"No. I'm familiar with Roadside America. The one I'm thinking of was a Flyer based display layout near Harrisburg in a free standing building. I recall visiting it at the Hershey Convention back in the 70s. It must be long gone now..." Raleigh
Folks, This was Don Bowers American Flyer "America's Heritage" layout in Camp Hill, Pa. that never was finished. Don was a [the] key player in our 1970 Hershey NESGA Convention. In July 1969 Don asked me to come in and photograph the layout. He wanted to set up a display board for visitors and also to advertise our 1970 Hershey convention. I did that and still have the B&W photos. What was most amazing about Dons layout was his platform. You could have parked a "Six ply" on it, it was big enough and wouldn't have budged. To operate the layout you climbed up a ladder into a boxed in area approximately six - eight feet above the platform. The layout was pure American flyer and would take about three - four minutes to make one loop on the outside track. Don's father and Uncles previously owned most of the American Flyer equipment and when they bought a railroad in Bloomsburg, Pa., Don inherited the toy stuff! They named the railroad the Carroll Park & Western. Don being a real entrepreneur, got away from the America Heritage idea, set up a hobby shop in the building called "Dons Train Shop" and did a monstrous American Flyer - Lionel toy train sales and repair business for years, until his untimely death to diabetes some 10 years ago. Incidentally, the Molly Maguire's was filmed in Bloomsburg, Pa. and Hollywood used Don's folks railroad for the filming. I and other "Central Pennsylvania S Gaugers" were there to view it and have a ride on the creaky old Saddle Tanker that pulled the passenger cars around. It's difficult to believe, but I rode in the cab and filmed the ride. That is where I also learned that Hollywood only paints what the Camera sees. [see Molly Maguire's - 1970] I guess I should have this 8mm stuff put on a disc so we could all laugh at it! Sure was a rickety bouncy ride! Seems like a long time ago and I guess it was, for it was in September 1968. Plus, I sure wasn't very good with a movie camera. After that experience, I went to shooting stills! No puns please! Nice end to the story though ..... Don's young sister Anne, her husband Tom, retired school teachers, inherited everything. Bought a railroad station in Palmyra, Pa. [Five minutes away] right smack in the middle of the Reading [now Norfolk & Southern] Lebanon Valley Route and have a wonderful hobby shop featuring mostly Lionel but has plenty there for all of us! And when the trains roar down the mainline! LOOKOUT! WOW! You know, I really miss Don Bowers! Take Care, Bill Fraley The poll results are in....... To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL, to reply to the sender, use REPLY. I do NOT know if this works on all e-mail software, but it works on some of the most common ones. For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list. Change your membership, change your message settings, use our CALENDAR, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
