I was looking through some of my books the other day and came across Track Planning For Realistic Operations by John Armstrong. I know he drew up several great layout plans and most of them were published in magazines and books. But how many of them were actually built? I just haven't seen too many, if any, of his plans come to fruition. Maybe I just missed them. Does anybody know of any and have any links? Eric
Good question. While I have heard and seen many a reference to his designs, I am not aware of any one being built as he'd proposed. It seems more like folks have talked of adapting portions to their own use.
He did design layouts professionally for clients. As such, I would guess quite a few of them, probably a number of them unpublished, were built over the years. Like anything else, the client was free to take as much or as little of each 'suggestion' as he wished.
Were these of different design from the publicly available books? As I noted, I have seen many references to people who were adapting portions of his plans from books.
While I would anticipate that many hobbyists have "adapted" small portions of John's designs and ideas into their own layouts, I would at the same time venture that relative few complete Armstrong's custom layout designs have ever actually seen final execution. Certainly, I don't recall many Armstrong customer trackplans appearing in MR or RMC over the years. Likewise, I've run into a at least of couple of guys through the years at big shows and conventions who were owners of one of John's custom plans, but who were far more interested in showing them off than talking about actually building the proposed layouts. The ownership seemed to be more of a prestige thing with them than the idea of actually modeling anything. So, I suspect that just like the multitude of annual MR project layouts that have appeared over the years, although generating much discussion among hobbyists nearly all of us really prefer to design our own layouts, rather than go completely along with someone else's ideas...even those of John's. NYW&B
I have operated on one of John Armstrong's custom designs a number of years ago. And yes, the layout owner did build it, but he had to modify it a bit since it was designed for another house. If I had to guess, at least 90% was John's design, the remainder consisted of lengthened sections (due to bigger basement) and some staging modifications due to the installation of a CTC-80 system that allowed for more train operation possiblities than the standard DC system. So some have been built.
It appears that many of John Armstrong's designs were never built. I've done a few redesigns for some of his clients who found Armstrong's designs too complex for their building skills or simply moved to new spaces after receiving Armstrong's plans. Some of those are underway. At least a few of Armstrong's plans that have been featured in the model press have been built. One was his design for the Alma District, started once based on John's plans (Model Railroader Aug 2006) and then rebuilt as a similar design in a larger space (Model Railroad Planning 2009). I've personally seen a couple of Armstrong's later designs that were built in California, one for the Sierra Railway (MR May 2004) and one for SP's Shasta Division (MR April 2005, Great Model Railroads, 2011, and online here). The owner made a few changes to the latter, primarily to add working yard tracks and staging, as well as to simplify some areas of construction. Many of my clients are already building the plans that I designed for them, so there are at least few folks who build the plans for which they contract.
Many of Armstrong's custom designs, probably most, were published. Nearly all his published plans in later years were custom designs. I've run into a few Armstrong custom designs which were not published for various reasons.
Hmm - I also seem to recall having having read about an Athabasca plan and a Vermont plan, both designed by John Armstrong, both of which were built and featured in Model Railroader, MRP or GMR some time during the last decade or so. Checked the magazine index at Kalmbach. The Athabasca one was in Model Railroad Planning 1998 - author was Jim Money, title was "The Athabasca: working with John Armstrong". I think there also were pictures showing the layout, but it is a while since I read the 1998 issue and I don't seem to find it right now. Not sure about the Vermont based layout. Smile, Stein
Stein, your'e right, I should have remembered that one. It was in N scale but later taken down when the owner moved and he's building his own HO design in the new location, I think. The Vermont suggestion doesn't jog my memory as a constructed layout, although there have been a couple of Armstrong-published plans set in Vermont.
hi gentlemen, I have the "Athabaska" story in MRP 1998 before me. With its 40x12 size, its 30" minimum radius and about 2" spacing the plan seems to be meant for HO. Square size is 34", so in line with the 30" radius. A few pics of the early stages of construction were also added. The scenery to be was inspired by Alaska. Due to his job-career Jim Money was not able to get near to finishing his plans. Paul
I think I got my wires crossed - the New England one I was thinking about was a track plan where the owner had worked with noted layout designer Iain Rice, not with John Armstrong. Model Railroad Planning 2000, Iain Rice and Marty McGuirk - "Fitting a layout into a room", about the H0 scale Southern New England Railway. Not relevant for the discussions of layouts based on John Arstrong layout plans. Sorry. Smile, Stein
Paul is right -- I shouldn't try to post from memory. The MRP 1998 article is on an HO scale layout, which replaced an even earlier N scale design Armstrong had done for Jim Money, which was never started, as far as I know. That N scale layout was published in 20 Custom-Designed Track Plans.
One plan I have seen a few times is the "Unhinged and Horizontal" that was featured in an Atlas Track book several years ago. I would guess the design dates back to the mid to late 1960's. More of a scenic exibition type layout versus a operations type. Typical of the time and the Atlas plan type, lots of track in a 6X3 space. It did make a smart use of a twice around. I have seen the layout once at a hobby shop and once at a show. My B&M layout started life as this plan, but I finally abandoned that route and went with what I have today.
If I can add my 2 grams of memory.... I remember one layout mentioned in some NMRA page ... and I found it again: http://www.gatewaynmra.org/layouts3.htm Randolph Meyer, MMR, Canyon & Rocky Mountain Railroad A 54’x26’ Sn3 John Armstrong custom designed layout using coved background corners and ceiling set in the high mountains of Colorado. Another one here :http://www.allenkeller.com/videoPages/GMR28.phpVolume 28 - John Armstrong's Canandaigua Southern Railway And I think we can add also this one, despite seems have been modified from the original design: http://www.spshastaroute.com/armstrong.html Enjoy!
Rick, I remember going through that article several times. I was fascinated by the nolix idea. I think you and I discussed it several times in a thread many years ago when I had space to do something like that. Instill like the nolix idea and will probably build one at some point in my life. It's too good of an idea not do it.
