I've watched this video three times already.  It's a hit with me!  Can't wait for next Monday!

Tome makes an interesting point. He says he views his layout as a stage where the scenery supports the action that is provided by his trains. This makes the kayout serve the same purpose as a set does in the theater. I have always thought that was the scenery was supposed to do by putting our miniature trains in a realistic setting. BUt one has to be conscious of the trains and not of the scenery to make this effective. It's and interesting thought which needs to be expanded upon.

Irv

Frank Ellison's philosophy, as he wrote in MR right after WWII, was very similar to this, although Frank emphasized that the stage setting's job was to emphasize the work the trains were doing.

Tom's modeling is wonderful, though. I love the models being large enough to NEED detailed interiors!  Since I model in HO, a room 45 by 90 would make for a pretty good-sizaed layout....

    Paul

I can just imagine what I could do in 45 x 90 in N-Scale. I could model Greenville, NJ in addition to Bay Ridge and probably extend my run through Hartford, CT.

Irv

I can't imagine the effort it took to complete that in 5 years.

I have to agree with you Jeff. It is awesome. And to think it was all done in 5 years. At the rate I am going with my layout I couldn't do it in 100 years. Oh well.

On the other hand this guy has to have some serious money to get that done. It seems money and great model railroading have to be connected because this is an expensive hobby. I often wonder how so many were able to accomplish things like this, especially when economic times are as hard as they are for many.

Irv

Money is a factor. But time is a bigger factor. Tom's work situation let him spend copious amounts of time in the train room. Since I did the interview he's added loads to the hoppers, planted another thousand or two bushes, weathered and installed a bunch more details (boxes, barrels, crates...), the list goes on...

John Allen managed to build the Gorre and Daphetid with quite a reasonable budget - of course he spent a lot more than 5 years doing it - if you have the time to make things yourself instead of buying everything RTR you can save a pile of money (and get the items you really want instead of those that got manufactured). Of course this implies a bunch more time.

Having a bunch of friends who come over and work on your railroad helps with the time aspect.

A big project (railroad) will take more time/money than a small one.

Regards,

Charlie

It's interesting that you brought up John Allen. Sure he took alot longer that 5 years to build his Gorre & Daphetid but as you say he had the time to build what he wanted and needed. But he could take the time because his investment income was sufficient to allow him to do that. And judging from Segment 2 of your interview with Tom, he had the investment income to do the same while he built his building and layout. My question is how many can afford to do that?

I have noticed that many of those who have built big layouts have to have 3 things in their favor to be able to do what they have done. They need money, they need time and they need the skills to accomplish it. Skills can either be developed or purchased either by hiring professionals or by having friends who are bith willing and able to do it either as a friendly gesture or by accepting some form of payment for the services. So no matter how you look at it it comes to money in form or another.

Tom also keeps referring to the fact that his wife has helped alot on the layout by making things like trees and bushes. He also mentioned that he is lucky to have a wife who isn't resentlul of the amount of time he has spent on the hobby. I think the fact that he includes her in this activity and values her contribution makes it easier to keep their relationship going and viable. Too bad you couldn't have gotten her to answer a few questions along these lines. It would have made the interview more interesting and probably taught a few of us how to keep from letting our model railroading interfere in our marriages.

Irv

 This is the first I have heard (or seen) F scale.  It looks great!

It's basically the scale ( I think it's 1/20.3) that comes up when you treat LGB G Gauge (45mm) track as if it were 3" wide.  So if you want to do F gauge track, you need something even wider than the LGB track.

If you treat LGB track as it's standard gauge track, you're modeling either 1:29 or 1:32 (there seems to be some differing of opinions there).