This past Sunday John Armstrong Jr. invited all of the members of the Potomac Division, MER-NMRA to the last run of his famous father’s O scale railroad.
Now there is nothing left but to box up the rolling stock and dismantle the layout.
I was always amazed at how John fit the railroad in his basement. You knew you were seeing the guru of track diagrams when you saw his layout.
He and the layout will be missed.
Dale Latham
Some of that rolling stock (especially the scratchbuilt 4-8-4 and 4-6-6-6) should be put in the NMRA museum in Chattanooga.
Andre
John Armstrong was an original and an infinitely creative model railroader. He successfully combined a deep knowledge of the prototype (see his book “The Railroad: What It Is, What It Does”) with skillful craftsmanship, as well as a sense of humor.
One of his more memorable articles from Model Railroader for me was a two part series in search of prototypically correct sound from one of his steam locomotives. He was trying to get an early electronic sound system to respond in a correct manner to changes in tractive effort. If the engine should be drifting at a certain point, he wanted it to sound as if it were drifting. If it were pulling hard, it should sound that way, too. In the articles, he presented a very detailed introduction to steam engine tractive effort, and how it should affect the sound of the exhaust. He then designed and built a mechanical system which would sense the drawbar pull at the tender coupler, and correctly modify the volume of the exhaust system !! The articles: “Realistic Sound in O Scale, Parts 1 & 2” are in the July and August, 1969 issues of Model Railroader. Note that year: 1969 !
Also memorable were his diesel engineer, whose head turned in the direction the engine was heading, and his recreation of the Edward Hopper painting “The Nighthawks” in a scene on his model railroad.
I will miss seeing articles such as these from the mind of a truly original thinker.
-Ed
I was there on Sunday - my first and sadly last visit. But I am glad I did get to see it one time since he is one of my favorite authors. If you belong to the NMRA you can purchase cars decorated for the Canandaigua Southern. (N, HO, S, and G are still available.)
Paul
One of the giants in the hobby. Kind of sad to think of some one dismantling the layout. I loved the Nighthawks scene BTW…
I didn’t realize he was planning on dismantling his layout. Is he planning on building a new one?
Brian
Yes, why would J.A. Jr. want to dismantle that peice of history?
Oh, I suppose he’s going to sell the house…
Matthew
“To everything there is a season…” It is certainly sad to hear of that great layout being ripped apart! It will, however live on in film, photos, and all the great articles and books that John created over his lifetime. His influence in this hobby will certainly continue for a long time even though the Canadaigua Southern will be history. [:(]
I made it over there myself - my first and last trip, too: what a spectacular layout. I will post some of the pics I took on my website.
Yes, It is sad to see his great layout go. But as someone said earlier in a post - to everything there is a season. It’s kinda sad to see any great layout go, but in my case, i’m taking mine down and rebuilding it all anew. Invited a bunch of fellow modelrailroaders over and we had a last run, collected all the cars up and brought them to the yard and pulled up the golden spike driven in 1980.
It’s just too bad that Jack’s railroad can’t last, but that’s the way of the world - change.
To bad. Hopefully it can be put on display at a museum or something. Or better yet…bring it to my place! [;)]
[quote]
Originally posted by Train 284
To bad. Hopefully it can be put on display at a museum or something. Or better yet.
…bring it to my place! [;)]te]
Wouldn’t that be great, I’d like that too[:)]
Another great meets the saw 
Here’s a link to the pictures I took of the Canandaigua Southern on Sunday -
http://midlandpacific.typepad.com/the_midland_pacific/2005/10/a_visit_to_the_.html
I was privledged to view this layout and meet John Armstrong during the NER_NMRA fall convention in 2003. John’s sense of humor was apparent all over the layout room. You here and see these layouts that are “complete” and I was fascinated that one of the legends of the hobby never really finished his. But you know there was still a lot of awe and smiles from all that were there.