Large Scale Central

Visiting Kevin Strong's Tuscarora Railroad

General Discussion
#1

While a few of you were enjoying TrainOps at Bob’s place in Massachusetts Marilyn and I were winging our way West to the Denver, Colorado area to visit with my youngest son and his family. When Kevin Strong learned of our visit he graciously invited us to visit his railroad. Only a half hour from my son’s house, we dropped by last Monday. Here are a few pictures from our too short visit. All photos may be enlarged by using your browser’s view image function…

TRR #5 passes the tank and station at Blacklog…

And later crosses a nice deck girder bridge just after the Shade Gap station…

Besides seeing Kevin again, I got to meet John Passaro who was visiting the same day. Kevin on the left, John on the right…

I dragged along my youngest son Matt, his wife Alyse and their daughter Ellie. Ellie seemed to be more interested in the dogs than the trains…

John was picking up his 2-truck Shay after Kevin had done some repairs. He had left the cabbage stack at home, so it looks a little naked …

At Neeylyton you can see John’s efforts weathering the station roof…

And finally, TRR #5 in front of the Rockhill Coal dock…

I would have loved to stay longer and maybe done some switching ops, but with an 18 month old in tow you need to keep moving. I doubt this will be my last trip to the Denver area, so there is always next time!

#2

Nice pictures John. Glad to see you got some train time in. Guess you didn’t get to bring one of your engines out west?

#3

(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

#4

Nice John. Kevin has a great railroad. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

#5

Shawn Viggiano said:

Nice pictures John. Glad to see you got some train time in. Guess you didn’t get to bring one of your engines out west?

I considered taking a small engine, but didn’t want to put it in checked baggage. We flew out of White Plains on a small regional jet - no room for carry-on bags. They check everything at the gate. Glad I didn’t once I found that out.

#6

Nice photos John. And a beautiful railroad!

#7

Very cool! It’s always fun getting to visit with a fellow railroader.

#8

It was great to see you. We’ll definitely have to fit in an ops session next time you’re out for a visit, provided Ellie allows us the time. :wink: Thanks for posting the photos. How’d the videos turn out?

Later,

K

#9

The videos are OK, but I didn’t take enough time to set up the shots so they are not “cropped” as nicely as the stills. They will need a bit of editing before they are ready for public viewing (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#10

Glad to here you guys had a great visit Yes, you were missed at TrainOps2015.

#11

Those are some neat views of Kevin’s layout that I haven’t seen before. I like the girder bridge. Thanks for sharing. Glad to hear videos are forthcoming!

#12

I always like checking out Kevin’s layout. Glad you had a good time.

T

#13

Randy Lehrian Jr. said:

Those are some neat views of Kevin’s layout that I haven’t seen before. I like the girder bridge. Thanks for sharing. Glad to hear videos are forthcoming!

I don’t think I’ll be posting the videos. I’ve closed both my Vimeo and Youtube accounts and I haven’t figured out how to stream them here without such a service. I have plenty of web space to post them if someone knows how to get them to stream in a post.

#14

It’s always nice to see the layout from the non-owners perspective! I didn’t realize just how close the layout was to the house.

#15

Craig Townsend said:

It’s always nice to see the layout from the non-owners perspective! I didn’t realize just how close the layout was to the house.

Kevin is a master when it comes to photographing his railroad in scenes that make it look very real. His photos don’t usually include anything that’s not part of the railroad scene. Mine are just snapshots compared to his, but I was able to crop out some 1:1 elements in a few pictures. By comparison to others I’ve visited it’s not large, but has many unique areas and some fantastic buildings.

#16

My back yard is typical of “mass suburbia” in Colorado, and probably many other places. The entire lot is less than 1/4 acre, with the back yard being all of 35 x 60 or so. I needed to keep the middle of the yard open for the kids and dogs, so it’s pretty much a perimeter-style railroad with two reverse loops. On one hand, I’d love to have more room for a larger railroad, but on the other, I’ve had more room for a larger railroad and the thing was just too big for the time I had to devote to it, so it was never properly developed or landscaped. My daughter informed me this afternoon that we are not allowed to move, so I guess I’m stuck with what I have… :wink:

Later,

K

#17

“My daughter informed me this afternoon that we are not allowed to move, so I guess I’m stuck with what I have… ;)”

Yep, understand that. 20 years from now, your life will be a little bit yours again.

#18

Matt’s place in Highlands Ranch has an even smaller yard. It does seem to be the norm in these parts. I’m used to new houses being on 1 acre minimum with 40% maximum coverage. Seeing the Denver suburbs was a bit of culture shock! Beautiful houses in beautiful areas, but jammed one on top of another. with fences between. In my neighborhood fences are not even allowed!

#19

Kevin Strong said:

… I’ve had more room for a larger railroad and the thing was just too big for the time I had to devote to it, so it was never properly developed or landscaped…

Later,

K

And that there is why I started small and haven’t expanded any, yet. I want to own the railroad, I don’t what the railroad owning me.

#20

Daktah John said:

Matt’s place in Highlands Ranch has an even smaller yard. It does seem to be the norm in these parts. I’m used to new houses being on 1 acre minimum with 40% maximum coverage. Seeing the Denver suburbs was a bit of culture shock! Beautiful houses in beautiful areas, but jammed one on top of another. with fences between. In my neighborhood fences are not even allowed!

In the county I live, we have some areas zoned for a 5 acre minimum.

In one of the neighboring counties, you’ll find these developments with “postage stamp” size lots out in the middle of nowhere.

I can understand not wanting a large lot to maintain. But if I was going to live like that, I’d at least want to be close and convenient to shopping and restaurants.

Some of the “mountain” developments are even worse. Drive 30 minutes to the nearest paved road, and drive another 15-30 minutes to civilization.

Yet most of the lots have no view, and no privacy either.

Ralph