The Texas Santa Fe & Northern Railroad - Reborn Picture Gallery
After Dave Angell's premature passing in 2015, his widow, Angela, generously donated Dave's three On30 modules to the On30 Track & Trestle Modular Group (OTT), of the Slim Gauge Circle, of which Dave had been a long-time member. In the meantime, his 17ft by 10ft layout, the Texas, Santa Fe & Northern Railroad, (see separate Gallery album), languished in his garage, untouched for three years. Angela asked the Association to advertise the layout in Narrow News, but after a year of only marginal interest, given it's unusual dimensions, it was clear that the layout would be unlikely to find a new home. Plans were made to eBay it and accept that it would most likely to be broken up for its buildings. Two of Dave's friends and members of the OTT, Jon Evans and Richard Coney, hatched a plan to purchase one half of the layout each. This was relatively easily accomplished as it had been built for occasional exhibition outings and could be disassembled into five boards of varying sizes. To cut a long story short, the family agreed to the proposal, as Dave's handiwork would live on, albeit in two sections. As result, Richard Coney took the two straight boards and Jon the three containing a two level helix, with impressive trestle bridge and mine buildings above. Richard incorporated his boards into his existing modular layout, one end by a slight readjustment of two of Dave's sidings and the other end by joining the layout to Dave's two modules via a short, transition board. A lot of work was undertaken to get the trackwork and the electrics right and in the meantime, Richard used the layout, and the now attached modules as a photographic backdrop to showcase locos and rolling stock on one of Facebook's most popular On30 forums. This was very successful. What follows is a selection of these photos offered for your entertainment and, hopefully, inspiration. Things change, often without prior planning, and just after Covid the garage in which the layout was erected was becoming so congested it was difficult to work on anything. When follow member Ken Dickson mentioned in passing that he wished he had known of the layout when it was first advertised for sale, a new plan was developed. In short, the Texas Santa Fe & Northern Railroad was re-located to Co. Durham with Ken, who also negotiated with Jon Evans to acquire the other half of the layout. It is now awaiting reconstruction, most likely with another transition board, to enable Ken to fit the complete layout into his shed at home. So, the story continues.Click on any thumbnail to view larger image. Roll over left or right of image and click to go to previous or next image respectively - or simply let the slideshow play!
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