Layout Tours

The Piedmont Division of the NMRA's layout tour program called The Piedmont Pilgrimage is still one of my all time favorite events.



This weekend I was able to see Charles Aycock's Piedmont & Southern layout. This layout is complete and all the scenery is wonderfully done. I just had to stop and chat with Charlie about his dirt roads. They were wonderfully done and looked very realistic.



Ran into my friend I. D. Jackson who is ready to design his Georgia Northeastern Railroad, so I was able to pick up his deminsions. We'll send him the questionaire and then get started about Christmas time.



I also ran into Dan Berman and went to see his Georgia Southern layout. This was a track plan that I designed about two years ago just for Dan. While it doesn't fit an exact prototype it appears to be a lot of run to run. Dan has all the trackage in as well as the wiring.



By special appointment I was able to visit Perry Lamb's Utah, Colorado & Western. This is a fantastic modern layout and appears to be lots of fun to operate. His train room is finished to the "T" so it is always a nice place to visit.

A Visit to the Grand River Railway

Our monthly NCI group field trip was an afternoon with Charlie Millar, MMR and his fantastic Grand River Railway in HO Scale. The Canadian Pacific Railway is a large basment railroad with some fantastic scratch built models located along its right-of way.
Our host is Canadian born Charlie Millar, and NMRA Master Model Railroader and one of the best hosts I've ever met. His whole railroad is about making you comfortable and his wife ALWAYS has freshly baked cookies waiting on us. I'm suprised anyone ever leaves...

When you walk into the railroad room you are greeted by a stacked set of bridges over a dam. Spectacular and all built to high levels of detail.

You can almost smell the dirt at the rock loading facility.
Bright red-orange CP Rail deisels storm the mountain while pull a train about thirty cars long or more.
The tunnel portals are forged into the hand carved rock face. Amazing work!
There are quite a few warehouses and grain storage silos along the way...
My favorite model is this road bridge, which is board by board built from scratch. It's delicate appearance makes you wonder if it is still strong enough to hold up the combine harvestor.
Charlie is a very skilled scratchbuilder and a NMRA national award winner. The guys are always pounding him with questions. I do too! Neil, Ken and David discuss the finer points of lichen preservation.
I almost didn't see this fine model as it is off behind the huge farm.
No, that's not a tunnel into the next room. Its a mirror! Behind this wall is the back yard. I had to do a double take the first time I saw it. Brilliant!
The layout is large, but you can see from one section to the other. All of the finished sections are highly detailed. Charlie was glad to have my daughter Taylor visit and showed her his daughter's trains.
While about to fall out the window, I tried to get the whole layout in a shot. The lighting is not designed for the photo, but the room is comfortable, well lit and fun to be in.


The main things I learned from Charlie's layout:

• Comfort and room appeal mean alot!
• Painting the benchwork is a very nice touch and adds to the pleasant appearance.
• Painting rocks individually on a rock structure makes it look amazingly real.
• Tricks with mirrors CAN and DO make the layout look larger.
• Scratchbuilt structures give place and feel to the layout.

Thanks Charlie for a fun visit!