I really need to step in for a moment and thank everyone who has contributed to this thread so far. There are so many replies and so many great layouts to consider that I will have to leave it to the forum members to check out each of these layouts as I have done. Thanks again and keep the replies coming.
Rich
For me personally, I miss this layout the most. I spent may hours there operating and hanging out…
Jim Vail’s Glenwood & Black Creek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev108AAi5p8
Guy
Here are a couple of photos from Gary Hoover’s layout, specifically the Dearborn Station module. This layout truly inspired me to build my current layout, featuring the entire area around Dearborn Station including the large freight houses.
Rich
One really amazing one back in the day was Irv Schultz’s St Clair Northern. What a well done turn of the 20th century layout. Suppsoedly donated to the NMRA after his death - does it still exist? August 76 MR cover was a shot of it.
–Randy
I dont know if it still exists, but I remember that layout. That’s about when I started reading MR. I think that layout was in a series of large shadowboxes? or very narrow shelves?
Narrow sahelves along 3 walls, at least as of the 1976 article. Lots of detail. He was a pioneer in using aluminum flashing for a continuous backdrop. And also write many scratchbuilding articles. A bunch of stuff on ‘pickle cars’ too. I think at one point he sold a series of dry transfer decals as well.
Another one not shown much love is Paul Larson’s Mioneral Point & Northern. A layout WAY ahead of its time. Gordon Odegard wrote a great article on it in the May 1981 MR. Biggest problem is, there aren’t many pictures ever taken of it. He was only in his 20’s when he was editor of MR, left the hobby for a while, and came back in RMC in the late 60’s. Only 42 when he passed in 1973.
–Randy
I’ll second Dave’s remembrance of Frank Ellison’s Delta Lines.
Two of my other favorites were Roy Dohn’s Victoria Northern and Whit Tower’s Alturas & Lone Pine.
Ray
Oh! A lovely thread.
Modelers/layouts I have admired.
The G & D ‘blew my mind’. I had never seen anything like it.
Here in the U.K.
Mike Sharman’s – Victorian Railway.
Rev. P. Denny – Buckingham Central. Set in the year 1907.
P.D Hancock – Craig & Mertonford. A narrow gauge adventure extraordinaire.
David Jenkinson – The Long Drag and the LMS A layout that draws me into the scene.
Mike Charman – The Charford Branch. Originally built in a small caravan before being extended a little. I saw it at an exhibition in London. Absolutely charming.
All have influenced me in one way or another.
David
One thing that I notice about the lost layouts cited in this thread is that they mostly fall into one of three categories: (1) the owner has passed away (2) the owner has lost control over the location where the layout was housed (3) the owner voluntarily demolished the layout to build a new one. Of course, it is always sad to learn of the passing of a dedicated model railroader. It is always unfortunate to learn that an owner of club layout or commercial layout has lost his lease.
It is the third type that perplexes me, a great layout demolished in order to build a new one. My two favorite lost layouts fall into that category - - Gary Hoover’s Santa Fe layout and Lance Mindheim’s Hoosier Line-Monon layout. It must take some substantial level of inner fortitude to tear down an outstanding layout.
Rich
Tony Koester’s Allegheny Midland as well. What I find kind of sad is that it felt like I knew the AM just from his frequent use of it as a subject in his Trains Of Thought column. Operational snafus, revelations about design, challenges, etc. Feels like the new Nickle Plate Road barely exists. Maybe he is throwing that content into the numerous books he is writting?
For those of you who may wish to reaearch these lost layouts further, here is a list of all lost layouts mentioned to this point. My apologies if I have missed any.
John Allen - Gorre & Daphetid
Gary Hoover - Santa Fe
Lance Mindheim - Hoosier Line-Monon
Allen McClelland - Virginia & Ohio
Trevor Marshall - Port Rowan
Chuck Hitchcock - Santa Fe
Bill McClanahan - Texas & Rio Grande Western
David Barrow - Cat Mountain and Santa Fe
Mike Danneman - Rio Grande Moffat Road
Frank Ellison - Delta Lines
Paul Larson - Mineral Point & Northern
Andy Sperandeo - AT&SF
Tony Koester - Allegheny Midland
Mack Lowry - Railways of America
Willi and Judi Lindhorst - Charlemagne’s Kingdom
PV&W Model Railroad Club - Platte Valley & Western
Jim Vail - Glenwood & Black Creek
Irv Schultz - St. Clair Northern
Roy Dohn - Victoria Northern
Whit Tower - Alturas & Lone Pine
Mike Sharman - Victorian Railway
Rev. P. Denny - Buckingham Central
P.D Hancock - Craig & Mertonford
David Jenkinson- The Long Drag and LMS
Mike Charman - The Charford Branch
I miss Doug Tagsold’s model railroad based on the railroads that used the Toledo Terminal. He really captured the feel of the area. One aspect that stood out to me was that it was one of the rare model railroads where you were expected to actually switch hi-cube auto parts cars into and out of an industry, rather than just use them as rolling scenery.
I certainly understand the draw that took him back to modeling Colorado narrow gauge, though. His 1:72 Colorado & Southern Clear Creek Division works really well in the space, especially since he has a well thought-out operating plan that makes good use of the long runs he has available. And that doesn’t even take into account his excellent modeling.
Arnt Gerritsen’s Ann Arbor Railroad (Model Railroad Planning 1995) is a lost layout that still physically exists. We just haven’t been able to find a suitable home for it. The four-hour drive to his operating sessons was always worth it. In addition to the joy of operating on his layout, and simply being around Arnt (in addition to being a genuinely nice guy, he was a library of hobby industry knowledge from his days working for Overland Models) he and his wife prided themselves on providing creative lunch spreads during the mid-session breaks.
I’m going to miss Trevor Marshall’s updates on the Port Rowan, but given how many things he seems to want to do and how quickly he moves on to the next thing that interests him, I was surprised that it lasted as long as it did. His work is always fascinating to watch.
My favorite lost layout from my childhood is the Sierra Central, the Sacramento Model Railroad Club’s layout, a big “folded dog bone” with a dispatcher’s area, elevated engineer’s cabs, and dedicated narrow gauge and traction branches. My dad took me there a couple of times in the mid-1970s and I was fascinated by the complexity and detail, and also by the vintage Coke machine (the horizontal style with a lid that sold the little green glass bottles.) My dad was getting into the hobby in his mid-thirties (he had some old American Flyer and OO stuff as a kid) and it also inspired his layouts (he did the benchwork, trackwork, and electrical, my brother and I expressed our artistic tendencies by helping build scenery and structures.) Visiting downtown Sacramento to see the layout also began my early fascination with that part of the city. The building where the club was located (and the whole adjoining block) was demolished in the 1980s for an expansion of the downtown convention center, and I think Sacramento’s current Sacramento Model Railroad Historical Society, located in a Sacramento neighborhood a few miles away, may share some continuity with the earlier downtown club.
When I was getting back into the hobby in my own mid-30s, I visited South Shasta Lines in Gerber, CA, an O scale basement layout built by Godfrey Humann, which he opened every other year to the public, along with other attractions like a 2’ gauge steam locomotive that pulled visitors around his orchard. He passed away in 2009 but I don’t know the current disposition of his layout. The era and details of his layout encompassed past decades of model railroading practice. It helped inspire me to get back into the hobby, as well as other concurrent inspirations like being a volunteer at the California State Railroad Museum.
For me it was Allegheny Midland, the Utah Belt and a small project layout in MMR called the Yule Central that was built around Christmas time. It was what I based my first layout on and I had a crush on that Atlas Cotton Belt GP40.
Ralph
The start of the Trains of Thought column back in the 80’s (yeah, he’s been writing it that long) got me into the concept of doing a proto-freelance layout. But I have since come back to doing a specific prototype.
In addition to the column - he put out a book on the AM not too long ago. Basically, a “Lessons learned” book - actually, that was the title.
–Randy
Although it’s “somewhat recent” would be David Popp’s N Scale New Haven Naugatuck Valley R.R.
I first seen it in the Dream, Plan, Build video series. It really inspired me that N Scale can be designed with incredible detail that will even match HO.
Like many people were sad when he packed and sold everything for the new On30 Olympia Logging project layout for MRVP.
Though not along the same line as some of the prolific hobby layouts, anyone that grew up in Pittsburgh in the 60s and 70s, and was fortunate to have been exposed to the Buhl Planitatium layout, will no doubt rank it as a true classic. It was relocated to the new Carnegie Science Center. The layout, to kid level eyes, is full of active animation and for many years the trip to Buhl was one of the highlights of the holiday season. Link: http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/MiniRR.htm
Buhl deserves a closer look. It was extensively rebuilt every year in the mid-Seventies, and perhaps every year Mr. Bowdish was working on it. Apparently the animations were extensively revised year by year too.
I think my favorite was John Armstrong’s Canadaigua Southern. I was fortunate enough to see it shortly before it was taken down after his death.
Paul