In the mid-1950’s, when I was in grade school and just getting started in model railroading, I enjoyed reading about Bill McClanahan’s Texas & Rio Grande Western layout. I also have his book on scenery. I understand that Mr. McClanahan passed away some years ago., and I’m just curious…does anyone know what happened to his great layout?
He authored a book on building scenery. I have had the book for 30 years but the procedures are probably outdated with all the new materials available. There was a recipe for hardshell scenery in the book that included asbestos powder. If he used it his layout was probably a ticking time bomb.
My understanding is that the layout was dismantled, and items from the layout were sold at an estate sale. One of his friends, also now deceased, bought back a structure he had built that had been used briefly on John Allen’s Gorre & Dephetid, and wrote a brief article about it in MR.
I believe McClanahan died in the early 1980s, and I don’t remember any publicity about the estate sale. The only news I recall was the article by his friend, and that was published some years later.
As far as I know, asbestos is only dangerous if the fibers are circulating in the air. If the fibers remained sealed in his scenery, they would have posed no danger as long as the scenery didn’t crumble, or wasn’t broken up while dismantling the layout. It would be interesting to find out if demolishing the layout was treated as a hazmat situation.
Dear Sir: I am privileged to own one of his custom decorated 40 foot boxcars for his T&RGW that was issued probably 35 or 40 years ago! I still run it on my layout.
As a teenager living in Dallas at the time, I got to visit his layout (and got his autograph on a well-worn copy of MR featuring the T&RGW). I didn’t realize at the time that I was in the presence of one of the Grand Masters of the hobby.
I recall him saying that the layout had a mix of nickel silver, brass and even steel rail, (I guess whatever was available at the time) and used the old Mantua loop and hook couplers (yes the Kadee’s look and work better, but the conversion would be too big a project).
Jim
I also have an item from Bill’s layout: his Varney Texas & RGW Northern #3794, which I bought because of the great weathering job he did on it.
Hal
Are you able to tell us anything about the disposition of the layout?
If Andy Sperandeo pipes he, he’ll probably have more info. I understand that Bill got the only surviving steam loco off off John Allen’s layout from John’s brother (after the layout was destroyed by fire), a kitbashed G&D 4-8-0), and gave it to Andy right before he passed away.
It sounds to me like Bill’s layout was piecemealed out after he passed away though it might be possible that something from it survives at the NMRA museum?
As nice as Bill’s layout is, it is old technology as to the scenery methods and track plan. But yes, he was a pioneer in his time.
I got to see the T&RGW in the mid-'60s, brought there by Bill’s friend Malcolm Vordenbaum (yes, I’m name-dropping here.) As I recall, it was built in the attic, and all of the construction materials had been brought up the (very narrow) staircase and then anchored to the structure of the house. Salvaging much of anything from such a layout is probably the impossible dream.
The steel rail was Korean War-era Atlas fiber-tie flex.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Hello “Wabash,”
I’m afraid you’ve confused two different model railroaders from Dallas. It was Cliff Robinson, not Bill McClanahan, who received Gorre & Daphetid no. 34 (a 4-10-0) from Andrew Allen and later gave it to me. The engine is here in my office as I write this.
I had the pleasure of meeting Bill McClanahan a couple of times, but for various reasons I never got to see his layout. It always looked impressive in his photographs. What I admired most about McClanahan, though, was the series of cartoons he published in Model Railroader in the 1950s.
So long,
Andy
Thanks for the correction Andy. Sorry about the confustion. I guess I am getting old…
Victor
As I recall, The last rference in MR with McClanahan was someone inquiring about it while he was still alive. He was getting up in years then and said it hadn’t been run in quite some time. It was in his attic in Dallas with a very sloping ceiling and apparently could get quite warm up there. Done in the days before DCC it must have been run from a central panel because I remember one picture showing a crewman using hand signals regarding distance to connect a car. It was about 40’ long and the operator could have been close to that distance from the train.