Delta Lines

Peter, thanks for sharing.  I remember articles Fred wrote that mentioned Mr. Ellison's Delta Lines, and pictures of some of Fred's structures.  I had no idea the layout was destroyed while being moved.

Thank you, Peter.

Thank you, Peter!  I thought about attending, but got caught up in the extravaganza and forgot.  I remember learning about Frank Ellison at an early age, and have read a reprint of his "Art of Model Railroading " article.  He was certainly a pioneer into new concepts!

                                        Delta Lines  1955

                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Ellison

Growing up in new Orleans in the 1050's it would have been terrific to have known about it at the time. I used to draw track plans with my American Flyer 'Pike Planner' but never saw a 'real' layout.

I guess word of mouth was the primary method of hearing about something like this. Too bad my dad never came across it back then. If I remember correctly from what I've read, the move and accident occurred in 1957?  I would have only been 12 at the time but was interested in trains since receiving my first set in 1949...

Thank you for the track plan, Brian.  Sam, so I was 1 year old when the layout met it's demise.  It wasn't long after that when I first became interested in trains.

As an aside Sam; I was glad to visit with you at breakfast at York last week!

Al Zamorski, owner of Millhouse River Studios (turntables and transfer tables) built a replica of Fillmore Station for the Flower City modular group. Here are pics from York a few years ago (Oct 2015).

It is amazing......but Al's work is always amazing......

Peter

Thank you, Peter!!  Al's work is a wonderful rendition!!  That is really great for the Flower City group!  Is that Group from Rochester, New York?

Yes.

Peter

Looking at those old pictures, there are some building kit makers that could use some more industrial building kits like:

The interesting wood freight house behind the SF boxcar and inbetween oblong and "JLC Mfg". The Sand and Gravel co looks good too!

In this photo it's the ICe house and the similar "City Litho co." with a rear and a freight dock

This milling co. Structure!

This simple brick" 3 story" building with load doors and no dock.

Very cool photos! I have a number of issues of Toy Trains magazine, and I treasure them for the Ellison articles, as well as everything else about the hobby in those days.

Thanks for the commentary on the Delta Lines Peter. That was on my list to attend but running into old friends the time got away from me................Paul

Dang it, I forgot all about this. Thanks for sharing Peter. Darn it that I missed it.

The wonderful Delta Lines!  Ahead of its time, for certain!

However, despite the countless articles describing building and operation on Delta Lines, I have yet to note anything about an uncoupling system. Am I correct in assuming that the uncoupling system was the 0-5-0 very manual method?

I have always wondered about this.                                                              -Salty Rails-

Ellison's book Frank Ellison on Model Railroads is an absolute classic.  Whoever owns the copyright should strive to keep it in print. Old copies (the only kind available!) show up on Amazon and eBay from time to time. They can be had cheap but there's also always some smart fart selling a collector copy for $50 too. 

The readability and cohesion of Ellison's writing sets him apart. John Armstrong was similarly gifted.  Lin Westcott came close. But IMHO none of the modern writers is even in the ballpark. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to see what Ellison could have done with Model Railroad Planning magazine instead of what that evolved into--regurgitations of MR magazine articles that are as dry as last year's paint job. 

Ellison's is my go-to planning resource--even 63 years later!

don Merz

There's a Varney locomotive for sale at a local hobby shop that apparently was run on that layout. It carries the lettering for it, too. the story I heard is it was owned by someone who ran on that layout a lot, so it wasn't sold with the layout. But I don't know of any hard documentation to support that, especially for what the hobby shop owner is asking (well into 4-figures if memory serves).

So odd that this layout got destroyed when it was moved after being sold. So many of the classic layouts met with untimely and horrible ends for some reason.

The story was i believe that the rood of the truck in which it was being transported receive a gash in the roof  in the rain and there was significant water damage in addition to whatever happened in the accident.

I will never forget visiting the 2 rail 0 scale layout of a popular brass engine builder near langhorn PA.  As I descended the steps into his basement my eyes popped as a full sized rendition of Delta lines was laid out before me.   Story goes this man just started in model RRing and sought to follow along the lines of a very popular layout at the time of him getting started. (1950's) i do have a slew of photos of his layout.  He did add a large passenger wing to it but it essentially was the Delta lines, PA version.

Being a contractor his 60 year ago approach was a tad different.  The entire scenery base was solid concrete.  You could walk  anywhere.  The roadbed was course grain black asphalt roll roofing with half thickness ties and hand spiked rail with built in place switches.  Looked great, a true work of love.  The layout is no more.  The gentleman has since moved and most everything has found new homes.

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Looking at those old pictures, there are some building kit makers that could use some more industrial building kits like:

The interesting wood freight house behind the SF boxcar and inbetween oblong and "JLC Mfg". The Sand and Gravel co looks good too!

 

In this photo it's the ICe house and the similar "City Litho co." with a rear and a freight dock

 

This milling co. Structure!

 

This simple brick" 3 story" building with load doors and no dock.

 

Dennis has plans to do many of these buildings over time.....

Peter

When I was a kid back in the sixties, the local library had a copy of Frank Ellison's book. I used to take it out all the time. I bet I read it cover to cover at least 4 times. I wish I could get a copy now. The only other book I read more was Lionel's "Model Railroading". I read that book so much, it fell apart. Luckily, there have been modern reprints of Lionel's book.

Tom Tee, I believe that you are referring to Frank Miller and his two rail Cascade Valley Railroad. He was a first class gentlemen.

WAS??  Yes, I was referring to the Cascade Valley RR.  Has Frank passed?  He was always a very gracious host.

My wife and I loved visiting his home, it was an inspiration for our present home.

Glad to report that Frank Miller is alive and actively modelling.  His Cascade Lines no longer exists but I am fortunate to have one of Frank's mine tipple's in service on my railroad- along with several scratch built locomotives Frank built. 

Peter - thanks so much for starting this thread and sharing the photos and information!   I've always marveled at the Delta Lines and Frank Elison. Thanks also,  to all who have contributed to this thread so far.  I've learned a lot!