1950s Three Rail Layout

fantastic! thanks for sharing.I wonder if the group is still around?

Thanx for finding that old "flick" and posting it, Bill.  I can recall the old Milwaukee Union Terminal (MUT) built in a former RR station in the beer city.  Until somewhere around that time, it, too, was operated on outside 3rd rail.  For power they had a bank of automotive storage batteries withe some rectifier re-chargers.  There was so much amperage available that it could have welded the trains to the tracks!  And, of course, Frank Ellison's great layout employed an outside 3rd power rail.

Neat stuff to watch, now, although the motors, controls, power systems and all are so much improved over those "good old days."

Paul Fischer

That was a great layout and video.  I guess outer third rail modeling died out, but it would have been very prototypical for Long Island and the track sure looks better without the middle rail--something I'm used to ignoring after all these years.

The trade of is you have sliders on steam engines that could "break" the illusion so its still a compromise somewhere.

I wonder if that club survived 65 years later...

I did find a club with a similar name that uses normal o gauge track, but not sure its related in anyway other than similar name.

http://westchestermodelrailroadclub.com/id2.html

Thanks so much for sharing this great video Bill.  Very nicely detailed layout by any era's standard, and especially for the 1950s!!

Cool video & story about a Model Railroad Club. • Westchester Model Railroad

Pretty neat video.

WOW, terrific video and layout for its time.