An evening with Will Allen (Videos added to later thread)

Spectacular photos, what a great layout.

First class story & photos.

Gary

• Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway

Absolutely stunning!!

Outstanding!  Marty, why no avatar now?

 

I love your posts, always positive.  Thanks for the great photos/story.  Will's the best!

MartyE,

 

Thanks for posting all of those photo's of Will's layout.  Simply stunning.

Also I loved your tagline at the end of your post. 

I'll take up your suggestion and help them out once I find it or I'll just wait till it shows up again!

Nice photos Marty.  The layout looks great Will!

Thanks for doing some great photo work.  Will, you are the best.

His videos on Vimeo running around the layout, you don't know where you are gonna go

You took the words right out of my keyboard......beautiful layout Mr. Allen

Awesome!

Beautiful photos; incredible layout. Great job, Will. 

Great RR and a great ambassador of our hobby!!!!

Absolutely beautiful!  Thanks for sharing.

Marty; great photos.

Will; great layout.

Great pictures of a great layout.

 

Art

fantastic! thanks for sharing.

Beautiful, stunning pictures!!!

 

Can't begin to imagine all the hours of fun it took to create.

 

Thanks...

 

 

 

Thanks for the photos MARTY !!!!  WILLS layout looks very nice!!!

WOW, what a great-looking layout, Will!!  And a big thanks to Marty for taking/sharing all of these photos!

Magnificent layout! Marty thanks for the wonderful photos.

 

Brad

Very nice photos Marty - You've really captured a certain 'feel' of what Will and George have created...

are there videos of the new layout???

Magnificent pics!

Peter

Thanks for posting the photos, I enjoyed seeing them.

Amazing layout!! 

I have some videos I'll post when I get back home.

great.  i find it very interesting that Will built this layout at eye-level.  

Marty,

 

Thanks for your visit!  It was great seeing you.  I only wish you could have stayed a lot longer to run trains.

 

Thank you, too, for posting the photos, and for the videos when you get them ready.  I look forward to seeing them.  I enjoyed the pictures, too, as you took some from angles I had not considered.  Food for thought.

 

I really appreciate the kind remarks from everyone, but I say again, as I have many times before, that while I have a talent for CONCEPT, DESIGN, and LAYOUT, such as the track plan and the division of the layout into individual scenes (like dioramas), I have zero talent for building the fine detail that makes the concepts come alive.  I have George Lasley to thank for that!  George would have come over Saturday night, but it was his wife's birthday (a very special one), and her party was in full swing.  Maybe next time, Marty, because I am sure that George would have enjoyed meeting you, and vice versa.

 

Thanks again to everyone.  My layout works well and is lifelike thanks to Lionel's Legacy system (special thanks to Jon, Rudy, and Mike!) and the fine products distributed by great dealers like JustTrains.  What a great hobby!

I am impressed and I built most of it.  Marty, you showed some new angles I have never seen before.  Several photos I had to think where they were taken and which direction they were facing.

 

Thanks,

 

George

 

PS:  It was my wife's 70th, we had North Carolina BBQ with all the trimmings and a cake with 70 candles (I was determined to get them all on and lit.).

 

GWL

Awesome layout Will, great pictures Marty, this has got to be a feature layout in OGR mag.

 

Jack

Absolutely stunning, Will's layout is top notch!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Thanks,

Alex

And now for some iPhone videos...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, Marty!  Nicely done!

Marty,

Superb photos and Video!!  Thank you for taking the time to show us what George and Will have accomplished!

 

Will,

Thanks for opening your home to Marty and letting him share the layout with us.  I always enjoy seeing what George has done and how you show off your wonderful layout!

Marty, thanks. Nicely done. 

 

Will, what does your engine roster look like on this layout?

 

 

Now that I am back to a keyboard let me tell you a little about the layout as I experienced it.

 

First off Will has a great handle on the history of the structures and scenes he and George have built.  What strike you about the layout is a new scene around every corner.  Will's layout winds in like a spiral.  Each spiral separated by the Masonite mountains.  You cannot see the inside of the layout until you go there and see it.  The detail in the round house area was spectacular.

 

I can only hope to achieve 1/2 the level of detail that is on the layout.  I can say it did give me some ideas.

Nice work Marty!  I have always liked Will's videos from his first layout and have followed his posts.

 

Will,

Layout looks great and nice to finally see some video.  Your layout is unique in many ways but one aspect that is very apparent in the pictures is the height.  Very few layouts are that high off the floor, and in some photos it looks multi staged.  A real birds eye view must be very nice with that scenery and the trains running past.  Well done! 

Another great layout! Did they build custom make the switch handles inside the switch tower? That really caught my eye.

 

Chris

Very nice videos.

Wow! What a railroad! I just spent a lot of time studying it.

 

(Reminds me that I just play with my trains. Lol)

 

(Also reminds me that eastern coal railroads are the coolest railroads!