Wordless Wednesday #367 - "OP'toberfest, 2021

Kip Grant

Dick Elwell 

"Jewel" Layouts - Kip Grant's D&H Sonnyvale Branch

I suppose this post could have been titled "OP"toberfest Day 3 since we were able to visit one last layout on the Sunday before heading back home - Kip Grant's D&H Sonnyvale Branch.

The Sonnyvale Branch is based on the real Lake George Branch of the D&H, with just enough variation and variety to provide a bit more operation than the prototype. It wends its way from the D&H mainline at "Junction" and works its way through bucolic farmland at Sheldon's Curve and the town of Jasperdale before terminating at Sonnyvale. Just outside of Sonnyvale, a short branch takes off from Fenimore Jct. to serve the industrial area of Fenimore.

More esoterically, Kip's layout is part of a small group of layouts in my mind that I'm beginning to call "Jewel" layouts - small to medium sized layouts that do one thing very well and are, for the most part, finished. Not overwhelming at all in scope, they convey the essence of local, retail railroading through small-to-medium sized towns and typically include - or are themselves - a branch line of a larger railroad. Other than Kip's D&H Sonnyvale Branch, I'd include in this esteemed group (in reverse chronological order of when I visited them), Ken Karlewicz's Cherry Valley Branch, and Jim Dufour's Cheshire Branch of the B&M.

Sound familiar? Yeah, a "jewel layout" is kinda what I hope my Valley Line will be someday.

I first saw Kip's layout in person during last year's "OP"toberfest, and made plans even then to visit again as soon as possible. Alas, my next visit didn't come until a year later, but - as I expected - even though I don't think he's changed or added much since last time, I saw a lot I didn't remember seeing before. It's so full of "modelable" details and interesting scenes, that you can't possibly take it all in during one visit. As testament to this fact, I probably took 3 times as many photos this time as last time!

But enough of me trying to describe it - I'll let the pictures do the talking, 1000 words at a time...

How many folks have you heard of that model discarded switchlists?

Little details like this abandoned car in the woods really provide a lot of flavor and texture of the time and place.

Kip has a number of unique vehicles on his layout, but this one impressed me most with its detail and, um, weathering.

I purposely avoided saying too much about any of the photos since I think they really do speak for themselves. If you want to see more of an overview of the layout - with "overview type" (rather than closeup) photos of Kip's layout - including descriptions - be sure to click here and scroll down towards the bottom.

Hopefully, these photos give you at least a little taste of what I mean by a "jewel" layout and - even more - that they inspire and motivate you to work on your own efforts. That's certainly what *I* plan to do!

"OP"toberfest Day 2, Session 2 - Ken Nelson

After a thoroughly enjoyable morning of operating large scale trains, I have to admit it took a bit of time to get reacquainted with operating in HO scale, but Ken Nelson's layout provided the perfect contrast. Being in operation for over 30 years, the freelanced Poco Valley Lines is more of a traditional model railroad rather than some of the more prototype-based layouts which have become popular in recent years. But that made it no less fun to operate, with a large number of trains running through some really cool scenery.

Hopefully the pics will give you a some sense of what it was like . . .

One of the first things that becomes apparent as you enter Ken's basement is the long history of the layout, including lots of RR memorabilia as well as historic artifacts of the layout itself - all nicely displayed.

A couple of over-all shots of the layout to give you a sense of the space. This is the main city on the layout, which includes the main classification yard and an engine terminal at the end of the peninsula.

Panning right a bit, you see the end of the main branchline, which connects with a former interurban line (the Hillsode Street Rwy) which has been converted to diesel power and serves another outlying town.

The "outlying town" of Coopersburg is at the end of a branch in its own separate room. Next time, I want to operate this job!

Former interurban tracks in the foreground, down Hillside's main street.

Closer view of the engine terminal with Pete operating a train in the background.

One of the towns along the way, with an effective use of background illustrations to extend the road.

Many of the model railroads built during the '80s included not only a large yard and engine terminal, but a huge wood trestle. Here's Ken's impressive effort, located on the branch which - in addition to providing cars for the former interurban line - also serves a mine.

Passenger station in the main city - very impressive, and not too compressed adding to the sheer scope and size.

Some of the buildings had full, lighted interiors - including the main roundhouse.

Despite the poor quality of the photo, I couldn't end this post without showing you the Caverns. One of the sites Ken models is a limestone quarry & cement plant in upstate NY which also had caverns beneath it. And, as you can see, he's modeled them as well! Unfortunately, the interior lighting wasn't working, so you have to deal with my flash. But hopefully it gives you a sense of what he's accomplished here.

Having operated on three different layouts in two different states in less that 24 hours, "OP"toberfest was about as close to an "op til you drop" event you can get. While I wasn't quite ready for it to end, I was thankful when I realized we had a couple of hours between Ken's session ending and the annual dinner. I took a quick nap (the "drop" part....) so was recharged enough for the fun of seeing old friends and making a few new ones over a great spread.

Special shout out to Dean S who was kind enough to seek me out to let me know he follows the blog and special thanks to Doug and his crew for organizing another wonderful operating weekend!