I placed this here because I’m an N scaler and they guys here are never shy to participate in a discussion. I found an old Great Model Railroads magazine from 2006 and as I looked through it I wondered about the fate of the layouts and if they were still around. I was one of the original N scale clubs that’s also now defunct here in DFW called Tex-N, then life and things got in the way and I became inactive. I looked for them the other day and they’re gone as well.
Anyway, the layout that made me think of this was an HO MKT layout made by a guy done in Temple Texas named Paul Otis. It was a re-creation of east Temple and about 12ft long. It had been in the paper and his grandson(?) had brought it to the Temple show because Paul had passed and he said he knew he would have wanted it there. He was a member of the club there, but when I’ve inquired nobody knows who he is. My intent was to take additional photographs and really document it along with his information for others to enjoy, and for his layout and memory to live on. I’d even refurbish it for them if they wanted. The whole story just made an impact on me.
So who knows of great layouts that are no more? I remember the Model Railroader Wisconsin Central and BN N scale layouts but understand they’ve met an undesirable fate. There was a guy in Fort Worth that had an incredible BN N scale layout which I don’t know the fate of, and a couple others that I can think of that others don’t remember.
Maybe we could start a FB or IG or something that could help keep the memories of these great layouts alive. I think keeping that history alive is important in a hobby that seems to forget sometimes about those that have come before and inspired us all. Heck, I have an MA and MFA in creative writing and would be up for authoring a book on the subject.
I think a lot us hope that our work and collections can out-live us and continue to inspire others in this hobby we all love, And I would like to be a part of making that happen.
