Six Decades of Modeling: The 1980s
The 1980s were lean years for me model railroading-wise. I was graduating: from college, from life at home, and from the White River & Northern, which I'd finished. The layout had done its job: it provided me with a tremendous amount of education. But it would have been awkward to keep it, as I'd begun moving from one apartment to the next with my girlfriend.
1983
My soon-to-be-wife and I purchased a little bungalow in Ewing, New Jersey, that needed considerable work. Four years into the project, I felt it was far enough along that I could ease up on the gas and devote some of my time to a basement empire, and I started planning the White River & Northern II. Of all the layouts I've ever conceived, this was as close to a "dream layout" as any had come.
Five railroads (including steam, diesel, electric, and narrow gauge) plus four different eras, from the 1930s to the 1980s, set in four seasons, all packed into one 18 by 24 foot space! Insane, ballsy, delirious. I look at the plan today and cringe: engine facilities and yard tracks on opposite sides of the mainline... but back then, it didn't matter; it was all about the spectacle.
While the benchwork was conventional L-girder, the tracklaying was anything but conventional. Indeed, it inspired another article for Model Railroader: "Double-sided foam tape makes tracklaying quick and easy," which wasn't published until March 1992.
Still in its infancy, the WR&N was part of an open-house tour for the Mideast Division of the NMRA, during which dozens of members paid my silly layout a visit. Although no trains were running yet, visitors seemed content to study the benchwork.
1985
Meanwhile, Kalmbach had selected Rick's Sceniced and Undecided for their Layout Video Tour #4. It was impressive seeing all of the big, bulky video gear getting set up in his basement. Strangely, however, the Kalmbach crew wasn't as organized as I'd expected they might be, and they struggled to create an introductory scene with Rick, so I jumped in and wrote a short script for them. I guess they liked it, since they used it (I was standing just off the frame to the right):
Because of my intimate involvement with the S&U by that point, Rick insisted they interview me as well, although they elected not to include my interview in the video (as we'd expected, and I'd hoped).
1989
Alas, by the end of the decade, the WR&N II was doomed. Divorce can be very disruptive to model railroads. And since my next stop was a condo, there was no keeping the layout.