Does anybody know what happened to Lorell Joiner and his Great Southern Railroad? Lorell has (had?) a fantastic O scale railraod in Texas in the 1980’s that as I recall was operated at least in part by computer.
Mr Joiner has had a lot going on in the last couple of years, so he isn’t doing much right now. The Monday Night Mafia doesn’t meet anymore. A friend of mine does/did quite a bit of custom painting for Mr Joiner. Only time will tell what happens to that layout. It is amazing though.
Thanks for the quick reply. Do you know if his railroad in on the web?
I don’t believe anything was posted on the web by Lorell, but there may be somebody elses stuff out there. I will ask and see. You may try Googling “Great Southern Cartel”.
Thanks- I found a little bit but not much. My wife and I were in San Antonio for a few days last September and were treated to a visit with one of the model railroad clubs there. Very friendly folks. I had forgotten that Lorrell was from San Antonio or I would have tried to see if one of the locals could arrange an invite to the Great Southern. Maybe next time.
Which club??
I’m ashamed to say that I don’t remember. It was HOscale, in its own building and had at least 2 women members. There was an impressive mountain as I walked into the layout and it was obvious there was some real talent in the club. I also hit at least two hobby shops and had a great time at a mall that also had two model railroads. One was visible (as though it was a store) and ran very well. In the back of the same sapce but not visible to the general public was another railroad that was a series of HO modules. They were not constrained as in “N Track” fashion but rather each module was designed to fit a particular spot in the railroad. Because of this, the configuration was “free form” rather than circular. Again a great bunch of guys - very friendly as was everybody we met. The Riverwalk and the Jazz were great!
From the sounds of it you visited the SAMRA layout.
About the Great Southern, I just got off the phone with a good friend of mine that is close to Mr Joiner, and I guess Lorell said he would like to get things going again. I also found out they were/are using and early Lenz system on the layout. So you may have a chance to see the Great Southern in operation again!!!
Hey that’s great news! You’re right about the club name. I wouldn’t have been able to come up with it but recognize it now that you named it. Any chance of getting on an email list or something to follow the Great Southern progress?