Ben, whose handle is BennysRR2, lives atop a hill overlooking Amish farmland in Lebanon County, Pa. The hill gets quite a breeze. On Saturday when I visited him, the wind was whipping up so much that the only train that would stay on the track without blowing away was a colorful ACL RS-3
Some koi have taken up residence in the layout’s pond. Hey, if you get bored watching trains, you can always go fishing! Just be sure to return them, as Ben doesn’t like the idea of guests eating his fish.
Notice Ben’s engineering skills with his trademark aluminum bridge. He apparently used a lot of trigonometry and other types of math to get the curves just right. And even with the strong wind, the bridgework does not sway one bit. I took a closeup photo of the construction to copy.
Ben has a giant indoor layout as well that perfectly complements his wall of trains (top shelf is the actual running train, which goes all around the top of his basement.
Notice all of the Hershey’s trains, some of which are handpainted? Why so many? Well, Hershey, Pa., is a stonesthrow away from his house for one. Also, Ben retired from Hershey’s plant, working in the syrup department. What a sweet job!
Moving again outside, we see that Ben makes use of common materials for the layout. Take this chimney flu, which makes a nice tunnel. Many of his structures are indoors being refurbished in time for the spring running. He favors the low-cost bird
Nice photos. Sometime you are traveling up I-95 towards Delaware you will have to stop in and see my Garden Railway, and also my large inside o-gauge layout.
F J AND G
DAVID thanks for stopping by my house and taking the pictures of my inside and out side lay outs, dave was visiting the area and asked to see my lay outs . THANKS FOR POSTING THE PICTURES. BEN[:D]
Hey Ben, I will be going to Hershey in the summer I believe, maybe even earlier. I will email you when I am leaving. Would you mind if I came to see it? I might see you at ECLSTS before that.
I find myself in Delawhere quite often, usualy around Capt Bob’s in Georgetown/ Milford area. I could arrange a visit to Karl fairly easy.
You still have a great looking layout, Ben! I can’t wait to see it again in full bloom with the Canis I gave you last year. I’ll be sure to let you know when I’m in the area. I had to turn down going up there to see you this time with Dave, he was kind enough to even offer to drive, but the timing just didn’t work out.
Tangerine Jack
I hope you can make it up this year, when the flowers are blooming. In December i replaced a pump in the pond, today that same pump broke down again, called the dealer where i got it , i said it should have lasted longer than 6 weeks, he told me come get a new one, i did .tomorrow i’ll put it in .it’s7-30 and dark .it Wednesday, the 25fifth and windy. Ben
TMCC MAN
If you come to hershey before the ECLSTS, let me know , alittle ahead of time. if not i’ll be at the show in york on friday the way it looks . what will you be doing at the show ,
are you working on a stand for a dealer??? ben
Ben, I will be at a Module Display, the South Eastern Pennsylvania Garden Railway Society. I will be the only kid running the display, so you should not miss me. By the way, I wil not be coming to Hershey in the Spring, my parents decided to include me in a Disney trip I had no idea about (just greeeaaatttttt[:(!][V]) The only god thing out of the trip is the fact that I help fire up the steamers on the Disney Railroad. We have not decided when Hershey will be scheduled, so I will see what is up. If I see you at York, I will tell you about the decision. What time will you be there? I am leaving my house at 6AM, and will be there by 8AM to start setup, so see u then.
Tmcc man- You sound just like I did when the Army wanted to send me to Disney World for a week. I told then “Hl no I ain’t goin’ to spend a week in the Disney resort hotel with a 5 day park hopper pass" So they sent me anyway. The next year they wanted to send me to Reno and I said "Hll no I ain’t goin’ to spend a week at the Silver Legacy Resort and Casino!” So they sent me anyway. This year I’m trying to tell them “H**LL no I ain’t goin’ to Italy!” We’ll see if it works this time.
I guess in life we just have to make due with our own misfortunes…
USMC sent me to Reno (actually) to complete filming of American President when I was a technical advisor back in the 90s.
The key to getting stationed in good places in the USMC is to request a hardship post. The detailers had (have?) a twisted sense of humor and would always send you somewhere you didn’t request. Don’t know if Army works that way.
I requested going to every major war from Vietnam to Desert Storm and never went. Oh well, I’m still here…
After boot camp and technical training, about a year, I was asked to choose my duty station. My three choices for location were all on the west coast, San Diego, San Francisco, and Bremerton, WA. I also requested the smallest ships available, sea going tug, patrol craft escort, and destroyer. After carefully considering my wishes the Navy assigned me to the commissioning crew of the USS America, the navy’s largest ship whose homeport was in Norfolk, VA. on the east coast. Looks as though the Army, Navy and Marines all use the the same HR manual, let’s hear from the Air Force.
[(-D][(-D][(-D]We must be near the same age…I was 19 when that happened, and all my friends were carping in their pants that Reagan was going to reinstate the draft.[:0][;)]
Well Walt guess its a good thing you didnt say …“I wanna be on the biggest baddest ship in the whole US Navy in the biggest baddest base in America” you would have ended up piloting a leaky harbor taxi in Moosejaw, Alaska .[:D]
I requested 4 times for Afghanistan, twice for Iraq and once for the Balkans. Must be why I’m now sitting in an office in next to a paper mill pumping gas for a Cav unit. Glory and Honor, yeah right…
I suspect all the services work in the same way. Nice to know nothing has changed over the last 10,000 years of recorded human history.