George Sellios’s Franklin & South Manchester Railroad
George SelliosDescription
For many years, George Sellios has been famous in the world of model railroading for his intricately detailed, high-quality structures. Followers of his products began to wonder when they’d ever get to see behind the scenes of one of his layouts. Friends, the day has finally arrived. Host Allen Keller visited George’s workshop at Fine Scale Miniatures to take a backstage tour of the master’s layout of Franklin & South Manchester Railroad. Join us as we take a look!
George was still in the process of constructing his spectacular three-year-old layout, but Allen was blown away by what he saw. George’s first attempt at an HO scale layout was off to a rip-roaring start in Manchester, the starting point on the railroad already filled with more than 150 of those superbly decorated structures we’ve come to expect from the expert. Come along as we explore the F&SM and get a peek at some of George’s deft handiwork!
The Franklin & South Manchester is one of those layouts model railroaders have long waited to see. It's the creation of professional model builder George Sellios. George is the owner of Fine Scale Miniatures, a kit manufacturer with a reputation for high quality, super detailed structures. For years, I've heard modelers say, "His kits are great, if only he'd build a layout." Well, he has, and it's his first, but what a first time effort. All the craftsmanship found in the kits is here in this layout. And one of the most amazing things about the layout, it's only three years old. Welcome, I'm Allen Keller. This is George Sellios, the creator of this masterpiece. Hi. George, how did you build so much in such a short time? Well, Allen, I had a tremendous desire to create a miniature world. Well, I'm ready for a closeup tour of the Franklin & South Manchester. The HO scale Franklin & South Manchester is located in the shop of Fine Scale Miniatures. When finished, it will occupy an area 23 feet by 42 feet. The bench work and track are ready for the anticipated expansion. When completed, Dovertown will be a large industrial city with rundown factories and canals. Fellsberg on the peninsula will host a big yard. The main line will double back toward Dovertown over a long series of bridges, then disappear into the floor-to-ceiling mountains before reaching Franklin, where the main passenger terminal will be built. The finished portion, the city of Manchester, is 22 feet by seven feet. Since Manchester is the principal city, it was started first, and since George loves structures, it was a natural. Manchester has 150 structures. They are the scenery.
I remember the original VHS version of this wonderful tour. I'm new to this website. Do you have full length versions of your early videos available? They were magnificent.