New Pics ! I just bought this amazing layout...

[mecgp7]

I just returned from a 6 hour round trip to purchase a completed N scale layout. This layout is literally a museum piece and has a bit of a history. While I have yet to learn the name of the original builder/modeler, I was told he was a bit OCD and extremely attentive to detail including the placement of food on his plate. I do know that it sat in a horse barn for years until he finally he gave or sold it to a friend and he passed it to his son.  The son, whom I purchased it from, stated that his wife made him remove it from their game room as it reeked like a stable. Gladly, it no longer smells although with the amount of horses and other livestock on the layout it would've added to the realism! He told me that he will find the builder's name as I requested it to give credit where credit is due.

The few pictures that I have below really don't do the layout justice as the tiniest of details cannot be seen. There is a poker game in the layout and one can discern the markings on the cards! There is a connection with a N scale Narrow gauge track which shares a rail with the standard track. There is a water scene with a pier and boats that cannot be seen in the pics. While I don't know when it was built, it has some age. It has remote uncouplers for Rapido couplers. The most unbelievable thing is that the layout is about 80% functional as it is. The turntable works, many of the remote switches work, and locos can be run on most of the track.

I look forward to restoring what little needs to be done and getting it operational. To be honest, this era and western scheme is about as far away from my current interest in 1950-60s New England railroading, but I now have a reason to purchase all the more n scale. BTW, I paid the gentleman more than he asked as his original price was way below what I valued it as.

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[mecgp7]

Wow!!!!   

What are the dimensions?  Looks like a sheet of plywood.

Roughly 4'x8'.  The builder was a true master. I don't have and will never have the patience to put something like this together. I will post more close pics asap.

[C855B]

"Wow!" is right. What a masterpiece!

[wm3798]

What an amazing time capsule of obsolete (yet still fully functional) technology!

I'll be following the restoration process with interest.

Lee

[nkalanaga]

Dual gauge with code 80 flex track?  That's impressive.

I have some dual gauge, but it's C55 and C40, and mostly handlaid.  Even if he just added a third rail, that old stuff REALLY isn't easy to modify.

[peteski]

Nice find!  It is like a time capsule from the earlier times.
Reminds me of those quaint narrow gauge layouts (like Dave V's).

[spookshow]

It reminds me of Malcolm Furlow's southwestern themed layouts.

-Mark

[tehachapifan]

Magnificent looking layout! A work of art!

[Kentuckian]

It reminds me of Malcolm Furlow's southwestern themed layouts.

-Mark

Or John Allen.

[MVW]

Or John Allen.

Yep. First thing that came to my mind.

Jim

[eja]

OK  ...

I know we are all wondering 'how much?", but no one has mustered up the nerve to ask.

Ill be the rude boar in the room and ask, "how much did that set you back?  (Certainly no offense take if you chose to keep that private.) 

eja

[mecgp7]

OK  ...

I know we are all wondering 'how much?", but no one has mustered up the nerve to ask.

Ill be the rude boar in the room and ask, "how much did that set you back?  (Certainly no offense take if you chose to keep that private.) 

eja

I'll share this much, the asking price was $1200.00 OBO.

[randgust]

Wow, When I did N scale starting in 1972 through about 1975 I had a slew of remote Rapido uncouplers about everywhere.   The Trix one was the best above-table, and it could be rigged on a linkage to move around a bit away from the tank-car sized solenoid cover.  The B&R solenoid was the under-table solution and when properly mounted with decent Rapido couplers actually worked quite well.   I probably had a dozen or more of them.   But the precision on car spotting over the uncoupler was not to be minimized, get 3 scale feet off and it would be under and axle and launch a car vertically off the track.  Meanwhile, nice loud buzzing.

Somewhere I have an old B&W print of an N scale brakeman giving hand signals with one of those Rapido couplers pushed up in the air.

All that went rapidly when Kadee came to be (Micro Trains).

That is a beautiful layout, and if properly built will hold up.  Watch your environment for heat and humidity but you've got the dust problem beat.

I'm seeing 3 car batteries under the layout!  last time I saw anything like that was at an Amish HO model railroaders house that charged them up with a wind generator on the roof.  (for real, he had taken out the 110V side of several MRC throttles and wired them to car batteries.....)

Is there anything that operates on the dual-gauge track or is it just cosmetic?  That would be the slam-dunk here.....   I did about 24" of dual gauge a couple years ago and that was enough for me....

[mecgp7]

The batteries are unrelated. The dual gauge track was one of the last projects that didn't get finished. The narrow gauge track is the spur on the far right of the layout. It joins the standard gauge, but only for a short length. That is as far as the builder got. What is there is functional. He made his own frogs, etc. He made his own N scale narrow gauge passenger and freight cars, but with standard trucks. I guess you would call them non-narrow, narrow gauge. I apologize for the quality of the pics.  He took regular N scale and removed the centers length wise and the glued them back together. Some he shortened and others he lowered the overall height (boxcars).  The two stock cars are impressive as they look to be built board by board.  Most of the cars have added grab irons, etc. On the reefer (Heinz) he added door details.  The BAR car was added to show scale.
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[randgust]

I really had to search on the photos before I spotted the dual gauge.    Holy crap.   

Do you have any clues as to when it was built?   Here's one.   If he used hard-shell scenery over newspapers, look underneath and see if you can spot a date on one