Visiting Mike McNamara's Northeast Kingdom layout

I had a bit of an adventure over the weekend. Mike McNamara, who models railroads around St. Johnsbury, Vermont in 1980 and whose layout is titled the "Northeast Kingdom," participated in a recent set of open houses. Having been a fan of his website and blog for several years, I decided to go and see it all first hand. Unfortunately, it was bound to be a long trip (4 hours each way) and I only had maps and a flip phone. So, in preparation of the drive I purchased a brand new GPS (yeah baby... I'm now in the 21st Century!) and figured out how to use it. In addition to Mike's layout, I also planned to get a cheesesteak so I researched good places near where he lived. All in all, it was set to be a nice drive weather wise and I was looking forward to putting the layout as I visioned it with the layout as it actually exists.

I wish I could say something interesting happened but because of the GPS it was a pretty uneventful drive. I didn't get lost. Mike's place was easy to find. People in NJ drive crazy (but I suppose they say that about NY drivers too.) More to the point, I found Mike to be a gracious host and while I was there his layout operated near perfectly. I swear I was studying the details in one section so hard I willed a boxcar truck to derail, as for the rest of the time when I was in the other room it ran just fine. Beyond that, his layout exceeded my expectations and I came away with a ton of great ideas for my own railroad.

He had three trains running unattended during the open house, and I appreciated that one was an Amtrak train. Too many people these days just ignore Amtrak, but if you want to model passenger trains in the last 40+ years (I know I do) then Amtrak is generally the only way to go. His layout sections were extremely well detailed, and showed a focus on creating realistic scenes instead of just making funny cameo poses. Nothing seemed out of place, and nothing seemed forced. His trackwork was very well done and I loved that nearly all of his switches were controlled by edge-of-layout ground throws. That is what I converted my layout to.

Like any layout, there are areas that he still needs to finish. I can't imagine the frustration of not having any projects to work on, and hopefully in the future I can come back and see what future progress is made. I do wish I had a track plan of the layout and Mike said there is one on his blog somewhere (update: see link in the comments section), so next time I will print it out in advance to get a better idea of how it all comes together.

I don't plan to add many comments to these pictures. I think they speak for themselves. I will only add that his layout looks much better in person than my pictures portray it, and despite spending much of my life in the Kodak city I still consider it a victory to remember to take the lens cap off before pushing the button.