Removable Scenery on the New York, New Haven & Hartford

You also have removable sections, scenery sections. Right. What was the necessity for that? We have a piece of the main line that runs right up through the middle of the layout. And on that piece of mainline, there happens to be a switch and it needs to be cleaned on a regular basis. We built it this way because it was very literally the only way we could clean track in that area. The piece of removable scenery is actually tapered. The top of the plug of scenery looks like any piece of mountain side. But if you look at the bottom of it, you'll notice that it's made of very lightweight foam core construction with sturdy ribs which can be held to push it up and out of the hole. Its tapered design means that it will always hit flat into the hole and not be seen. Further, the scenery on top has been extended out over the scenery that it fits into so that the gap is almost invisible. These blocks of wood here, when you're replacing it, allow you to grab, so you can actually pull it down into place, just in case it ever sticks. Further, its unique shape guarantees that it will always align perfectly with the hole it's going to be fitting into. Does the railroad have a special purpose other than just a place to run trains? I mentioned earlier that it's a place where I can do my own creativity and so forth. It's also a place that I can come down and escape from the problems of day-to-day life. That probably was more true when I was working at a number of fairly high pressure jobs in the computer industry. And I'd come home dog-tired on a Friday night and I'd still come down here to the basement, and I'd build a car kit or I'd work on a piece of the layout. And it was a great escape. And you could just feel the pressure flowing right out of me. So that by Monday morning, I may have worked the weekend, but I worked on something very different that was mine I could create on. That fun of creating has kept John motivated and enthused about the hobby. After all these years, the New Haven remains a primary means of self-expression. The trick of catenary towers with no wires gives the effect of a complete overhead system without the trouble and operating hazard of actually stringing the line. The New Haven is a great model railroad because it is a way for John to express his creativity and to show off his collection of scratch-built locomotives and weathered rolling stock.