# South Shore (MA) Model RR Club ~ Open House, Oct 23 & 24, 2010



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

For anyone in the Boston / New England area ...

The South Shore Model RR Club is having their fall open house Oct 23 & 24 (2010) at their club in Hingham, MA. Huge HO layout ... lots of action for the kids. Also, a real fire station / truck museum right across the road, too.

(Bring a stool for the little ones.) 

http://www.ssmrc.org/images/oct 2010.jpg

I'll be taking my kids ...

Cheers,

TJ


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

I was tempted but Manchester has a Greenberg Show at the Center on 700 elm st. Have a good time!


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks, T ...

Have fun on your end, too.

I also have my calendar marked for a Train Expo in Marlborough, MA on Dec 4 and 5.

Cheers,

TJ


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

My bro in law lives near there. I could be there. Broke from Wilmington but still there.:laugh:


----------



## MacDaddy55 (Aug 19, 2008)

*TJ.....Think CHRISTMAS!!*

Hey TJ,
Don't forget the Festive Holiday Season soon approaches and you NEED to fill LOTS of stockings....you know..Mac needs a HO Berkie, Reck needs something in an "S" scale, T-man needs people to stop stealing his artwork, Tankist needs a Siberian Express LTD and well.......you get the picture!!!:laugh::laugh: Hope the wife hasn't maxed out that credit card!!


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

MacDaddy55 said:


> Hope the wife hasn't maxed out that credit card!!


She owes me ...

I came home from work the other night, ate dinner, and was about to help put the kids to bed. I happened to walk through the living room. I bumped into something ... a big something ... a piano ... a player piano. Maybe I'm going nuts, but I didn't remember that being there in the morning. Or any morning ... ever!

WTF? I thought. Pianos don't just materialize out of thin air! As I sat there bewildered, I noticed that my wife had that "ohh, I'm so innocent" look on her face. Yeah ... right!

Turns out, her parents (who live in Illinois) are downsizing, and offered her the piano. She had it shipped out to RI ... for $750 bucks!!!

So, now I have this monster thing in my living room, and a huge hole in my wallet! Go figure.

The way I see it, though ... I now have a new stock of ammo ... for MORE TRAINS!

Cheers,

TJ


----------



## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Where in RI are you? I was born in Providence and a fair bit of my extended family live in the area (Cumberland/Pawtucket)


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Other side of the tiny state ... Newport / Portsmouth.


----------



## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Ahhh....about a 5 minute drive


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

... or 6, in traffic!


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Gents,

Pics from today's visit to the South Shore Model RR Club's open house (south of Boston). A huge HO DCC layout (much still under construction) with several walk-around loop sections. A few comments follow ...

TJ

Beautiful detailing throughout. Every piece of track is hand made. Real individual wood ties, each rail mounted with real spikes. Fabulous!
View attachment 4943


View attachment 4944


Notice the detail of the seagulls (and seagull poop!) on the roofs!
View attachment 4945


View attachment 4946


View attachment 4947


Nice row houses
View attachment 4948


This is one of my favorites ... these buildings are all SIMPLY PHOTOS OF REAL BUILDINGS glued on to plywood. The club has added real fire escapes and gutters and the like to make them "pop", but the photos alone are incredibly convincing.
View attachment 4949


View attachment 4950


They have a clever way of making their roadbeds with a glued "spline" structure that allows them to map complex curved paths. They then glue a wood (with beveled edges) "ballast" mound on top of that:
View attachment 4951


View attachment 4952


They joke that most club members are over 60, and too old to bend under crawlways. So ... the solution? Build a motorized lifting section ... heavy duty cabinet slide rails (mounted vertically) and a worm-gear lift system:
View attachment 4953


View attachment 4954


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

The scenery looks great. 
I guess they like to use wood. There's a lot of it.
If anything my Dad would comment that they don't know how to make a saw horse. That's the best picture TJ.

Maybe that's why it was under the table.

I am going to Manchester Today. Did you get another Torpedo????


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

T-Man,

That's too funny about the sawhorse ... I hadn't really noticed that! Shelf underneath crossarms, odd central vertical posts.

Overall, the club's craftsmanship on layout and details is excellent. I do like their "splined" and curved trackbed construction method. It yields very graceful curves.

No new Torpedos for me.  I did, however, pick up a nice little Lionel prewar tinplate gondola (#652) for $10 ... paint will need some work, but all of the metal trim parts are fully intact. I'll post a pic or two on the Anything New thread.

Good luck at Manchester!

Cheers,

TJ


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*Tour de Chooch*

The Boston Area and Southern NH team up for a weekend of house tours. New members take note,this is a great time to see these layouts, Thanksgiving weekend. Here is the trainweb link

The Wilmington show by Greenberg is the weekend of the 20& 21st.


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks T-Man,

I didn't know about the Wilmington show. (I had Marlbourough in Dec marked on my calendar, but not Wilm.)

Chooch open house sounds like a blast ... don't know if I can make it that weekend, but I have some friends in Andover, MA with a kid who loves train layouts ... I'll spread the word to them.

Cheers,

TJ


----------

