Just sharing...Went to the Walt Disney Museum in SF last weekend and was pleasantly surprised to see an N scale layout of the original plans for Disneyland. Also saw the limited 4-4-0 set by Atlas for sale and the actual 1/8th scale train Walt had running at his family home along with an N scale representation of his layout. Cool stuff.
I often wonder what it was like, hanging out with Walt Disney and Ward Kimball just talking trains? From what I understand, from time to time Walt would tell the regular crew on the train at Disneyland to take a break and he would operate the train. You have to wonder how many people have ridden the train while Walt was the engineer, the majority probably never knew the man himself was at the throttle.
Why is it that some of the greatest model railroads were not saved...Disneys Carolwood Pacific, John Allens Gorre and Defeated, and now Steve Mahan's Pacific Coast Lines among dozens of others.
Unfortunately, it boils down to dollars and cents. Who's going to take them, save them and display them. As others have mentioned John Allen's Gorre & Dephetid was lost in a house fire. Frank Ellison's Delta lines was heavily damaged and largely destroyed when the truck that was transporting it to it's new home was involved in a major accident during a heavy rainstorm. The NMRA has a small piece of Allen McClelland's original V&O. Originally Allen tried to sell the house to a model railroader to keep the layout intact. John Armstrong's Canandaigua Southern Railroad was purchased by a model railroader who planned on incorporating the layout into his present layout. Lastly, a majority of the Model Railroader magazine project layouts have been purchased by private owners, but what will happen to those layouts when the owners pass? Sadly what happens far too often when the owner passes unexpectedly or when the owners reach retirement age and begin downsizing because of retirement or health issues, the layout ends up in a landfill. This is why I was hoping someone with TV or video experience would pickup the Baton from Allen Keller after he retired and continue creating "Great Model Railroads" videos. We can't physically save all the great model railroads out there, but one form of preserving them is on video. Just think about how many model railroads are part of open houses during NMRA events. When the owner passes, those model railroads will be lost to time.
Well put Rich S.. I think too that the upkeep of old layouts is overlooked in the analysis. Anyone who's owned an aging model railroad can vouch for the ever increasing maintenance headaches that can rapidly exhaust an owner's enthusiasm. I greatly enjoyed building and operating my second N Scale railroad, but after 30 years with it, I was spending ever more time under the layout than running trains. Add in its obsolete and unadaptable technology and I realized I wasn't having much fun. Upon retirement a few years ago, I chose to demolish it and have no regrets. While a greatly admire our hobby's pioneers and noted modelers, I'd have no interest in owning someone else's pike.
Outside of the topic of famous model railroads, if we hope our model railroads might find a new home upon our demise or upon a household move, create a document that details everything a new owner might need to know. I'm creating one now for my nascent N Scale road, with thorough notes on wiring, sources for parts, warnings (one such states that the turnout controls are for Kato Unitrack only) and tips. These notes may even help me someday as the years go by and I forget things.
