I thought I would share what I did this past weekend. A friend of mine who lives in Manhattan, KS invited me to come down and view and operate his beautiful HOn3 layout. You can read the post on my blog, see some photos and a couple of videos I cobbled together. http://thelittlerockline.blogspot.com/2014/07/and-now-for-something-completely.html I model N scale, but but get a kick out of narrow gauge!
He's done a really nice job with the very rural scenes. They give a really nice sense of distance traveled. I seem to recall mention of Jim Hoover passing, but cannot recall what happened?
His scenery is about 75% to 80% done. Things like buildings, bridges and details are still in progress. I think he said he's been working on this since 2011 or so. In his words "I still have a lot of work to do". You've probably heard me talk about Jim on my blog or threads I've posted. He and I became good friends after we both graduated HS in 81 and he in 83. We met at a local train group and stuck together like glue. He was also my partner in crime when we dreamed up our Bend Track modular system. A couple of years before he passed, he came down with Ulcerative Colitis. He was pretty much back to normal and had things under control. But it was blot clots that caused his death. The doctors said the blood thinners probably played some part. The other thing was he had just returned from a trip to Portland Oregon fora national Narrow Gauge convention a couple of nights be fore he died. He was a person who could endure long drives without stopping. I think Jim told me that he only stopped once after he left Portland and before he got back to Nebraska. The doctor also reported that he traced the blood clot from his left leg.
That is a great looking layout Allen. Glad you got photos of it. It's also nice to see Jud's memorial for Jim. Good train friends are hard to find. Gee Allen, you better watch out on visiting too many NG layouts. They will suck you in...
It sure is! I got them all saved and now need to burn them to a disk for Jud. He told me that he had something he wanted to show me, it was a real nice surprise! I need to send Jim's dad picture of this. He'll get a charge out of it! Uh, yeah.......I know! I could feel the fangs start to dig in while I was down there. If I ever leave N scale for whatever reason, I will probably go with HOn3. More than just the size to work on, there is a certain attraction to narrow gauge that is hard to walk away from.
Tell me about it, ha ha. I had dabbled in HOn30 a little, here and there, through the years. Loved the Hayden & Frary stuff. Then I tried On30, but it didn't work out. Size and space to build more than a micro-layout, and my then needing to stand up and walk around, just wouldn't work. So I dug out my little bit of remaining HOn30 and am back at it. That Maine 2 Foot stuff just has a certain siren call.
I looked at the pictures and I think that is some very nice modeling. Remember, the gauge of HOn3 is only 17% larger than N. What's 17%, really? On a side note, I swore that I would never get into NG because I thought it was all about Colorado and D&RGW. Then life intervened. First, I saw the article on the C&DR in the Feb 1980 MR. Then the gift of Hilton's book from a college professor from Utah and a trip to the Quincy Mine in the Michigan UP opened my eyes to flat land NG and got me interested in 3' gauge. Then a chance encounter with a video on the WW1 trench railways got me interested in 2'/600mm gauge which in turn led me to Maine. Narrow Gauge is a slippery slope but a slope that has taken me to some interesting places.
