Bill Pirtle has been a member of Metrowest since its inception. He has built a beautiful 2 rail O scale layout in the basement of his house. He calls it "the Big Four with a Mountain Division", as his layout is loosely based on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St Louis Railway. That railway was known as "the big four" and was part of the New York Central system. The equipment has a definite New York Central focus, but equipment from the Pennsylvania and other railroads make frequent appearances. He also has a section of the layout devoted to interurban railroading, primarily the Indiana RR.
The approximate dimensions are 30x50 feet, and it is a "double-folded dogbone" style layout. Bill's layout was featured in a recent issue of "O Gauge Railroading" magazine. The layout was one of the home layouts featured at the 1998 O Scale National Convention in Marlboro, MA. Bill has received guests from as far away as California, England, Belgium, and South Africa.
Now for the images.... (click on the thumbnails to see a larger version!)
A Pennsylvania RR 4-8-2 pulling a long frieght up the hill.
Mike Boucher's Sunset C&O 2-6-6-6 "Allegheny" drifting down the hill. The engine is able to pull 50 cars up a 1% grade without slipping.
The Santa Fe train exiting a tunnel.
Bob Foster's Burlington 4-8-4 sitting in the yard.
The trolley shed.
All photos copyright 1999 by Mike Boucher. If you must use them on your page, ask permission first!!!
This page is always under construction!
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