Talk about Club Projects ..
That basement was solid ground when the then Delaware (Lehigh) Valley S
Gauger's gang went to John's home on regular basis and dug out the isles.
The layout sits on top of cemented layout bench.
I'm not sure, as I wasn't a member when this happened, but after the
basement was dug out, the cement was poured, John then built the model
railroad. John was Master Craftsman and his equipment was always built to
the point of perfection and ran the same way. I have images of his layout in
my 1960 slide files. Frank Titman built a monster Great Lakes Ore Ship for
John's layout and John built the balance of the scene, what a piece of
beauty! I remember John's workbench, where he must have spent hours upon
hours building models, and working on those Kadee coupler conversions and so
on. John also sold a lot of decals. Back in those days we didn't have much
R-T-R equipment, so we built, painted and decaled them ourselves.
I believe, John soured on conventions when someone stole a brass Pacific
locomotive he was constructing during one of his open houses. Not sure of
the year, I believe it was the 1993 NMRA/NASG National. (It is claimed that
John knows who stole the locomotive.) Until recently, John and Thelma were
regulars at Don Thompsons CJSS "Get Together's" in South Amboy. N.J.
At the 1976 NASG Convention in Ottawa, I won the NASG Centennial Award for
my "Spirit of '76" caboose. John was forever after me to come down to New
Hope and decorate their "New Hope and Ivy Land" caboose the same way. John
spent most of his later years working on/for that railroad.
Bottom line . John and Thelma Bortz are wonderful people and were an
inspiration to me back in the early days. Were I to see them today, Thelma
would ask, how is Mary? Yes Sir .. Marvelous people!
(Not to forget John's brother, Hal.)
That why I'm in S Scale!
Got to Go,
"S"ee Ya,
Bill (Fraley)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> 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/
