In praise of lifelong joy

Listen to this story
TWO SUITED men cheer the cars racing around a table-top track at the Nuremberg toy fair. Close by, a woman holds a vinyl figurine of Will Byers from “Stranger Things”, a TV show. The world’s biggest toy expo celebrated its 75th birthday last month. Its target market is ageing, too.

Toy sales grew by 7% worldwide last year thanks to rising spending by so-called kidults, according …

It’s beautiful sunny day today in Three Rail World. Ben Young is coming and we will soon be having train time together! We will report in.

We found Clyde Coil and his friends. Clyde is ready to go back to work in Three Rail World, doing coverage of the track cleaning train and interviewing the crew.

Clyde has been our on the spot reporter for decades. Stay tuned.

Image Credit: Jimmy Moore

Every RR needs a yard, a place where the trains are assembled by switchers and engines are added to the trains to pull them through the world. That too, is the case with this yard, which we call MAZZEO YARD.

Below is a live view of Three Rail World under construction.

There are two crossovers between the main lines. This is Zeus Crossover, shown here in the distance, with the scenery still under construction. The crossovers allow reversing directions for trains on the main lines. They also can be set so the trains have one long route that has to be closely monitored while running, with a chance of collisions.

Image Credit: Jimmy Moore

This part of Three Rail World goes under Black Mountain, with its old metal bridge and Mazzeo Memorial Tunnel, seen in the video.

A lot of fun work with Jimmy Moore has happened in the last few years. We are building this layout as a labor of love and hoping for grandchildren to come and enjoy the trains with us! That will be some big fun!

Several kids in our families …

Achilles crossover is seen here in early construction. Working with Zeus crossover, direction changes are easily accomplished on the main lines. Scenery detail has not yet begun in this area.

reverse loop 1

Well folks, It’s been a long time since I have written to you about Three Rail World and a great deal has happened.

Three Rail World is a place where I love to meet with my kids and play, the other children in the family too. Even though Zeke is 51 and Ben is 44, and I am now 77, we are still kids in Three Rail World. I always love seeing …

Echo Canyon runs right down the middle of 3 RAIL WORLD, splitting the layout into two parts. In the foreground is our area of concentration at the moment. Within a few weeks the first tracks will be laid!! Here’s a picture of the layout as things move forward.

This image shows that area the layout we are working on from another viewpoint. Under Construction. Enjoy!!! Tracks will be laid soon! Exciting!!!!

Below we we see …

In our latest generation of pictures, Three Rail World is evolving. Here, in one of the earliest images after the rivers began to flow, we see Echo Canyon with Love bridge in the distance. Many more images to come…The foliage on the canyon floor will begin to grow and reveal its beauty.

Photos: Jimmy Moore

Many of you may know that I have been a train nerd for years. I even worked with Lionel in the 1990’s to create a control and sound system called TrainMaster and RailSounds. It’s still in use today, bringing families around America together for fun!

While I was living in Northern California, I played happily with all my children on our amazingly great layout! Zeke would visit often to play with us …

For the water to leave the lake, as you can see in the picture below, it rolls down the river to the waterfall to the canyon below.

Here above we see the view of the spillway from the lake down to the the canyon.

Now we can see close up the first stages of the river to the spillway as it was being built.

Then we see the copper finish being added on the riverbed.

…

Historic Black Mountain is seen here in all its majesty, the center of the old Three Rail World. When you watch the films in the our collection in the left column here, made 30 years ago, you will see many of the same pieces of scenery being added here now in their new locations. The love in these wondrous pieces of wood, old trees, is magical. This shot is taken from behind the new …

As the river flows through natural landscape and future farms, it will be a living thing. What we see here is just the basic landscape, before the fields and foliage, before the farm animals and barns.

Some areas will be left totally wild. This is just the beginning, the base level to build and grow on.

In the beginning we laid out a table that rolled with the topography of the land it was built on. If you look at the layout here you can see that it is not flat; it rolls just like the real world. This pic below is from when we first started. Tracks, once they are laid, will rise and fall with the landscape and really be beautiful with the trains moving on them.

Our outdoor …

The Winding River, slowly making its way through the landscape, will flow through beautiful country to a deep lake. Here we see the river under construction. Made of copper, the riverbed has been colored and molded to contain the flowing water and fish. Where the landscape meets the copper, a riverbed bond of cement and sand will join and finish, preparing for the slow flow of water.

After running slowly down river, water arrives in the lake where it will be aerated in a deep hidden section. This will help provide a lot of oxygen for the fish population while lending the effect of an underwater flow source. The fish will love it, which is very important since they will be living there! From the deep lake, the water flows along a short river over a falls into a deep canyon. There …

By Roger Carp

A landmark three-rail display built with state-of-the-art electronics

Among the most important and memorable layouts ever presented in Classic Toy Trains magazine was the O gauge railroad built by singer-songwriter Neil Young with natural landscaping, amazing trains (including this Lionel no. 752W Union Pacific streamliner from the 1930s), and a wireless control system that was the precursor to Lionel TrainMaster Command Control.

Several factors made the O gauge layout designed and constructed …

Directed by Bernard Shakey

In the 90’s we created a couple of videos of the train layout Ben Young, Zeke Young, and I enjoyed so many great days playing in. Three Rail World is a place where the metal people talk and the trains are always on time. There is no schedule! This short film, made with Larry Johnson, is found on the timeline in the mid nineties. This was one of the joys of …

Directed by Bernard Shakey

This is not a fast moving railroad adventure. It is a slow moving drama about the system that controls the three rail world. Stay with it and you will be rewarded if you like that sort of thing. Clyde Coil, reporter for the Hi-Rail Times, is on the case.
ny