The lead picture is just a tease of my friend Larry A's fantastic collection. Much more will be shared here.
It is always a treat to visit Larry and his trains, and to hear his acquisition stories, and learn from him about the history of these trains and their manufacturers.
Larry has the only Gauge TT layout that I've ever seen. All of the tracks are hand laid, all of the details (except for the vehicles) are custom built by Larry as are all of the buildings.
U.S. TT gauge trains are 1:120 scale, half way between HO and N Gauges. They were invented by Hal Joyce and sold under his company name H.P. Products. U.S. manufacture started in 1945 and ended about 2 decades later:
Here is Larry's TT Gauge layout:
The tracks are individually spiked down, the buildings are constructed from wood and cardboard - Larry's work is amazing!
Larry also has a multi-gauge Pre-war layout and a "O" / "O27" gauge Pre-War layout:
These layouts may be small but the enjoyment of watching 80-100 year old trains run is enormous!
Larry also shares these pictures from his fantastic collection. It consists of Pre-War trains made by Lionel, Flyer, IVES, Bing, etc., etc. All are original and as close to mint as one can get. Pull toys, live steam, wind-ups and electric powered trains are all well represented:
The wooden train at the top of the following picture is believed to have been hand built (a Christmas gift from a Father when toy trains were unavailable during WW 1??)
The following picture is of one of Lionel's first trains - this trolly is from 1903 or 1904!
The pull train shown below was made at the time of the U.S. Civil War!
Larry also loves collecting cardboard "Glitter" buildings made in Japan during the 1920's. Here is a picture from only part of his collection of these:
Thanks, Larry!