LK&R Layout at the 1997 Great Train Swap Meet in Vancouver

I originally posted these pictures on my old website on February 9, 2008. I have rescanned them.

I took these pictures of the Longview, Kelso & Rainier Model Railroad Club’s old HO-scale layout at the Great Train Swap Meet at the Marshall Recreation Center in Vancouver, Washington, on September 27, 1997. This swap meet was organized by the Southwest Washington Model Railroaders.

Here is a picture of the engine terminal. All of the Union Pacific diesels are mine, as are the Southern GP60 and the blue GATX GP38-2. The black Southern Pacific NW2 belonged to Al Belanger, as did the Overnight train (though I’m not sure about the locomotive pulling it).

Here is a view of the new town section of the layout, with a few of the buildings in place. The 0-6-0 in the industrial park belonged to Al Belanger, and I think the locomotive pulling the freight train on the branch line did as well. As I recall, my dad was busy and couldn’t make it to this show, and I rode with club member Chuck Taylor because I wasn’t yet old enough to drive. However, a number of my dad’s freight cars appear to be on the layout; I must have brought them because otherwise the club cars wouldn’t have been enough to fill the yard.

Here is a view of the new yard section of the layout, with the new control panel, which is operational, but has yet to have the ends installed to finish off the look. It appears that Chuck Taylor is operating the yard, while Kerry King looks on from inside the layout. There are a few of my own freight cars in the yard in addition to my dad’s and those of other members.

This is the new scrapyard scene, which was mostly complete. As I recall, Kerry King built the crane, Chuck Taylor build the buildings, and I weathered and placed all of the scrap. There are parts of an Athearn SD40-2 in the scrapyard. When the new sections of the layout made their public debut (at a Great American Train Show in Portland, I believe), they didn’t have the trip paneling along the edges to keep equipment from going over the side in a derailment. This SD40-2, which belonged to my dad, was involved in an accident and ended up hitting the floor. The body shell was damaged enough that he replaced it, and parts of the damaged body ended up in the scrap yard.

Here is another view of the new town section, though it is a little out of focus.