Road Trip to Tom Radice's W&A Layout

 I had the opportunity to visit Tom Radice's HO Scale W&A layout in Long Branch, NJ. Tom held a work session this weekend.  I drove up Saturday morning and returned Sunday morning.  Brian Kammerer showed up to paint backdrops while I was assigned to take pictures for eventual publication in a model railroad magazine.

Tom's layout depicts the Western and Atlantic from Atlanta to Chatanooga. Brian was working on the backdrop for the area behind Chatanooga including Lookout Mountain. 

I concentrated my efforts on photographing the finished scenes, of which Tom has quite a few. The scenery and detailing in the finished sections is outstanding. Combined with Brian's backdrops, Tom has an outstanding model railroad.

Here is a sample of Tom, Brian and LeBron's work.

A beautiful scene on Tom Radice's layout. Brian did the backdrop while LeBron worked on the bridge.

Paul coupling cars in Falmouth

Paul uses the magnetic coupling pins

After I arrived home, Paul Dolkos stopped by to pick up my static grass machine. Paul will learn how to use it on his layout and then will use his newly developed skills to help scenic my layout.

While Paul was here, he took a short train from Aquia Landing to Falmouth and back. He used the engine Whiton with sound, tried out the turntable and the link and pin couplers. All went well. With this short test session, Paul may have attained the honor of being the  first guest operator.

Paul also had the chance to inspect the new benchwork at Aquia Landing and offered some useful suggestions on the sky boards.