It was way cool to see Bruce Chubb’s new layout in the Feb. MRR. I often wondered what became of him. His articles in the 70s/80s were fantastic.
While a layout of Bruce’s magnitude will most likely always be out of reach for me I always enjoyed the Sunset Valley and I am really looking forward to seeing more of his new layout and reading about how it operates.
The really cool thing about Bruce was that his layout was a family thing. I was happy to read that his daughters (and their husbands) still run trains on his layout. How cool is that?
I was a big fan of the Sunset Valley–now that he’s running from Dunsmuir CA to Portland OR (and extended to Seattle), I’m looking forward to the further articles on the railroad. I’d really like to see some photos on how he modeled the line over the Siskyous.
That’s one HUGE layout, isn’t it? Looks really fine to me. Glad to see him back.
Tom [:D]
That is hugely cool, Dave. I was just thinking, last night, how cool it would be to include my aging Dad in building my next layout. I am quite sure he would not enjoy it very much due to his nature and personality, but it would be nice if he could bring himself to get lost in it for a few hours here and there.
I don’t know this fellow Cubb since I am new to all of this, but I will take a close look at the article. Who doesn’t dream of a huge layout where you would have to walk along with your trains for 10 minutes while they covered the loop? Some of us would actaully lose weight!
I did have the opportunity to visit Bruce’s layout a few years ago. It definitely took more than ten minutes to transverse the entire mainline for sure, especially if the dispatcher puts your train in the hole. The CTC system is quite impressive.
Yep, loved seeing Bruce’s layout coverage in MR, and am looking forward to seeing more in MR and MRP.
Bruce visited my HO Siskiyou Line in 1994 and I visited his (then) empty basement about the same time as well – we became good friends as we discussed Bruce’s plans for his new Sunset Valley - Oregon Division, and have compared notes a lot since the regions we’re modeling overlap. Bruce and I regularly trade info back and forth, and Bruce was even using some photos of my Siskiyou Line for a while in his clinics since he didn’t have any scenery yet.
And yes, Bruce is the guy who invented the Computer Model Railroad Interface (CMRI) that you can use for signaling or whatever. Bruce has gone to DCC and has updated the CMRI to use the latest components and it’s now DCC compatible.
So tell me. I’ve always had the feeling that Bruce Chubb is one of those guys that is a fantastic modeler, techinical geneous and operating guru and a heck of nice guy that would probably find something good to say about anyone’s layout, even if was just a circle of track with a single siding. He’s always has that “I’m having a blast” look on his face.
Bruce (and Janet) are both very upbeat and always have something nice to say about anyone they know. Once you become Bruce’s friend, he treats you like you’re his closest chum that’s he’s known all his life. You feel very special.
He always gets a big kick out of anything to do with the hobby, grinning most of the time if he’s anywhere near some trains!
It’s good to hear that even with the length of time that he has been involved with Model trains that he still enjoys them so much. Come to think of it, that’s the idea behind doing this.