Your fav. MRR. ever!


vato loco

Just a Foolish Saint!
What is your fav. Model Railroad you've seen that is on your I only wish list?


For me.....Franklen and South Manchester RR. that's my pick of the litter!:D
 
I was always fond of Lance Mindhiems (SP?) N scale Monon line, featured in MR I guess 6 or 7 years ago.
I absolutely loved the desolate late fall scenery.


ETA, I think that was the modelers name, my son ruined most of my stack of MR magazines several years back, so I no longer have the issue
 
Mark Lesticos N scale Cascade subdivision. Its a modern day UP MRR. Ive operated on it once, and am planning on attending his next session.
 
Almost anything by Malcom Furlow. I thought he had a real touch for making small layouts seem big.
 
I'm from a older generation and while no doubt the F&M is a fantastic layout my heart stays with the master John Allens GD Lines.
 
Eric Brooman's Utah Belt. I love the concept he has, the why he does it, everything. I even tried to win an SD9 and 6 hoppers on eBay that he was selling. But it sold for $300+ (my max was 300).
 
Just today I saw a slide show put together about 20-25 years ago by the NMRA on John Allen and the G & D. It was followed by a presentation of slides found in JA's house 6 years after his death by the guy who bought it while remodeling. Cool stuff. Man was gifted.

But that was not the question.

Charlie Comstocks's Bear Creek and South Jackson--combination of big trees and operations.

Bear Creek and South Jackson

redland_10c.jpg
 
I like a lot of them that I've seen. I always got a nice feeling about Bill McClanahan's Texas and Rio Grande Western--he packed a lot of detail and operation into a rather small space.

I really like Eric Brooman's "Utah Belt", and of course the original V&O, and I really like Pelle Soberg's concepts with his Mojave-set contemporary UP.

But I have to admit that John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid STILL overwhelms me by the sheer audacity of the concept. That man thought BIG!!

Tom :D
 
I forgot about the Utah Belt. In line with another thread, that was a great example of a totally freelanced layout that followed prototype practices. When I first saw pictures of his layout, I thought there must be a real Utah Belt I hadn't heard about.

While I like Pelle Soberg's work, I think his layout is vastly overrated. For any of you that have seen pictures of the infamous Al Mayo's layout (the troll that loves to attack the MR forums), he's a pretty good modeler. I don't like the guy personally but his layout mirrors many of the same concepts of Pelle Soberg's and he has executed many of the elements just as well.
 
I forgot to mention Joe Fugate's Siskiyou Lines as a contemporary MR that I admire very much. I got on his website and was very impressed, especially with his incredible scenery. He strikes me as a very dedicated person who not only takes the hobby seriously, but really has a love for what he's doing.
He's also EXTREMELY helpful to other modelers.

I remember him saying one time that he gets nervous about fellow modelers running their brass SP steam on his lines, as he's always afraid that they'll fall off the edge. Cracked me up, it did, especially when I think of all the brass steam I run without incident over the actual 6' drop of Yuba Pass to my concrete garage floor.

But the Siskiyou Lines is a really beautiful, well-thought out MR.

BTW, UP--what I like about Soberg's work mainly is the 'effect' he gets with his Mojave desert setting, having traveled through that area quite a few times.
And you're right, "Al" is a really good modeler. Frankly, he reminds me of a tenor I used to accompany some years back--absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to put up with as a person (though I liked him) but the musical results were absolutely SPECTACULAR!

Tom :D
 
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Halas I am from the other side of the great pond so this one is a little different;) ..
it is one of my favorite mrrbuilders overhere...Josef Brandl

http://martin3500.tripod.com/duernstein.htm
btw: all mentioned mrr overhere are GREAT too!!:) :)

and a Swiss one:
http://www.modell-bahn.ch/PageBildgalerie.aspx?Kategorie=Landwasser

what you see here on this ebsite/page is just a small part!!!

Jos

ps: is it possible to add a link to the your favorite mrr? So we all can enjoy these outstanding pieces of mrrart!
 
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My #1 favorite would be the Severna Park Model RR Club layout, for several reasons:

1) It was the very first world-class layout that I ever saw up close and personal, since it was only a 20-minute drive from my parents' house;

2) It showed me early-on what a difference weathering makes on both structures and rolling stock;

3) It was the first layout I ever saw that had models of blast furnaces on it. This was back in the early 1980's, before I ever had a clue who Dean Freytag was. It proved to me that it is possible to have a believable-looking model of a steel mill in a limited space, and kept my own layout dream alive until Walthers introduced their own mill structures 15 years later.
 
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Jos, I forgot about some of those guys that you had posted previously. Frankly, I'm not sure we have anyone over here that equals Josef Brandl in sheer details of his layout. Having been in Europe, everything he does looks very familiar to me. The Franklin and Manchester and even Rod Stewart's layout may be the equal just in the sheer amount of things you can fit in per square inch but the overwhelming amount of buildings, cars, people, and general junk actually make it unrealistic to my eye. Joseph has an equal amount of detail but it's spread out over a large area and you get the feeling you're looking at everyday scenes rather than a display of everything ever sold in the world's largest hobby shop. :)
 
Jos, I forgot about some of those guys that you had posted previously. Frankly, I'm not sure we have anyone over here that equals Josef Brandl in sheer details of his layout. Having been in Europe, everything he does looks very familiar to me. The Franklin and Manchester and even Rod Stewart's layout may be the equal just in the sheer amount of things you can fit in per square inch but the overwhelming amount of buildings, cars, people, and general junk actually make it unrealistic to my eye. Joseph has an equal amount of detail but it's spread out over a large area and you get the feeling you're looking at everyday scenes rather than a display of everything ever sold in the world's largest hobby shop. :)

I heard of rod stewart's layout never seen it........... got a link? Thanks
 
Chris, Rod Stewart's layout was featured in Model Railroader a few months ago. I don't have the issue handy right now but you need to be a subscriber to see more than a few pics at the MR web site. It's very large and impressive but has every single bit of space covered in some kind of detail. To me, it's total overkill and I have my doubts as to how much of the layout was actually contructed by Mr. Stewart.
 



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