Frank Ellison's Delta Lines

Jim, there is a yahoo group called deltalinefriend. They have diagrams of Frank Ellison's layout along with some pics...........................Paul

OGR Great Layout Adventures #2 does a segment on Frank Miller's recreation of Delta Lines.

Pictures are rare. I have a few Model Railroad articles and books written by Frank.

It would be interesting if anyone had pictures of his railroad.

My favorite quote by Frank:

Long before it had a name, Delta Lines, like thousands of other model railroads, started in a corner of a room; then absorbed a whole room; moved into a corner of the basement; finally monopolized the basement."
          ~Frank Ellison, October, 1943

The full track plan is available as a downloadable PDF here, BUT I believe you must be a Kalmbach subscriber to get to the material.  Track plan takes up most of two pages.

Don't remember where I found this (might have been a Model Railroader "giveaway") back in 2008, but it contains plan (at beginning and at end) with operating schematic of Ellison's Delta Lines.  Also seem to remember that MR "reran" those articles sometime after I first started purchasing MR in 1963.

Hope this helps you.

Chuck

I was able to download the PDF and I no longer subscribe to any Kalmbach pubs....Thanks for the link!!!

Chuck, many Thanks for the attachment. Good story and plans in there.

I remember John Page writing a commentary in MR (in 1980's?) about a many-years-previous visit to the late Ellison's layout.  As I recall, Page observed that a 4-8-4 was running without its pilot truck and asked Ellison about it. Ellison replied that it had been derailing so he had removed it for reliability.

Page's point was that Ellison was so involved with scheduled operations that he overlooked some details that might bother other hobbyists. I basically agree with the premise that the hobby is about doing what you want and not being judged or criticized for it.

Forum member Dennis Laguarda (sp?) has a lot of info on the Delta Lines and I had thought he would have chimed in here by now.

I grew up in New Orleans but was a very young boy when Frank Ellison had the layout operational. Was about 12 in 1956/57 when it was dismantled. Oh, how I wish my dad and I would have known about it and visited!

There are countless article's in the old Model Builder Mag's from 1937-49 and some reprints in the 1950's Train's magazine as well.

Former OGR editor Fred Dole has recreated Raymondale from the Delta lines and could have a wealth of knowledge on the topic. Below are photos of his effort on his Weschester and Salmon River RR.

Brian,

You are correct ... it was Run 108, December 1989.  It is available in Volume 2 of the OGR Digital Archive . 

Those of you who may not be familiar with John's superb series of OGR Digital Archives, not to mention the other archived train-related material he offers, really owe it to yourselves to browse the full array on his HSL website.  Absolutely first rate products from a first class guy!  

If all you need is the track plan, here you go. But there was a lot more to Delta Lines that makes it revered  by 3-rail and 2-rail operators alike. There was almost a philosophy associated with it's construction and operation, from the scratch built structures to the organization and operation of the layout, Frank Ellison's numerous articles.

......and don't forget, those of us of the Yahoo group petitioned Weaver to make a Delta Lines boxcar in O scale. They are great, and I'm sure they are still available. Just give them a call.

Peter

You can also go to trainlife.com and browse the magazine section for Model Builder from 1937 to 1949 - many how to articles from Frank on how to build

buildings and how to run the railroad and if memory serves me a track plan broken

down by towns.

Great to see there is still interest in Frank's model railroad.

Bill

I am very fortunate that a piece of the Delta Lines is now a part of the Munoz Lines,

The Delta Lines lives on in Carmel.

Scrappy

Eliot.....how about a picture!!!  Would love to see what piece you have...

Thanks,

Alan

Thanks everyone so much for the great info!  I have some very interesting reading to do.

I had the fortune to help operate Frank Miller's recreation of the 2 rail Delta Lines a number of times at Mr. Miller home near Newtown, Pa. before he moved.  Frank Miller hand made most of the cars and I believe some engines himself.  Operating nights consisted of about 5 of us and a fast clock with a schedule we all followed with updates from the dispatcher sitting at a huge ctc board.  This was a master designed layout, offering many hours of operating enjoyment.

Jack   

Jack.....that must have been a real treat!

Eliot.....I agree with Alan......We must see a picture.

I have seen pieces of Delta Lines for sale at York by Ron Hollander.....A piece of scenery and an RDC.......both, way, way out of my price range.

Here's the Weaver Delta Lines car:

I also want to put a plug in for John Holtman's Digital Archives. Frank Ellison wrote extensively for Model Builder and Toy Trains. It's a quick and easy way to acquire a good library of Ellison literature.

Peter

Another plug here for John's digital archives - lots of priceless (and fun) info has been preserved through his efforts.

It is also good that at least small relics from the Delta Lines survived.

If I remember correctly the original attempt to save the entire layout was a classic case of a move gone very badly. I think it involved a tall rental truck, a rainy night, a low clearance underpass, and bad handling of what was left.

Jim

Your recollection is correct.  Fortunately, bits and pieces, and a lot of fond memories of an early O gauge classic still exist.

A piece of the Delta Lines does now reside in Carmel as part of the Munoz Lines, albeit a small piece. My good friends Bill Seader and Jack Bartman were part of the Delta Lines dismantling and Jack offered me a section of rockwork done by Frank Ellison. Of course, it is elegant. Approximately 1' x 3' at the Roseville Curve. 

Photo below of the rocks by Frank Ellison. Now a part of the Roseville Curve

Eliot

When Weaver came out with the Delta Lines boxcar I bought both road numbers. I was very happy with it but I didn't understand why Weaver used Arch Bar trucks? Does anyone else know? Perhaps the Arch Bar trucks weren't selling and they wanted to move some of them? Not a big deal but I was just curious.

Unfortunately, for me Delta Lines was gone before I was even born. However, I do feel the same way as c.sam but for me it is Frank Millers model RR. Boy, do I wish I could have seen and operated that model railroad before it got taken apart.

Allan, Peter, and Jim,

Thank you for your kind remarks about HSL train hobby-related digital archive products! I sincerely appreciate it!

One thing I've learned from this forum is, how large the famous Frank Ellison layout

actually was, as I've just seen published tiny vignettes of a few industries.