March 19, 2020

A little advice when building a model railroad - get help.

This is a major undertaking and given my age I have one shot to get it right.  I will not be tearing it out in 15 years and starting over.

At an NMRA Gateway Division meeting I met Dale DeWitt who I recognized from a meeting of the local camera club.  Dale is a member of a group calling themselves The Gandy Dancers. The Gandy Dancers have been meeting weekly for many years at the members homes.

Note to all - Explain the term Gandy Dancer to your spouse before you receive an e-mail with Gandy Dancer in the title.  Wife envisioning me at a topless bar and getting e-mails from the dancers.

One of the Gandy Dancers members, Tom McKenzie, developed the initial layout design after he and I discussed my givens and druthers.

Over the past two years this group has been my brain trust and has provided quite a bit of guidance and physical labor in building the railroad.  I learned what worked for them and what did not work.  Why duplicate what did not work for someone else when you can have more fun creating your own problems.

Below are a few pics from May, 2018  This is the beginning of the construction of the framing on one side of the room for the upper and lower levels.

The long peninsula in the middle was for the lower level stub yard.  That has been moved to the wall on the left and is now a through yard.