ATTENTION: FANS OF NORM CHARBONNEAU's LAYOUT

Cool; will have to look it up. Thanks!

Mark in Oregon

I received a flyer from TM Books and Videos today, with Norm's video featured!  I'm looking forward to getting a copy for sure!!

Put me down for one for sure. Roo

Nice to meet you Dave, sorry about defacing your brand new DVD. Glad you liked it.

The video also features the Hi Rail Modular Club of Griffith IN, and long time OGR poster Santa Fe Jim (Marek) provides some commentary. I am jealous of their 20 track staging yard!

Here is the YouTube link:

http://youtu.be/5ezgHEKvHtg

Thank you for the link, Norm!  It looks even more impressive, and I'll be glad to hear Jim and see the Griffith Indiana club layout!!

That 20 track yard was created so that each of the 20 members would have a place to park their personal train. What a great idea.

Just home from York myself, and of course I had to get the new TMBV video with Norm's layout on it (one of my true mentors, as I freely tell him). I'm also looking forward to seeing the Griffith, IN groups layout. A bit too worn out tonight to do anything but get ready for bed, but I'll have some relaxed viewing time available tomorrow. I always enjoy the videos produced by Tom and Joe from TMBV.

How about a link to purchase the DVD? Thx

Here it is:

http://www.tmbv.com/3-Rail-O-S...ns/productinfo/RAIL/

Norm Charbonneau posted:

Here it is:

http://www.tmbv.com/3-Rail-O-S...ns/productinfo/RAIL/

This is a video worth getting.

Must have been sleeping when this was advertised.  Just ordered so thanks for bringing attention to this.  Norm's layout is amazing.  Great source of inspiration.  BigRail

Thanks for the “heads up” here guys!  Gotta dig out the credit card and get ahold of TM.  👍

Curt

superwarp1 posted:

Norm Charbonneau posted:

Here it is:

http://www.tmbv.com/3-Rail-O-S...ns/productinfo/RAIL/

This is a video worth getting.

I totally agree; after watching the clip, and seeing other Youtube videos, I think it's fair to say that this layout ranks right up there with the all-time greats, in any scale.

Just marvelous.

Mark in Oregon

juniata guy posted:

Thanks for the “heads up” here guys!  Gotta dig out the credit card and get ahold of TM.  👍

Curt

Just what I was thinking, Curt!!

I bought the DVD from TM at York.

Excellent in all respects.

I agree.  They are getting $14.95 from a 2-railer.

Awesome news!! Glad to hear the guys in Griffith IN are getting their due too. 

I met him as well. Great guy. He told me about the DVD and I ended up purchasing it as well. I have watched it once and yes ofcourse it's awesome. His commentary was well done too with very clear explanations of what was being shown in the video.

Most of his YouTube videos are just a glimpse of the layout but this video takes away some of the mystery but still shows the magic. 

Dave

OK Norm now your gonna need a staging yard for us club members....

JUST ORDERED MINE, DON'T KNOW HOW i MISSED THIS ONE AT YORK.

Steve, There must have been something exciting that caught your eye across the aisle from TM Books and Video.  

Seems odd to me that in the otherwise excellent 2 minute promo video posted above, that at 20 seconds in, while the announcer is talking about scale trains this poor UP Notthern and it's consist is visibly lurching and bumping over a turnout in a very un-scalelike manner. Perhaps a little judicious editing...

I noticed that too, Sam.

BTW, I said on the 20th that I would get a copy.  Well, I just ordered it now. 

Norm  - Did you find that Y6b at York?

Sure was fun running trains on the layout. Cannot wait to do it again... Have a case of beer waiting 

And a better camera

I did - and then didn't buy it! Guy had a good price too. I only ended up getting a Pecos River Detroit and Toledo Shore Line boxcar and an REA sign for my freight house. 

Oh no! Well I guess that leaves you monies to expand the layout. First York I have been to that when I hesitated to buy an item it was snapped up a few hours later. The 3rd rail Jawn Henry was gone in the Silver Hall in 2 hours on Thursday.

J Daddy posted:

Oh no! Well I guess that leaves you monies to expand the layout. . . .

That eventual expansion is something I and others will be eagerly awaiting.

Knowing Norm, it will happen at some point, so it's definitely something to look forward to.

Here is a very rough idea of what I'd like to do eventually. I probably should have built it like this in the first place:

This idea would keep as much of the current layout intact. I would convert the front isthmus into a peninsula and would lose the duckunders. The staging yard would be in the workshop and I could probably add a couple long passing sidings too. 

Norm -

That would be great - That would give us room in the back room to stage trains and grab a cold beer or slice of pizza at the same time.

Also, if you did keep your current duck under, you could add a triangular passenger depot with a detailed depot stop on the layout.

sky is the limit!

If I do decide to break out the Sawzall on this current layout, it will be to remove the duckunders. Can’t stand them anymore!

Lose the duckunders! I'm not a fan of crawling under layouts (or duckunders) or crawling on top of layouts. I do understand why access hatches are sometimes needed, but at my age they are also something to be avoided.

Biggest mistake I made was not having the table higher. Crawling around on the floor gets old real fast.

I've stated more than once that it doesn't bother Norm one bit to tear part of his layout down and start over. Go for it norm. Just put the staging yard near the fridge for John.

I agree wholeheartedly about getting rid of duckunders!!

If you absolutely must have a scene or track over the access path to anything, be it the layout interior, water heater, etc, I am always in favor of a swing up section rather than a duck under.

I'm not a big fan of swing sections or things like that. They end up looking awkward and can use up a lot of real estate. If I do anything like that, it would be to put a reverse loop sort of where J put the wye. This would probably be a removable non-scenic bridge section that would normally be stored until I needed it. My ducks are currently semi-tolerable with my layout height being 42". I'd still like to get rid of them someday. 

Mark Boyce posted:

I agree wholeheartedly about getting rid of duckunders!!

Sometimes you just can't 😉

Mark Boyce posted:

I agree wholeheartedly about getting rid of duckunders!!

On a jocular note, so did my knees and back when I eliminated my two duck-unders.  I lost a significant amount of operating flexibility, but likely retained a significant amount of knee and back flexibility.

As to Norm's layout building prowess, there are a limited number of hobbyists who can match him.  Any video of his layout(s) is always a sight to behold -- a true artist in every sense of the word.

I spent too many of my 42 working years crawling on the floor and stopping into cabinets.  Not my idea of fun anymore!  I’ll give up operating flexibility too.

 I totally agree, whatever Norm builds will be excellent!

Norm Charbonneau posted:

Here is a very rough idea of what I'd like to do eventually. I probably should have built it like this in the first place:

This idea would keep as much of the current layout intact. I would convert the front isthmus into a peninsula and would lose the duckunders. The staging yard would be in the workshop and I could probably add a couple long passing sidings too. 

Norm

I just got the video last week and watched a few times. detailing is GREAT!!!!  If you have the option to go around your room get in touch with Bob Bartizek, see the OGR video #11. You can easily do a scaled down version.  Just thought. great layout!!!!

steve