Final Thoughts on the Western Hoosic Division

Lou, what do you like most about your layout? The satisfaction it gives me and the pleasure it gives me an operating it. It's enjoyable to work on, but by running the layout, I think that's what it's all about. It allows you to enjoy it more than, let's say, the artist who paints a picture or builds a model, if it's an airplane or something that sits on a shelf. A railroad is animated. It becomes something that you can actually step into and enjoy. You can run the thing and become a part of it. Lou, if you were starting over would you still model New England in the 1950s? Yes, I would, I would, Allen. Why is that? Well, I like that period in time. I think it's, I'd like, again it's the steam diesel transition period, and I just like, life in general was at a slower pace in those days. And you like the New England area? Yeah, the New England area too, yeah. Again, it's a place I'm familiar with. I haven't done a whole heck of a lot of traveling and I'd like to be able to model something that I'm familiar with. And if I am in a bind about something and I don't understand a certain area or a certain type of a structure, I can get in my car and drive to someplace where I can see it in real life. So I can deal with it easier that way. If you had to tear the layout down, is there anything you would save and reuse? I've had the misfortune of having to tear other people's layouts down, and from those experiences, other than buildings and scenery materials, and to probably mention the plaster gauze and-- L girder? Not the L girder, but the ground goop technique, the water-soluble technique that we use for scenery construction, that would make it relatively easy to remove structures and scenic materials from the layout. But to save the layout as it were, as a whole, I think would just, in most cases or in my case, I think would become an exercise in frustration. So I think I would just break out the Sawzall and buy a couple dozen handkerchiefs to catch the tears and just go at it. And start over. Yeah. How do you approach model railroading? Do you approach it as an art or a craft or a combination, or what do you see in it? Well, I think it's really both. I think it's really an enjoyable hobby and the fact that it is really an art and a craft is what makes it so enjoyable. There's the buildings, the structures, the construction of those, you have a craftsman approach to that, and then developing scenes for the buildings and making them fit a specific area or scene brings in the artistic aspect. So I think that's what makes it enjoyable, is that it is both a craft and an art. Well, is it a as a source major fun or major frustration or both? Both, both actually. Well, tell me. Depending on the day . What it is you have to do. Yeah, depending on what it is you have to do and whether it goes well that particular day, and whether Murphy has showed up that day. Yeah, Murphy's law. Are there some things that you like better than others to do, and some things you're like, "Yeah, I really hate doing whatever?" Yeah, the older I get, the more I hate wiring. Okay. If I was going to do wiring today I think I would build a layout high enough so that I could stand under it and wire. Then I would enjoy wiring. Again, I guess if you took a look at the layout, you could tell that that I think the thing I enjoy the most is the scenery aspect of it, it's building scenery and structures. The more you get involved in studying the prototype railroad versus the model, the more you realize that, especially in the '40s and the '50s, a railroad was a lifeline to the outside world, especially for the smaller towns in New England. And as you model, and as you try to develop the layout around the railroad, you start to become more familiar with how life went on in that period in time. The fact that there weren't behemoths like Walmart and Kmart that were, most of the stores, most of the commercial stores were mom and pop operations. There weren't McDonald's and Burger Kings. There were small corner diners. It was just a different way to live then. You have to have some kind of understanding of life as it went on in that period in time to model it appropriately and correctly. You call model railroading a continual learning experience. What is it exactly, what do you exactly mean by that? Well, in a number of ways, I suppose, as the layout develops and it becomes closer to finished, to its finished state, you start to add details and when you start adding details, like just for an example, the pole lines that Dick Artwell has helped me with. The telephone poles, yeah. The telephone poles. If you're lucky enough to know someone who's knowledgeable in that type of work, you start to learn what the poles are there for, what the power lines did, how they were constructed and how they differed then from what they do today. Okay. Again, I got involved in Pfaudler cars, Pfaudler milk cars, which played a big part in New England railroading and Northeastern railroading in the '50s. That's a brand name of a car maker. That's a car maker that handled the milk cars for the-- Rutland, and Boston and Maine. Right, Boston and Maine. And in the Northeast, in those days was a primary milk producer for the country. Sure, a lot of creameries everywhere. So getting involved in, the understanding of those cars and what went on with the railroads, why they use those cars-- And how they picked up the milk at little milk stops where farmers would put their cans. Right. There's a lot you have to learn about life-- Yes, there is. To model it. Right. I started out being a loner, not really by choice. That's just the way that I modeled. When I was young, I worked on my layout in the basement and I really didn't have any other people that were interested in the hobby, but I've been very fortunate over the years that especially with my involvement with Comeback and Model Railroader that I've gotten out and I've met other people, other very talented and interesting people in the hobby who have been willing to share those interests with me. Mm-hmm. And I've brought a lot back to what I have here in my layout, from my experiences with those individuals. I've been involved with a number of groups here locally, round Robin groups and whatever. And it's allowed me to meet a lot of very interesting people over the years that I wouldn't have otherwise. Making friends seems to be one of the many side benefits of model railroading. Most everybody in the hobby enjoys meeting others with similar interests. The West Hoosick division has been continually upgraded over the years. A new name, improved scenery, better buildings, detailed rolling stock, and precision steam locomotives that look as good as they run. Lou enjoys visiting other layouts while working on magazine articles. He gets to learn what others are doing. This research and a good group of friends, plus Lou's artistic talent have made the West Hoosic a great model railroad.