work that area.
I used to be in the club but left to rebuild my house. Now I work nights so I can’t rejoin. They get together every Friday night around 8:00 and visitors are always welcome.
Thanks Craig! I have heard of the club and almost went to an openhouse that they had a while back. Unfortunately it would be a considerable drive to be able to go there on a regular basis. I will have to make it over there some time.
Pretty cool…especially the ‘Andy Warhol’ look in the first photo!! A great shot! Nice to see other big layouts. Chip it looks like you have a fun place to run trains!! Good work to all of your club members!
Really nice stuff, both of you. And its really nice that the two of you were able to visit eachother and just make friends. It just shows how far these forums go.
No web site. And no set visiting hours. But if you come round let me know and we’ll get you in. We meet at the club every Weds. an 7PM, and we do get a visitor from time to time. But if you want to run, lets us/me know first.
I’m happy, …and jealous as sin…that you two got together. Even though I am a lone wolf, I would like to meet other modelers from time-to-time (yeah, it’s my problem alone, and only I can deal with it). I am happy that so many of you can meet at a club or a train show with only a couple of hours of driving. Me, I have to take long and involved trips in order to get to substantial train shows.
Speaking of which, there is one in Washington in early Nov. I’m seriously thinking of going.
If I’m ever up that way, Chip will recognize me right off the bat because I’ll be dressed as either Festus from Gunsmoke or a 1870s US cavalry sergeant… (Private joke between Chip and I)
