Bob Bartizek Article

One of the prime objectives of these forums should be to promote modeling excellence.  Bob's railroad is one of the premier 3RS model railroads in my humble opinion, and ANY exposure in ANY magazine should be celebrated on this forum and others. 

Just to add another link, here is the link to the article on Bob's railroad in "Model Railroad Hobbiest".  This nice thing about this article is it does not suffer the restrictions of a paper magazine, and is absolutely loaded with photos. 

Here is a link to the March 2013 issue:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist...pennsylvania-western

You can download the whole issue for free. 

Lastly, here is a link to a Youtube video of Bob's railroad.

Regards,

Jerry Zeman

I picked up the August issue for the article in there about using cheap acrylic paints for air brushing models, and matching railroad colors.  In order to support this continued excellence, I have subscribed.  Love Bob's railroad.   

Regards,

Jerry

Bob's Fantastic Awareness to The Real Way Trains Look, Operate, Come and Go, in a Maze of Track and Scenery, Up and Down Horseshoe Curve, A Model Railroad Depicting True Pennsylvania  Culture and Scenery, is BREATHTAKING.....From the moment you Desend into his TrainWold, at the Bottom of the Steps is a Trestle Second to none and to the right a Turntable Area so Creative, it's simply Unbelievable.....I will say that I have had the Honor to visit Bob and enjoy the Command Control set forth by Scale Card Indexing...He runs real looking, weathered Trains, in a Way that's Fun, True to Life and most of all Thought Provocative......Truly A One of a Kind Model Railroad.... Thanks for Posting!!!

Thanks for making me aware of Bob's RR being in the latest RMC.  I don't normally get that magazine, but will have to make an exception for this article.  He is one of the best.  Also thanks to Jerry for the great online article too.

Art

I picked one up on Friday without even noticing 3 rails on the cover shot.  It's great they include 3RS as a viable " craftsman " hobby.  I haven't read the feature on Bob's layout yet...been super busy with trains of my own.

Bruce

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments.  The editor of RMC actually contacted me at the end of January to request that I do a feature article after he saw my website.  He had no idea that 3-rail scale layouts existed.  I sent him a couple of more recent photos and he said to get something submitted to him.  The fact that I submitted the files in March and the article appeared in the July issue tells me that his interest was real.  Even though I included a vertical format photo, getting it on the cover was a surprise.  I mean it is a serious SCALE magazine!

Rich Melvin and Jim Barrett were here for 3 days at the beginning of July to shoot video for the upcoming OGR DVD.  I believe it is scheduled for release this October.  Scenes were recorded that show yard operations, trains having meets at passing sidings, some local switching moves and lots of scenic running.  There is a "mainline tour" train that meets various other trains on its journey and even a few tips from yours truly on improving couplers and some out of the ordinary scenery detail suppliers. 

We also recorded part of a prototypical operating session with a crew of eight of my regular operators.  Several of the segments were breathtaking to me when I saw them on the puny screen built into the camera, I can't imagine them on a big screen TV.

Also upcoming is an article in OGR featuring one of my local switching trains.  We finished taking photos for that one yesterday.  There are 16 or 17 scenes that will tell the story of that train's work along its journey.  This article combined with the DVD should give OGR readers a pretty good idea of what I'm trying to accomplish with the Pennsylvania & Western RR.

Bob, has one fantastic layout! Over this past year he upgraded the turntable to a Pennsylvania version. We were happy to oblige with making him a 30" table to fit in the existing hole his previous TT occupied 

Bob

Congratulations on another great piece on your outstanding layout!

Bobs layout is a case study on the flexibility of the Korber Model kits.  While his layout is really full of them (along with others and scratch built) not a single one is built exactly as the original kit.  Each one or combination of kits have been crafted to create a very realistic and unique structure.

We are proud to be part of such a great layout, and I am lucky to be close enough to visit it from time to time.

I have been waiting for an OGR video showing operations on this layout for years....I am very excited!!!!!

Peter

It was a thrill to watch the Pennsylvania & Western video that was posted above.

Certainly made my day.

Charlie

Incredible video/layout.  

Guys like Bob and Norm have clearly shown what is possible with 3R trains.  

Another inspiration to us all.  

In the words of somebody famous, "You ain't seen nuttin' yet!"

Some of the video scenes which we shot on Bob's layout a few weeks ago are the most realistic looking O scale video I have ever shot. The combination of properly painted, lettered and weathered trains, the outstanding quality of Bob's scenery and a some good lighting resulted in some stunning shots on HD video.

It will be released at the October York meet, on the same DVD with Bill Bramlage's fabulous "Tower City" layout.

You won't want to miss this one!

From Bob's post above:

 He had no idea that 3-rail scale layouts existed. 

And I am sure the vast majority of his magazine's readership is in the same boat.  That is the advantage of such an article appearing in a magazine like RMC: it will be an eye-opener to most of our fellow hobbyists in HO and N scale.

As Bob wrote at the end of the article (and the photos graphically proved), "The layout demonstrates that today's 3-rail trains can go well beyond their toy train stereotype."

Meanwhile, those of us who enjoy OGR have a double treat in store:  The upcoming article and the video.  We are especially fortunate that OGR videos are the finest in the hobby.  Everything about them shows attention to detail and first class videography.  After reading the webmaster's description above, I can hardly wait for the October York meet.  This is going to be an exceptional video.

I was in the grocery store near work today and stopped by the magazine rack where they stock OGR and those other magazines.  Lo and behold, there were 4 copies of RMC.  I picked one up, and looked through the table of contents, but didn't find the article, then I flipped through the pages, no not there.  Then I looked at the cover...April 2015!!  All 4 copies were April 2015!  Bummer!!  I looked over and OGR was the current issue.  What gives?  No one reads that other magazine, and the magazine guy left the last copies??  I'll have to look elsewhere.

Bob is one of the most gracious and kind guys in our hobby.  I last saw him at an NMRA function here in Pittsburgh where he was a speaker.  His knowledge about model  railroading is boundless as is his knowledge of the PRR.  I always seek out his posts here since he always speaks with a benign knowledge and authority .  

Congratulations to you ,Bob.

Norm Rish

I have watched the Trainmasters.tv video so many times I can't even count... The thing that strikes me most is the track plan. Mr. Bartizek is borderline genius to be able to plan a 3 times around layout like this. The more I study his plan the more impressed I am. I am integrating several of his concepts into my 2 rail layout as a matter of fact. 3 times around, under-through-behind, hidden double-decked staging loops, and he brought all 3 levels together at Horseshoe curve. Just awesome. I hope to one day be able to drive down from Cleveland and visit.

Jonathan, thanks for acknowledging that there is a lot more to 3RS than a third rail.  Pity so many other 2RS folks fail to appreciate the full scope of what is done in modeling 3RS.

I would expect that most model railroading magazine publishers would have attended

a few train shows and seen that "high rail", scale modeling with three rail, is common.

Surprised to read the above quote.  With Kalmbach having a magazine devoted to both

three rail and scale modeling, I would not think them unaware.  And knowing what your

competitors are doing is a first law of business.

With Kalmbach having a magazine devoted to both three rail and scale modeling, I would not think them unaware.

I can absolutely, positively state from personal experience that Kalmbach's mindset is that 3 rail represents toy trains and scale modeling requires two and only two rails. 

Happily they are not the only game in town and at least two of their scale magazine competitors do not share that view. 

I think 3RS is a valid scale modeling avenue for many people. I find myself somewhere between 3RS and traditional 2R. Like I said I am using several of Mr. Bartizek's concepts in 2 rail. I will be using 36"r min radius and my larger steam have blind drivers like 3RS does. I don't personally care for the 3rd rail but that doesn't mean I can't learn from a layout that has 3 rails. The good news for me (or anyone else) is that I can fit the same trains in the same space as 3RS.

There was an article about Bob's layout in OGR several years ago.  I thought it was inspiring and was one of the reasons that I switched from HO to O gauge.  My own New Haven 3-rail layout is under construction.

I hope that the 3RS community will begin to be recognized as a valid scale model option by the hobby community including the NMRA membership.

In addition to Bob's amazing layout, I believe that Rich Batista's Black Diamond Railroad and Capt. Rick Wright's CONUS Lines are also wonderful examples of 3RS modeling.  I am sure that there are others that I don't recall right now.

I really enjoyed the article on Bob's layout posted above.  I will look for the RMC article the next time I am at the hobby shop.  

Thanks for posting the links and information about Bob's layout.

NH Joe

I hope that the 3RS community will begin to be recognized as a valid scale model option by the hobby community including the NMRA membership.

The NMRA has similar limitations and blind spots to that of Kalmbach, and has a very hard time accepting the existence of just O scale....

The problem that you run into is that a layout like Rich Batista's while very nice, is at the end of the day just a loop running layout. Other scales like HO and N are very big into prototypical design and operation. If they see loops they immediately tune out. That is what sets Mr. Bartizek's layout apart. It IS designed for operations. Multiple crews, switch lists, functional yard, many industries, hidden staging, etc...

Errr......every HO layout that I have participated in Ops sessions on as described in your last sentence has underneath all that stuff as the base...............a loop......or 4 loops, or even more,   Might be a folded dog bone configuration re-folded a time or 2, but it's still just a loop.

every HO layout that I have participated in Ops sessions on as described in your last sentence has underneath all that stuff as the base...............a loop.

That statement got me thinking about the HO layouts that I operate on around here.  Some of them (5 that I can think of) are basically a loop with staging yards either as a wide spot in the loop or on spurs off the big loop.  Most of the layouts (9 of them) however are true point to point.  If you add mine, there are 10 point to point operating layouts here.

That's good -  I'd like to participate in an Ops session on a real point 2 point. 

The one larger one that I have operated on is a multi-room multi-track mainline with several yards and many switching spurs, but it's also around and around you go.....but it does take a long time to get all the way around so you really do not notice it and there are several ways to go round and round.  Deceptive and also makes it more interesting.

I echo all the compliments to you Bob.  The layout is truly inspiring on many levels. 

I'm intrigued by your comments regarding the NMRA and O scale.  I'm sure no authority, but when I was doing the three rail trailer gig, I found the NMRA to be very accepting of having our layout at National conventions, and we were a staple fixture at Trainfest, which was run by the NMRA WISE division.  Once it was explained that it was three rail, scale, weathered equipment, a a large display, and we sent along photos, the apprehension went away.   

This past national at Cleveland had our layout, and a Proto48 layout on display.  Granted, the convention was overshadowed by HO and to a lesser extent N scale modular layouts, but I firmly believe that one thing that is hampering O scale (and to a lesser extent 3RS) is the lack of any sort of "FreeMo" movement.

Until some sort of regional, or national movement occurs that allows a person to build, say, two 48" x 30" modules, or some multiple of that size, and transport it to a show without owning a trailer, O scale will continue to be under-represented at NMRA sponsored events.

If there was a Free-Mo movement, I'd probably jump in, but only if it didn't require a trailer. Like a boat, the two best days in a modular railroad trailer owner's trailer experience are the day he buys it, and the day he sells it.   . 

The other item that works against O scale, there are too few people, with very broad interests.  Try putting together a small group, lets say six people, that is willing to invest time, money, and effort into putting together a layout that has a theme, lets say, early 1950s to early 1960s, with a decent display layout plan (for discussion purposes, lets assume 40 x 15), and see how far it goes.  The only movement that I have any knowledge of in this area are the guys out in Denver that Eric Lindgren shares with us.  There was a two rail group that was displaying at Trainfest out of Madison, I don't even know if they are still active.

Regards,

Jerry

Firmly planted back in HO

It would take a lot of typing to provide a detailed and complete exposition, but suffice it to state my interactions with Nat'l officers had periodically been very negative and in one instance openly offensive regarding O scale (vocabulary would not get by the software here...) from the then President (who was also an O scale modeler ).  Makes no sense at all, but attempting to apply rational thought and reasoning to such things does all too frequently end up arriving waiting for a bus at the corner of Bizarre and Bedlam.

And strangely enough I'm currently a Director in my region of the NMRA and also the contest chair.......

Isn't the mantra of a well known magazine "model railroading is fun?" Just like the flu and other similar physical woes.