Yesterday there was a long overdue meeting of the Piedmont Division and the Chesapeake & Allegheny. Howard Zane was kind enough to show Dr. Logan Holtgrewe and myself his magnificent layout. Howard is a regular contributor to this forum and needs no introduction. Those of you who have been around long enough to have seen a couple MR cover stories and Allen Keller’s videos will remember Logan as one of the founders of the Severna Park Model Railroad Club’s layout.
Logan is every bit the artist that Howard is. In addition to building many of the structures on the Chesapeake & Allegheny, he scratch built a model of the heavy cruiser he served on while in the Navy and all the aircraft of WW1 and WW2, (ours and theirs) at the Museum of Flight in Seatle.
Interesting read Henry. I checked out the museum website. Wow, over 400, 1/72 scale planes, taking 7 years. What a collection!
Just by watching all the videos on Howard’s layout, and his web site, you get the sense of how massive it is, but to see it? What a great experience it must have been.
I have not spoke to Logan in many years, but I had the privilege to work under his direction on the Severna Park layout as a teen and young adult in the 70’s/early 80’s. Truely one of the greatest craftsmen in this hobby.
Being originally from Severna Park, and working in the Depot Hobby Shop there as a teen, I was one of the youngest members in the Severna Park group. I stayed very active there until the responsibilities of life moved me father away.
And, I have been to Howards, and met him several times…
Definately two of the finest layouts to be found anywhere.
Sheldon I am sure Logan remembers you. At 87 he is still mentally sharp and after decades in private practice urology in Annapolis, he goes to Johns Hopkins several days a week to teach residents and scrub in on surgery.
His specialty changed tremendously since he left private practice and there is a great deal of laparoscopic and robotic surgery routinely performed. There is still a role for old fashioned surgery with scalpels and retractors and he has done more of that then any of their attendings. He is not someone they keep around because they don’t have the heart to show him the door.
Over the years I have dropped in on the Severna Park meeting night a few times, but it has now been nearly a decade I suspect.
I know it has been at least that long since I last saw Logan there. When I was an active member, he was very much a mentor in both modeling and life. His daughter was among my “social circle” in high school and Young Life, glad to hear he is still doing well.
My dad and my family and I stopped in to see Howard on friday. My father, who did spend 10 years working on a layout with me, was left nearly speechless by what he saw of Howard’s layout. One must see it in person…
I was not expecting any compliments on my pike. It was a great honor to meet Logan as I had been an admirer of his work for many decades. Sharing the pike is always fun for me and especially to someone who speaks “scale model railroading”. and many thanks to Henry Sherwood for arranging the tour.
I even encourage “civilians” who visit and I certainly enjoy introducing this hobby to them. When they re-visit, a good chance exists that they’ll enter the hobby…and that is a good thing.
For the record the layout is called the Piermont Division, even though the scenery renders it in the Piedmont area of the Appalachians. Piermont comes from two places…our summer home during the 40’s and 50’s was almost at the base of Mt Piermont in New Hampshire, and during college days, I lived on a boat house in Piermont, New York and on the Hudson…and not by design, but since i changed over to Erie steam days…Piermont, NY was once the eastern terminus of the Erie.
