ABOUT THE JOURNEY
I have had a few layouts over the years, ranging from simple ovals in grade school, to much more elaborate set ups. The Willoughby Line is my third large layout. I enjoy most aspects of the hobby including prototype research, building layouts, model making, operating sessions, layout tours and model railroad photography.
The last layout before the “Willoughby Line” was the "Gaylor Mountain Lines" a large Marklin layout loosely based on west coast lines using a combination of Marklin three rail and US two rail equipment. At that time, the GML was by far the most ambitious and successful layout I had ever built.
This railroad was nearly complete when I met some local modelers through the NMRA. This group is a very talented and experienced bunch of modelers who changed my outlook on the hobby. After much thinking, I decided I wanted an OPs based layout following California prototypes.
Rather than re-build, I tore down the Gaylor Mountain Lines in 2004 to start on the Willoughby Line. At the same time, I switched over from Marklin three rail equipment to two rail, DCC control. Here are some photos of the Gaylor Mountain Lines.
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QUICK LINKS
LAYOUT TOUR
A quick look around
PROTOTYPE
A look at some of the prototypes modeled
YARD DESIGN PDF
The Willoughby Yard design process
SWING GATE BUILD
A solution to crossing the door
TURNTABLE BUILD
Construction of the Willoughby Turntable
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GAYLOR MOUNTAIN LINES
0-6-0
- WHERE IT ALL STARTED
My very first loco sits in Willoughby Yard on the GML. The roundhouse and this loco date back to childhood layouts from the 1960's. At the time of this photo, the 40 year old loco still ran.
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GAYLOR MOUNTAIN LINES
THE CANYON
This shot shows the five foot deep canyon inspired by John Allen. Hand carved from hydrocal, it took a couple of years of carving (off and on) to complete |
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GAYLOR MOUNTAIN LINES
CROCODILE IN THE WEEDS
One of my favorite Marklin locos, the Swiss crocodile, sits in the weeds. Notice the scratch built trolley style overhead wire
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GAYLOR MOUNTAIN LINES
ATSF REFEERS
This shot shows the paradox of the old layout as US refrigerated cars roll by being pulled by a German locomotive (out of shot) |
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LAYOUT TOURS
One part of the hobby that I find very enjoyable is participating in layout tours. It is very inspiring to go visit other layouts, I often pick up some new ideas or inspiration from seeing other modeler's work. As I host, I enjoy sharing my layout with visitors. I first took part in layout tours when the Gaylor Mountain Lines was a part of the San Jose NMRA National convention layout tours in 2000. Since then I have been on countless tours
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"ON THE ROAD AGAIN"
This shot shows visitors arriving at the Willoughby LIne during one of the Sacramento 2011 NMRA National convention layout tours. The neighborhood kids and myself got a thrill out of seeing the big tour bus on our street.
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CONTACT ME
THE LAYOUT -- GALLERY -- LINKS -- ABOUT
© 2012 by Guy Cantwell
All rights reserved
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