A really nice layout I just discovered...pictures!

By the way, I took these with a new camera and it saves in a 16x9 format hi-rez...so if you click on a picture and then click on "open link in new window", you will get a beautiful close and detailed view...

 

Alan

That's very neat looking layout!

Very nice scenery/structure work.

Gorgeous!

 

Peter

Cool!  And you have a new friend.  Even better!

Very nice layout.

That's a great looking layout Alan.
I'm sure you informed him about this forum. Thanks for posting. I have to make more of an effort to get over to the Scenery forum.

Your not kidding.That is a sweet layout.Nick

That is Nice. Thanks for posting the photo's.

That's a really nice layout your new friend has. 

 

Thanks for sharing!

Some very nice scenes!

However, I don't believe that the canoes will survive after the falls 

 

Alan wrote, in part -

"...isn't it amazing that folks can live next to one another for many years and have similar hobby interests and don't know each other exists??!!"

 

That is amazing, indeed!

 

Thank you for sharing.

 

Alex

Great find!

 

 

I think we would all be surprised to find others that enjoy the hobby.  There are a lot of "lone wolf" train lovers out there that do not share with others their love of model railroading.  They might think that people would find them weird for "playing with toys". 

 

I think it would be a safe bet that there are many neighbors out there that have trains in their basements but dont share their hobby except with close family and friends.  

This layout is very well done. Lots of details and great craftsmanship. Please tell your friend how much the Forum members like his work.

 

The photos, Alan, are superb. Looks like another candidate for an OGR feature article.

Alan,

It is great you found this fellow near where you live.  I have never found anyone who lives near me who has more than a passing interest in trains.  There are a great bunch of guys on this forum who all live about an hour drive from me, which is good for an occasional event, but not anyone who one could easily drop by and share the hobby for an hour or so every once in a while.

 

I think Jim has a good point, that there are folks out there, but we don't know it.

Looks very nice and an excellent discovery. I sometimes wonder why many hobbyists with nice layouts never share pictures with this forum, post on other online forums or do anything with magazines. If you cannot share your work with others then the hobby isn't as much fun. At least that's my view.

Alan - It amazes me that there are so many fellow model railroaders that have never met and that live so close together. 

 

My two best train friends that live very close to me were both met in unusual ways.  The first one was after I had posted pictures of my layout on this forum and a manufacturer called me if he could help in any way.  He asked me if I knew this friend who was also a new, good customer.  I didn't and he asked if it was O.K. for him to give me his number.  The rest is history.

 

The other fellow was at one of our garage sales in the summer and I had a railroad tee shirt on.  That started a conversation and we are now great train friends and he lives a block from me.

 

Neither friend get the magazines or on the forum.  I met another friend that lives 5 minutes from me by through a couple we play bridge with.  Again he is never on the forum and doesn't get any of the magazines.

 

The point is that there are a lot of great train friends out there waiting to be met if we can find the ways to meet them.

 

Enjoy your new train friend Alan.

 

Art

Thanks so much guys for the neat comments and stories!  Makes me wonder just how many people are REALLY involved in our hobby that just don't make their presence known???  I wonder if the numbers are a lot larger than what we think...???

 

Alan

Alan, in response to your question, I have no doubt that there are more people that don't participate in the forum and regularly subscribe than there are that do.  Of my close train friends, by far the most do not.  I keep trying to get them to get on the forum, send them links to pictures and articles, but they are happy to keep a low profile.  They are great guys and have fabulous layouts, but unless you are lucky enough to find them you would never know it.

 

I hear guys all the time complain that there isn't anyone in the neighborhood that likes trains.  I'm willing to bet that they are there you just have to find a way to connect with them.  And yes, it is very much worth our time to do that.  Friends are the thing that makes this the best hobby of all.

 

Art

That's a pretty sharp looking layout.  I like the house under construction motiff and the river vignette especially.

 

One thing I noticed in the shot below though, those canoers look to be in for a rather unpleasant surprise at the bottom of that little waterfall!  

 

Art...you have hit the nail on the head so to speak!!  From normal statistics, based on what we know in terms of the I.P. addresses we track here on the forum, there most likely are 3 or more times the number of visitors to our site than the number of registered members!  I am sure that translates to the number of folks we don't know or haven't discovered.  This is why it is so important to get the word out that we are here since I'll bet that many of these folks may be looking for others that have the same interests and just don't know we exist!

 

Alan

Yep John....I'll bet that those guys are going to get wet!!

 

Alan

 

And maybe bruised and battered.

John....Hey...that is why it pays to walk along the shore to check out the rapids a little more closely.....they will pay now!!...LOL!!

 

Alan

Alan,  What a great find and a very nice layout.  Your friend should be proud. Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to get to get together with friends and family.  Last week my family met in the St. Louis area and Alex (Ingeniero No1) agreed to display their HPJRR.  Alex and the ever lovely Judy graciously entertained myself and several members of my family.  Seeing their Hidden Pass layout in person was an epiphany, but I digress.  Alex keeps a log of his visitors and the city of their residence. To my surprise, prominently included was a good citizen of my small town of Benton, AR.  This person was previously unknown to me, but I am going to look him up, establish contact, and see if we can build on our mutual interests.  Pat B.

ALAN,

  Very nice layout.  It's a small world after all.