From the Dome Car: Train 13 Track 3 (July-August, 2004)



 










Model railroading and Tibetan sand mandalas—not a usual combination! But I wrote about those two things this month in the Dome Car following the death of my friend Dave, and the dismantling of his layout. People don’t live forever, and neither do layouts. That includes my CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub., which I write about in this Dome Car. It came down in 2019. On another note, I announce Golden Rails 2005—the fiftieth anniversary convention of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club. It was my privilege to be the lead organizer, and to plan it with support from CARM, the CP and CN SIGs, the CRHA and Winnipeg's Midwestern Rail. Did you attend the convention? 

About a month before my friend Dave died, we took down his layout. A month or so earlier, when he still had the strength, Dave had removed all the track. But cancer and chemotherapy made it impossible for him to do the benchwork. So I went over with my brother-in-law, Ken, and we took it apart. 

Before he died at age 71, Dave told me that he had very few regrets in life. But one of them was not being able to finish his layout. He said he cried as he took up the track. He didn't watch us take down the benchwork; I think it would have been too hard on him. 

Later, reflecting on Dave's death, I thought about how ephemeral model railroading is. Although our layouts look so permanent, the fact of the matter is that they don't last forever—despite what non-model railroaders think when they see them. (The most common question I am asked by non-model railroaders after "How much did this cost?" is "What will you do if you move?") 

The more I think about it, the more I see that building a layout is like Tibetan sand painting. For those of you unfamiliar with this ancient art form, Tibetan monks painstakingly lay millions of tiny grains of sand into place on the floor in a process that can take days or weeks to complete. The result is a glorious piece of art, called a mandala. But when they are finally finished, the monks destroy it to symbolize the impermanence of life. 

Our layouts are like those sand paintings. We may take years, or even decades, to build them. And then, one day, they'll be destroyed—because of a move, because we have grown tired of them, or because of our deaths. 

The last few years have seen the dismantling of some signature layouts, such as Tony Koester's Allegheny Midland, Allen McClelland's Virginia and Ohio, David Barrow's Cat Mountain and Santa Fe, Whit Towers' Alturas & Lone Pine and Chuck Hitchcock's Argentine Division of the Santa Fe. (Older readers will also remember the loss, to fire, of John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid and the dismantling, after his death, of Frank Ellison's Delta Lines.) 

Except for Ellison, these layouts seemed like old friends to me, friends who I thought would always be there in the pages of model railroad magazines, inspiring me to reach new heights in modelling. And now they are gone. 

I have first-hand knowledge about how it feels to dismantle a layout, having taken down my first layout due to a move. It's amazing that something that took six years to create could be reduced to a pile of lumber on the floor in just a few days. 

It was not all sad; I was moving to a bigger house, with a bigger basement. But it was still hard to see pieces of the layout at the curb, waiting for the garbage truck. 

Today, as I create meticulous scenes on my present layout, I realize that one day it, like Dave's layout, will also have to come down. In the meantime, I will enjoy creating it, and I will think of Dave as I watch one of his custom painted maroon and grey CPR SD40-2s pull a train past an industry named in his memory on my CP Rail Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision. 

On a happier note, I would like to invite all CRM readers to consider coming to Winnipeg next year for Golden Rails, 2005. The May 20-22 convention, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club (WMRC), is being supported by the Canadian Association of Railway Modellers (CARM), the CP and CN SIGs, the Canadian Railway Historical Association and Winnipeg's Midwestern Rail. There will be clinics, layout tours and a tour of Winnipeg's railway heritage; look for more information in future issues of CRM and on the CARM web site!



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