Bill’s been in touch with his Lance Mindheim track plan and pics of his stunning layout:
“Hi Alastair,
Check out these photos of my layout. I get just as much joy from building it as I do from running it. My favorite part? The scenery.
I also love scratchbuilding and, of course, operations. I’ve included my track plan. I had Lance Mindheim design it for me.
Have a look at my YouTube channel.
Here’s a quick Q&A to tell you more about me.
MY Q&A
Q: How/When did you get into model railroading?
A: Probably a familiar story to some guys my age. My wife passed away 7 years ago, and suddenly I had some free time. I was still working full time, but caring for my wife, I had zero time for me.
So I’m sitting there thinking ‘Now what am I gonna do. I am not gonna sit and watch dumb stuff on TV. And I remembered a guy I had worked with, he had a layout and I thought it was really cool. So that is what I did.
Started 7 years ago at ground zero, no idea how to do any of it. And I would read up on it every night. I worked with computers for about 20 years, and I saw this thing called DCC – OMG they got little circuit boards in these locos?! That is what I am gonna do.’
Q: Is this your first layout?
A: No, this is my second. My first shot was a 4 x 8 with Atlas snap-track. I had a lot of fun building it. Then I started to want to do operations, and it was pretty limited. It also had a very toy-like look and feel. After about a year, I tore that one down and built the layout I have now, about 11′ x 20′.
Q: Who influenced you as far as model railroading is concerned?
A: I would say early on Lance Mindheim and Pelle Soeborg. I saw that super-realistic look and knew that’s what I wanted. And more recently Boomer Diorama of course.
Q: Why did you choose to model the Finger Lakes Railway?
A: I grew up in the area, I knew it well. I knew the signature scenes that would make it seem authentic. So it was just a natural match.
Take care –
Bill.”
A big thanks to Bill for sharing his stunning layout – with a Lance Mindheim track plan too!
Hope you enjoyed it as much as me.
That’s all for this folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you stop dreaming, start doing, and join in the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.