19
then we figure we've pretty much achieved the goal of having
what the prototype looks like even though it may not be exact.
MRH:
Tell me about your Monday night group?
Rob:
Probably about 13 or 14 years ago Pete Johnson started
the group on Monday nights. He knew of several layouts in the
area and thought wouldn’t it be a great idea if we got together
and worked on them to get them to the point where we could
operate them? Pete really enjoys operations as do I [ed: Pete is
a pro railroader]. So he contacted several of us and we started
getting together once a week, either working on a layout or
operating on one.
19: This is definitely a pure double-deck layout. Rob uses
museum-like lighting hidden behind valances. From the
aisles the layout lighting is both dramatic and unobtrusive.
20: Mitchell is above with its sweeping S-curve and
marshes. The Ideal Cement plant at Portland below. The
camera is about 70" from the floor in this shot.
20
It’s worked out really well. My layout is a combination of my
work and stuff the guys on Monday night did. Several of them
are really talented modelers and are able to do a lot of things
that made a layout look really nice, even better than I can. The
scenery here is a combination of their work and my own.
MRH:
Can you give me an example of that?
Rob:
Yes, one of the Monday night guys, Rick Ernest, built the
New Jersey zinc mining complex at Belden for me (24).
MRH:
The most striking piece of scenery on the Tennessee Pass
route would be the Royal Gorge?
Tennessee Pass - 12
MRH-Jun 2013
