Exploring George’s Franklin & South Manchester Railroad

It’s 1935 in the United States, and the nation’s largest cities and industries are very much still feeling the hurt of the Great Depression. Franklin & South Manchester Railroad hasn’t seen a piece of new equipment added to the grid in more than a decade. Paint is chipping, engines are grimey, people are hungry and stealing away on the rails for free. Times are certainly tough for all. But, while the scene was once dreary and seemingly hopeless, we know it would one day improve.

Bleak Boston and its surrounding areas have been perfectly captured in George Sellios’s HO scale layout of Franklin & South Manchester Railroad, still operational and functional in the pre-WWII days, but clearly at a very low point in its history. Take a tour with host Allen Keller as we follow Train No. 106 along the rails of F&SM from its starting point in downtown Manchester out toward Dovertown. We’re confident George’s remarkably detailed structures and grim scenery will capture your attention the same way it did ours!