I was working on some projects in the basement, not really modeling related, when my mind started to wander as it’s often prone to do. Man, it’s really getting cold outside and Indiana is soooo dreary in the winter. I begin to think of warmer weather and Florida comes to mind. It was really warm back in August of 2017 when my wife allowed a vacation to the NMRA Orlando convention….
The old guys down there really do some nice modeling. There was some great stuff at the show and I got to see some outstanding layouts on a couple of the tours. I have a lot of photos of that trip, it’s hard to just pick a few.
The Citrus Valley Railroad was a large club layout built by a bunch of really nice fellas. The picture on the upper right is a vertical staging system.
Bob’s Crooked Creek Railroad had some really nice scratch built structures, he was quite the craftsman. A pretty elaborate layout with two levels snaking through a couple of rooms. Bob was modeling steam era similar to my tastes. (I suspect he had some memories of the steam era as he’d been around for a while)
John Giammasi’s Moosup Valley railroad was set in the 1920’s so it was of particular interest to me. His scratch built structures were very nice, as a matter of fact I attended a seminar he put on at the show.
The West Virginia Northern was a beautifully done layout with impeccable scenery. I have included a link I found to a You Tube video. I really liked the mountain scenery, it seemed as though you were surrounded by hills. The lighting was also outstanding.
And last but not least – the Sundance Central Modular Layout. What a talented group it took to create this museum quality layout! These were larger scale models an the detail was ridiculous! Here is a link to their site with much more.
Oh well, enough daydreaming got to get back to work or I’ll never get my own layout done. Cleaning drywall dust, putting in doors, blah, blah, blah. I think my mind is starting to wander… Hey it’s almost Christmas, what’s Santa gonna bring me?
