Framing and construction, set up, and behind the scenes on the Longmont Terminal and Northern Model Railroad

[Pacific Limited]

My photo modules are fully functional sections of a layout that can be set up in roughly an hour. John was my friend from Longmont and thought of our layout as a real albeit miniature railroad. His approach and mine were very different, he’s a mechanical engineer, I am an artist but together we made a neat set up. The shows were very happy to have us set up and the kids were mesmerized by the big trains that were realistic not toys.

Unfinished framing of one of the sections
Longmont Terminal and Northern Model Railroad by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr


Set up at a local show
IMG_0780 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

It took me several hours to set out all the details and structures, that was the fun part for me

IMG_5009 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

IMG_5192 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

IMG_5006 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

John and I worked this alone most of the time despite attempts to rally a group together, not a club but an association of people. We had occasional help from Jeff Macdonald and Bob Kjelland. But John owned the truck and trailer and we both owned the layout.

IMG_4901 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

Some of the carts that we use to move the sections into the event halls makes setting up a breeze. 1-2 guys can do this in a few hours without too much loss of energy.

IMG_1959 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

IMG_1961 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

IMG_0770 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

IMG_1965 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

[Pacific Limited]

I currently own the trailer after John passed away early in 2024.

We had a lot of fun, hopefully my family can get this back up and running again soon.
Longmont Terminal and Northern Model Railroad by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

[Pacific Limited]

Framing under construction
IMG_7008 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

Signage and set up at shows
IMG_4931 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr
IMG_4933 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr
IMG_5015 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

Carts
IMG_5196 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr
IMG_5199 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr
IMG_5201 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr
IMG_5205 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr
IMG_5210 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

Show boss and Santa
IMG_0106 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

Legs and bases, stands, roping all in one cart.

IMG_0275 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

IMG_0286 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

Everything in place before load out.

IMG_0282 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

Volunteers

IMG_0292 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

Even in horrible light at these venues the sections look good

IMG_0772 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

IMG_1944 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

IMG_1945 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

IMG_1957 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

[Pacific Limited]

Longmont Terminal & Northern Model Railroad by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr
Longmont Terminal & Northern Model Railroad by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr
Longmont Terminal & Northern Model Railroad by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr
IMG_1967 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr
IMG_1968 by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Very interesting and illuminating. Nice operations on set up and tear down.

You now own the trailer; curious - where/how do you store everything?

There's some push for modules but the transport and storage issues never get fully resolved to my expectations. Modules since you don't have room for a layout but you still need a place for the module(s)....

[Pacific Limited]

It’s not a nasty climate here, so far the layout stores inside the trailer. The structures and details are all here in my home. It’s so far not been a real problem for me on that side. I keep the trailer at a RV place near Boulder.

[up148]

I agree with Rufus, very enlightening and thank you very much for posting. How much do your small modules weight. Back in the late 90's I belonged to the OKC Module group and storage was always an issue. If we hadn't secured an empty storefront at one of the malls or ??? modules were taken home by owners and sometimes certain guys took many modules home. Our rent for mall store front location was setting up from Thanksgiving through Christmas for mall patrons.

But, the weight of our modules were always 40-50# each since they were made from 1 x ?'s, which was fairly heavy in my 50's, today it would be really tough, so I'm looking for a way to make light weight modules, without getting the inherent hollow drum sound when trains run on them.

[Pacific Limited]

Just adding this for some reference
Longmont Terminal & Northern Model Railroad by Erik C Lindgren Fine Art, on Flickr

[sleepmac]

Erik, quite a labor of love. Very nice work on the modules. The past number of years I've been aware of several efforts in the NE to form some O Scale module standards. Maybe some day.

Dan Weinhold

[up148]

I think many of us resemble that comment Dan. I've been a lone wolf modeler forever and it suits me well. Erik has an exceptional commitment to the hobby and it's good he does it while he is young enough to have the energy for that commitment. Lot's and lot's of work setting up and tearing down a layout like that, much less operating it during the show. You truly are an ambassador for the hobby Erik.

[Chris Webster]

I got to see the layout during a big show in Denver during March 2014 or 2015. My recollection is that the TCA was the show sponsor, but there were several very nice scale layouts.

I remember liking how the LT&N layout really looked like a rural branch -- I don't think it had the city scene back then -- and that there was always a well running train continually moving on it. Most train shows I've been too have well running layouts that aren't sceniced very well and very nicely sceniced layouts that don't run that great. Erik's group had both great scenery and well running trains.

I'm not sure which year it was because I was in Colorado for an snowplowing charter on the Cumbres & Toltec and I did that in 2014 and again in 2015. One year the charter was the same weekend as the show and the other year it wasn't.