Rockport Junction: A Refurbished Micro-Layout

[DKS]

Thanks for all the kudos. Kind of strange, though, to be lauded for first-gen stuff done in retro style...

[Blazeman]

. Kind of strange, though, to be lauded for first-gen stuff done in retro style...

Dave: 40 years or so back, what you started with was considered "OK for N." Had the results you produced been more widespread at that time, others would strive to duplicate and demand better products. Imagine how manufacturers would have stepped up their game and how soon we'd have had what we have today. You used what they had available to them, just put it together better.

[packers#1]

Dave: 40 years or so back, what you started with was considered "OK for N." Had the results you produced been more widespread at that time, others would strive to duplicate and demand better products. Imagine how manufacturers would have stepped up their game and how soon we'd have had what we have today. You used what they had available to them, just put it together better.

This. It's not so much that you've created something that's super-realistic or anything, but you've taken the low-fi materials and made them something spectacular that many would still consider great for their own skills. I would compare it to being able to edit a picture to look extremely good on instagram; you've taken the bottom basic tools and through composition and eyes for colors and details still created something very excellent.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It's like someone doing a mid century house up right.

Is that one of the new Bachmann 0-6-0s? Keeping with the theme, are like having a nice HD tv hidden in an old big tube TV cabinet.

[DKS]

Is that one of the new Bachmann 0-6-0s?

No, it's an old Aurora/Trix job, but I cheated a little and replaced the tender with a Spectrum for better performance. Runs quite nicely with a DIY PWM throttle.

[Alaska Railroader]

So David, why don't you just throw something together once in awhile 

[mcjaco]

Thanks for all the kudos. Kind of strange, though, to be lauded for first-gen stuff done in retro style...

DKS, I think's great because it resonates with a lot of us and our first attempts at layouts.  How many of us had layouts with the same rolling stock, structures, etc. but never made it to this point because it was a bit beyond our abilities as kids? 

I love it for it's simplicity.  I know my kids would flip out just watching the trains go round and round.

[pwnj]

DKS, I think's great because it resonates with a lot of us and our first attempts at layouts.  How many of us had layouts with the same rolling stock, structures, etc. but never made it to this point because it was a bit beyond our abilities as kids? 

I love it for it's simplicity.  I know my kids would flip out just watching the trains go round and round.

Definitely this. And just seeing the pics has sent my two older kids downstairs to run some trains on the tabletop. Excellent! 

[peteski]

Thanks for all the kudos. Kind of strange, though, to be lauded for first-gen stuff done in retro style...

DKS,give yourself a big pat on the back.  You have the Midas Touch!  Seriously!  Doesn't matter if it is some super-realistic scene or a first-generation layout.  You have the eye and the skill to take a rough stone and change it into a gem.  I have a feeling that no matter what the project is, you do it well. For example, if you were to build a layout, not only the layout would be well done, but I suspect that the benchwork would also be a showpiece of perfection.  Some people have this gift, others don't.

Your NZT workshop is another indication of your fastidiousness.  Good show mate! 

[DKS]

Thanks, Peteski. Back in the 80s I had a shot at a decent-sized layout. Don't know if I'd call the benchwork "showpiece" material, but I did take pride in its design and construction. Unfortunately a divorce ended the project not long after this image was taken--

[wazzou]

Thanks, Peteski. Back in the 80s I had a shot at a decent-sized layout. Don't know if I'd call the benchwork "showpiece" material, but I did take pride in its design and construction. Unfortunately a divorce ended the project not long after this image was taken--

Nice John Allen trick there DKS.   

[jpec]

The beauty of the layout is its simplicity. You've taken something that was the stuff of daydreams as kids ( well, at least some of us) in the pages of magazines or layout books and brought it forward in time without losing the original feel thus providing us with some good flashback memories of things from a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Jeff

[Kentuckian]

Talk about making a silk purse out of a sow's ear!  The photos remind me of looking through an old Walther's catalog.

[basementcalling]

Thanks for all the kudos. Kind of strange, though, to be lauded for first-gen stuff done in retro style...

Quality work is always appreciated.

Add in that all of us probably have a first layout someplace in our history that used similar kits and looked much like the original you were given. I daresay that more than a few of us have considered going back in time to reconstruct a first layout using the skills and abilities we now have to see the results after proper performance.

Nicely played.

[GaryHinshaw]

It's like someone doing a mid century house up right.

In this case, a great blend of historical preservation with some appropriate modernization.