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A Modest Model Railroad
Endymion53 writes "The TMRC at MIT may be the best known model railroad layout because of its role in the formation of hacking culture, but railroad uber-enthusiast Jack Burgess has built himself a pretty enviable layout, that does its best to capture the look and route of an old rail line that went to Yosemite National park, called the Yosemite Valley railroad. I was tempted to make some crass remarks about having too much time on one's hands, but frankly, the whole thing looks just awesome. He's been working on this thing since 1981."
A System One "hammer head" throttle for the DCC system; note that these tethered throttles have since been retro-fitted by North Coast Engineering (NCE) as radio-controlled throttles. The various buttons are labeled for control speed, direction, sound and lighting effects, etc. Programming of a locomotive can also be done "on the fly" using these throttles.
Apart from the attention to detail, the actual functionality is absolutely astounding!
You are very quick to make fun of this gentleman, who has obviously invested quite a lot of his time into creating this railroad. I am sure he has quite a lot of fun doing this work, but aside from that it should be obvious to anyone who actually visited his site that he is a true historian. He has actually researched the original railroad and presents much of his information on-line as well as running what amounts to an operating museum.
I, for one, appreciate his work and would love to be able to visit his layout and enjoy it as I would any other historical museum.
I've seen a few layouts done that are supposed to recreate actual rail lines and I've always been puzzled by one thing. Given the geography of the room where someone sets up their layout and also the necesity of accessing the layout (if only to observe the fruits of all that hard work), I've always presumed such layouts are not attempts to faithfully duplicate the layout of the rail line but to represent the scenery through which a traveler would pass. That is, there's no attempt to duplicate or scale "Then this spur goes east for 24 miles before it turns north for three more..." just do something like "and after we pass through the pine forest here near the bedroom door, we hit the town of Pidegeonville, which I placed next to the window..."
A silly question, but wanted to make sure I understood the "ground rules" of these recreations.
Personally, I never got past an oval under the Christmas tree and trying to scare the cat, although I did work as a waiter on the Southwest Chief one summer in college. I don't think most modelmakers would care to recreate the Leavenworth prison or the vagrant we ran over near L.A. Union Station, though.
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
for probably the largest digital layout in the world, check out this in Hamburg. Unfortunately it's only in German, but the pictures speak for themselves (click the logo to enter, then "Fotos" in the top menu, then any of the secondary menu items). The layout was designed fully digital from the beginning, with all accessories (cars, boars, cable cars etc.) also fully digitally controlled. These guys are true nerds that built a lot of the electronics themselves. The layout has cost over EUR4M so far.
If you find this sort of thing interesting (and their is a lot of application of computers in modern model railroading) why not join a local club. Heck, you could make the entire thing availible on a web site and allow remote control and view it over a webcam.
One such local group is the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum which has a pretty nice layout itself.
I like hobby stuff and I've hosted the rebuilding story of a real steam car at http://stanleysteamer.pipingdesign.com for the past couple of years. Check it out if you like rebuilding originals.
I wish there were more pictures of these layouts though.
I used to be a member of a model railroad club in Holly, Michigan. It was in an old movie theater and the layout covered ALL the floorspace. There was a balcony where the movie screen used to be and that's where we controlled the engine by wireless and kept the dispatch busy by updating them with our engine locations.
It was a first-class layout there. Anybody else in Michigan ever visit the Detroit model railroad club in Holly?
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
Being a stop-motion hobbyist, a setpiece like this would just be a dream to work with. Amazing!
Model Railroad Tour - I have had hundreds of visitors to my layout. Here is a chance to take a short virtual tour.
[Emphasis mine]
And I mean, it's *right there* when you read the page. Couldn't you at least set up a Paypal account or something so that people who visit the site can kick a pity dollar for smalltime, image-heavy, hobbyist sites like this?
Did the guy get a warning, at least? Since the site hasn't buckled, I'm assuming he's bursting his metered bandwidth as I type, and paying an awful lot for the privilege.
Slashdot should at least buy one of his books.
leem
p.s. Totally amazing dedication that this guy has put into the hobby.
I built some of the buildings.
Lots of pictures.
Unknown host pong.
The Gorre & Daphetid was the primary inspiration for me to build one as a kid. I could never duplicate the sheer vertical scale of John Allen's masterpiece, but I did the best I could to build winding tunnels and towering tressels. John Allen and the Gorre & Daphetid - RIP
As a model railroad enthusiast since I was a boy, I have been going to model rr shows all my life and you would be amazed at what they have integrated into them with computer controls and whatnot. When I retire I plan on building an 1800 SQ Foot building to build the ultimate RR in. If you thought this guy was off the wall... check this out... Nothlandz RR A spectacular adventure on this 1 mile indoor tour through a miniature world. Up to 100 trains running daily, and 8 miles of track are just the beginning. 25 years went into sculpting 35 foot mountains and building 40 foot bridges. Marvel at the thousands of handcrafted buildings and over 10,000 freight cars.
I am actually part of a business that manufactures kits for model railroads. Right now we mostly make LargeScale which is for outdoor gardens... We use to do HO scale, and plan on going back into it soon.
I have actually met the man who made the railroad posted, very dedicated, and great model railroader.
Anyways, was just surprised to see something like this... Posted here...
If you want to check out some largescale models you can check out our site at www.railroadavenue.com
Just recently changed our host server (a couple days ago) so if you find any missing or screwed links, e-mail me if you could... I checked them all and it all worked, but you never know.
P.S. You'd be suprised to see how many techies are in this hobby. I have met more than one rocket scientist, tons of engineers (the kind who design things), and a bunch of other "geeks".
This comment made me chuckle, and I was tempted to use my moderator points (jealous?) to mod it up, but then decided to do something even more rare for me... post a reply. My 3 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with Asperger's, and I had begun researching Model Railroading has a possible therapy tool and something that she and I could do together through the years. At the moment she is in love with her Thomas the Tank Engine wooden set. Nurturing such interests in Asperger's cases is key. Anybody have any suggestions / experiences for a beginner Model Railroader with a small child?