It is LARGE . . . .
Sometimes, too much is just toooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much.
Me, I’m a Winnegance & Quebec kinda guy, or a Shawn or Ken type-layout fan…I’m sure you all know what I mean.
This gaudy display fails to impress me, except by the HUGE outlay involved.
tac
But if you had to work for a living… Second to driving a real steam loco, being the care taker of her trains and layout wouldn’t be such a bad job. Now the gardener(s) job would suck! 40 acres to mow and prune…
I’m pretty sure that layout’s been on the tour during Chicago’s GR conventions. And I’m pretty sure I’ve been to it. Sure looks familiar. As a display for a commercial venture, it is impressive, but as a source for attracting people to the hobby, not so much. It’s a bit overwhelming…I’ve been more impressed by layouts 1/8 that size that were built with a lot more imagination…
Yes . . . . it is just that . . . . LARGE . . . nothing else . . . just LARGE.
Do I detect just a little JEALOUSY here?
Its looks VERY similar to the famed Fairplex layout and I’ve never heard that layout described as “too large” or “too gaudy” and yes it looks VERY similar to the Fairplex layout in theme and style.
I think it looks great, and like the Fairplex it can be a great way to promote the hobby, my only caviet it that it should be open to the public more often. Yeah its overwhelming, ever seen the Fairplex? One look and you too will probably think ‘good god there’s no way that will fit in my backyard’, but it has still inspired alot of folks to try LS, same here,
I am really surprised that such a well executed GARDEN railroad, yes not SCALE railroad, not PROTOTYPICAL railroad, but a real life GARDEN railroad (remember when GR actually used to publish those?) is getting poohed on here, geez guys lighten up, its only a hobby.
I have always said THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO BUILD A MODEL RAILROAD, if the owner is very happy with the end results then who the hell are we to cast aspersions onto how it was done???
She’s stepping on her own track, what kind of model train person can this be ? 
But I still like it. looks nice
Nick, she’s just showing that its “Elephant Proof”… and no, I didn’t mean it THAT way. 
(http://www.hobbymasters.com/productimages/clearance/clearanceg.jpg)
I am happy with i got it nice to see other layouts
Vic Smith said:
Do I detect just a little JEALOUSY here?
Maybe Vic, I’ve seen larger layouts on these very pages go by without negative comments. Always someone willing to tell you it’s too big or too small, the wrong scale or the wrong road. I love what this woman is doing, I am impressed. My one complaint is I have not had a chance to see it.
Edit: She raised $60,000.00 dollars for charity by showing the public G-scale trains!!! I’ll have to remember this thread the next time the “How can we attract newbies to our dying hobby” thread appears. Wow, 60K!!!
Nice business venture. I don’t see it as too big or too much, but as part of her business. It’s a legacy to her late husband to run the trains. And since she builds layouts commercially it is certainly a great way to show off to prospective clients. No i don’t want a layout that size, but if I did, like others it would be for a profit not for a hobby.
I like it. Wish I was in Chicago area about that time. It’s too bad its only once a year. But if you had 6,000 people tramping through your backyard I think I would only open it once a year too.
As far as the size being too big. Come on, if you had the time, money and space…don’t tell me you wouldn’t try to fill every nook and cranny with a railroad. It is what we do. Its just our significant others (land barons!!!) wont let us, lol.
I wonder what kind of Operations sessions are done…
Vic Smith said:
Do I detect just a little JEALOUSY here?
Not in the least jealous, me. Just as we are all entitled to have the railroad we want, and to run the trains we like, so are we allowed to have an individual opinion.
To me, a layout of such stupendous dimensions, crowded complexity and overpowering amounts of rolling stock is simply total overkill.
Feel free to flame me for my opinion and see how much my don’t-give-****-o’meter twitches off the zero stop.
Eric Schade has the layout of THIS boy’s dreams.
tac
I’ve been there. She has 2 large ponds, 2 houses with yards, sheds and garages and a train building all in this lovely garden and she’s a delightful lady. The train layout isn’t that big, Marty’s layout is larger.
Inside the train building is a big small-scale layout.
Both layouts are of the “put as much track as you can in the space” variety.
She wasn’t taking applications for “orphan nephew.”
What you can do with 40 plus years and buckets of money…
That says it all…Now I wonder if I hadn’t kept starting over…
Andy Clarke said:
I wonder what kind of Operations sessions are done…
Yeah, me too! Really!!
BTW this kind of layout will sell a lot of starter kits. You never know what happens next.
PS Mark V … it isn’t really the size, it’s the Gartenzwerg impression one gets. Of course as always strictly my opinion.
Andy Clarke said:
I wonder what kind of Operations sessions are done…
Probably not much, as you and I think of it. I see lots of roundy rounds and turn backs, but no sidings.
Still, WOW!
Good on ye, girl! I’d like to see it, some day.
tac Foley said:
Vic Smith said:
Do I detect just a little JEALOUSY here?
Not in the least jealous, me. Just as we are all entitled to have the railroad we want, and to run the trains we like, so are we allowed to have an individual opinion.
To me, a layout of such stupendous dimensions, crowded complexity and overpowering amounts of rolling stock is simply total overkill.
Feel free to flame me for my opinion and see how much my don’t-give-****-o’meter twitches off the zero stop.
Eric Schade has the layout of THIS boy’s dreams.
tac
(http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view/157403/flamethrower-o.gif)
Nope not tossing any flames at anyone, just an observation
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
…SNIP…
PS Mark V … it isn’t really the size, it’s the Gartenzwerg impression one gets. Of course as always strictly my opinion.
Well Hans, my layout may be in a similar state as my daughter gave me a Garden Gnome on Fathers Day for the layout…I can never disappoint my daughter!