Yet Another Trip Down Memory Lane

While browsing my email I spotted a sidebar ad that caught my eye and immediately transferred me back to the 1950s. I recognized the cover of a 1950 Bantam Book put out by the staff of Lionel.

I immediately ordered the paperback and when it arrived I was vividly thrust back to images of model railroading in my youth! Each page seemed electric and alive. This was the book where I learned the basics of railroading (and why the C&NW was the only left hand running railroad [designed by British engineers]), basic construction, and constructing buildings from discarded shoe boxes.

My wife asked why I never kept the original paperback? I had to explain it was reduced to a pile of separate pages crumbling from drool and overuse.

It also contained my all time favorite track plan (definitely required Lionel's magna-traction engines to work):

Inspiration Month - November 2016

November is NMRA's Model Railroad Open House Month and a great chance to be wowed by what other model railroaders have accomplished. I put together a tour for a couple of friends who are relatively new to the hobby and visited some of my favorite layouts.

We started with the outstanding Claemont, Lewiston, and Western HO railroad by John Rahenkamp. He is a real pleasure to chat with (in spite of his ranking N Scale just above Brio trains).

We also visited HO layouts by Mike McNamara's (Northeast Kingdom Railroad),Chris Conaway, and Mert Gardner.

The highlight of the day was visiting with Konrad Richter and enjoying his outstanding N Scale layout (which include's Rick Spano's prototype operating coal dumper).