Spending an evening at HarmonYards’

Amazing! Thanks for posting!

Thanks for posting that Mario!

Pat has been rather modest about sharing his layout ( unless I missed it)

A fantastic layout, as well as nice neat shelving for all the "iron".

Theres something appealing about it to the New York Central fan 😉

Too bad you couldn't get any footage from inside the shops. I hear it's busy in there.

Nice work Pat!

Nice looks like you had some fun, thanks for posting this.👍👍

Nice Video and beautiful layout. The Showcase of the Steam locomotives is very impressive, just goes to show I have a long way to go.

So, you say he has a couple of NYC engines????

Nice. Very nice.

Stunningly beautiful on all fronts.  We always knew that Pat was a true craftsman on the workbench. We now realize his layout is more of the same. Great stuff.

Wow…Really nice layout and collection, Pat!  Thanks for posting this, Mario.

Looks like a real New York Central fan's hub, alright!

Lovely video, Mario. Pat's got a great collection and layout.

Gotta say, I did not expect to see that Rexall Train in-progress project!

Great stuff. I’m a NYC guy as that’s what I would ride with my mom when we left the city to go upstate.
a friend gave me the silver Commodore Vanderbilt featured in this video. It bothered me that you could barely read the lettering. Then I found out that Lionel screwed up the color codes. The silver paint they used for the body was actually the lettering color. The darker colored one was actually correct. It was actually quite a sluggish runner, but had the best whistle I’ve ever heard. A great deep throated beautiful sound. But the color bugged me for years. I didn’t want to sell it because it was a present. I finally decided to do so, but I wanted to see if I could improve its running characteristics. I took it apart down to its basic gearing. I messed around with it and finally got it to run beautifully. That made it  more difficult for me to sell it. But I did. First though I thought about having it repainted, but decided I didn’t want to spend the money on it. Because it was a notorious bad runner I put a video of it running great on my eBay listing along with its wonderful whistle. I did sell it, and I was relieved that I had settled the paint issue for myself. It wasn’t that the silver paint didn’t look good as it did.   I knew that I would miss the whistle, but it’s a package deal.
Now the funny thing was that my friend who is not one bit a train person bought me the same engine for a second time. He had no clue. What I  did was take it back to the train store (Eastside Trains) and I exchanged it for a PW FM.

if the colors had been correct I would have kept it.
Alan

Pat adds a great deal of value to this forum. Nice video, Mario.

@ajzend posted:

Great stuff. I’m a NYC guy as that’s what I would ride with my mom when we left the city to go upstate.
a friend gave me the silver Commodore Vanderbilt featured in this video. It bothered me that you could barely read the lettering. Then I found out that Lionel screwed up the color codes. The silver paint they used for the body was actually the lettering color. The darker colored one was actually correct. It was actually quite a sluggish runner, but had the best whistle I’ve ever heard. A great deep throated beautiful sound. But the color bugged me for years. I didn’t want to sell it because it was a present. I finally decided to do so, but I wanted to see if I could improve its running characteristics. I took it apart down to its basic gearing. I messed around with it and finally got it to run beautifully. That made it  more difficult for me to sell it. But I did. First though I thought about having it repainted, but decided I didn’t want to spend the money on it. Because it was a notorious bad runner I put a video of it running great on my eBay listing along with its wonderful whistle. I did sell it, and I was relieved that I had settled the paint issue for myself. It wasn’t that the silver paint didn’t look good as it did.   I knew that I would miss the whistle, but it’s a package deal.
Now the funny thing was that my friend who is not one bit a train person bought me the same engine for a second time. He had no clue. What I  did was take it back to the train store (Eastside Trains) and I exchanged it for a PW FM.

if the colors had been correct I would have kept it.
Alan

Great story Alan. A lot comes down to personal preference and authenticity, and I agree. I did the same thing, tearing out the innards and replacing them with a fantastic running set of electronics and a new motor.

The color still bothered me. That’s when I saw that Pat was repainting and lettering them with a highly researched color. I had to have mine done, the finishing of which happened to coincide with my vacation. So it was a 2-for-1 visit.

Stay tuned for the results…

https://ogrforum.com/...4#162616683217352534

Thanks!

- Mario

Magnificent......thank you for sharing that with us!

Peter

Great Video - Super layout - Thanks for sharing.  And I thought I had a lot of NYC engines!

@CentralFan1976 posted:

While on vacation I was able to steal my daughter away from the beach for a little while to go spend an evening with Pat (@harmonyards). What a fantastic looking and smooth running layout with a lot of scale train action.

Thank you, Pat!

Thanks for posting.

Has @harmonyards layout been in OGR (or the other, far inferior magazine)?  If so, when?  If not, why not?

Did anyone else notice the Mohawk hiding under the Commodore Vanderbilt she'll that is most likely the Rexall steam engine? Even if it is not colored like it, it has a definite appeal as it is

Good to see more of Pat's layout, even if it is a short video. I do know that there will be a ton more posts "From the Harmon Shops" coming in the future as the year gets closer to the end. So, as the saying goes, "stay tuned".

@CentralFan1976 posted:

Great story Alan. A lot comes down to personal preference and authenticity, and I agree. I did the same thing, tearing out the innards and replacing them with a fantastic running set of electronics and a new motor.

The color still bothered me. That’s when I saw that Pat was repainting and lettering them with a highly researched color. I had to have mine done, the finishing of which happened to coincide with my vacation. So it was a 2-for-1 visit.

Stay tuned for the results…

https://ogrforum.com/...4#162616683217352534

Thanks!

- Mario

Interesting. Post it picture when it’s done.
Alan

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

Did anyone else notice the Mohawk hiding under the Commodore Vanderbilt she'll that is most likely the Rexall steam engine? Even if it is not colored like it, it has a definite appeal as it is.

I don’t know what you’re talking about… 😈

I'm not worthy. I call myself a Central fan. I give up. I'm switching to Great Northern.

Sneaky, that Commodore Rexall.

Great thread, We to visited Pat, the CEO of Harmonyards, the Harmon Shops in the beautiful state of North Carolina, not far from the long Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Your video captures it all, a super layout with smooth running track work for those beautiful NYC Steamers, most all equipped with high torque Pittman motors, Amazing. I’ll add a few pictures. Happy Railroading Everyone

What I didn’t know, that I wish I knew before, is that @GGG is right around the corner!

Next year!

@CentralFan1976 posted:

I don’t know what you’re talking about… 😈

What, you're saying there won't be anymore posts "From the Harmon Shops"? Say it ain't so Mario, say it ain't so.

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

What, you're saying there won't be anymore posts "From the Harmon Shops"? Say it ain't so Mario, say it ain't so.

Sorry. I edited my previous comment to remove any ambiguity as to the topic of my response.

In as to the previous topic of said Rexall style locomotive. I am able to neither confirm or deny the existence of a possible Rexall locomotive being researched and/or in an experimental phase, which may or may not be an additional topic of conversation now or in the future.

- Mario

Okay, where is the laughter button? Plenty of work in the works, that much is certain.

Great post. Thanks for sharing. Harmony Yards saved my bacon a couple years back, answering a widely casted plea for help with a part. Great guy to work with.
Really great layout!

I saw a PRR GG1 on the wall, so it’s not all bad!

All joking aside, a really nice layout by a really talented guy! Thanks for sharing the photos @CentralFan1976 and thanks to @harmonyards for sharing his skills with the rest of us.

The Layout and the layout room is absolutely outstanding !

Thanks, Alex