[peter bunce]

Hi

My new copy of the superb magazine 'Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette, has just arrived, and it contains a well illustrated article on Tom Millers 1/20.3 layout.

NOT i the garden but in a specially built 4000 sq ft building! Imagine a small version of the famed John Allen layout and you are close to what it looks like; Tom Miller is himself 6ft 7inches tall and the scenery basic datum is above him for around the walls.

One to Twenty point me blog has some very good photos of it to whet your appetite, the magazine has more.

 

[vsmith]

While the scenery on Millers layout is spectacular, I was not as impressed with the track plan, just a personal bias but it was very sparce to me and almost no operations, essentially a giant roundy dound. I understand the intent of his layout, namely large scale railfanning with very real lenth trians running around.

If I had 4K of sq ft, I would have the entire Uintah RR from stem to stearn, either that or the Borracho RR would be on uber-steriods!

 

[peter bunce]

Hi,

Yes I agree with a simple track plan, but even with 4k sq ft, there is not enough space to get all in! He has even with his helpers/extra builders, a lot to do, and maintain, and the scenery is as you say spectacular!

I think that the dep[ot will dominate everything, but it is needed to display/fettle the locos he has, and with that I can also understand it.

It is understandable as this is a layout for watching trains running in scenery, and that is well on the way to being achieved.

 

[Gary Armitstead]

Hey Vic,

Tom has this 4K sq. ft. building for his "little" stuff. He also has a beautiful 1.6/ft. fully landscaped ride-on layout on the property. A few miles of actual track! A humongous wood trestle. Runs his 1.6/ft. museum quality Big Boy, several 2.5/ft. narrow gauge steamers (I believe they are K37's!). This guy does everything top-drawer! He taught me how to fire his Pacific many years ago at L.A.L.S.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

The Gazette arrived here a few days ago. As always, a real pleasure to read. Tom Miller's layout is amazing. I'm jealous! And I mean that in the best possible sense of the word. If it was me, I'd do all the scenery and structures myself... that's the most fun of building a layout!

But then, if it was me, I wouldn't be able to build all those cool live steam locos that Tom has.

 

[Guest]

One to Twenty point me blog


could someone be so nice to post the link?

 

[BigDigger]

Here you go. Look through the archives for April, as well as the current page.
http://120pointme.blogspot.com

 

[SteveC]

Yep, that's the address, and sponsor of the MLS Rolling Stock Forum I might add.

 

[Guest]

thanks.

 

[East Broad Top]

While I enjoyed seeing the railroad, I was hoping for some more detailed/closer shots. The camera angles and photos are very similar to those that showcase the smaller HO and O scale railroads. That's fine for showcasing the railroad, but part of the joy of working in large scale is that you can see the details. (And the folks working on that railroad are no strangers to excellent detailing.) I certainly got an appreciation for the size of the room and the overall scale of what's being done. I never got a good feel for the minute detail those guys are doing on it. Hopefully a follow-up article is in the works for when things progress a bit further.

Later,

K

 

[Gary Armitstead]

Hi All,

Here is a link to Youtube with a 4 minute plus video of Tom's layout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz_gLiFDzKo&feature=related

Hope this works. You'll probably have to copy-paste. Sorry.

 

[Allan W. Miller]

A gorgeous layout! I, for one, prefer a simple track plan where the surroundings (scenic features, etc.) dominate the railroad, just as in real life. Far too many model railroads in all scales take on a spaghetti bowl appearance as folks try to cram as much track as possible into the available space. Different strokes for different folks, of course, but I enjoy seeing trains operae in a more realistic and convincing environment.

 

[Engineer1876]

Can anyone post the trackplan for this layout?

 

[vsmith]

Thanks Gary, I think that video really helps place the article in context much more clearly illustrates the layout. It certainly IS spectacular. I think we know who the Cozad of indoor layouts is now.

 

[Gary Armitstead]

Vic,

I'm glad you liked the video. It really does show the scope of this project! What did you think of the trestle on his outdoor ride-on layout? Many years ago, one of our members of L.A.L.S. went to visit Tom at another ride-on layout he had in Oregon. There was just the two of them, Tom and my friend. They wanted to do a little fishing. So Tom steamed up the Big Boy, hooked up a couple of cars and steamed out to a small bridge over a trout stream and fished for a few hours from the train. My friend could not believe it. They had a great time!

 

[vsmith]

Lucky guy, must be nice to be able to afford all those marvelous toys. Yeah I thought that bridge was pretty amazing, double tracked and the track was imbedded in the deck so it could double as a walking bridge, nice touch.

I've already told the wife if I ever hit the Mega-lotto, I already have a Cunning Plan..../DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif

I'm not going to bother with them silly ride-on trains , I'm gonna get the real thing! /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/w00t.gif 18" or 20" gauge, maybe 24" gauge real size trains /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/shocked.gif . Afterall how much different would it be to build a 7.5" gauge Big Boy versus a full size 24" gauge 0-4-0 Porter or 0-4-4 Coronado RR Porter??? /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blink.gif Any radius and vertical clearances would be similar, plus I hear the Darjeeling Himilayan RR can be swayed to part with the occasional Class B steamer.../DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif