Martin Machine Depot North Adams
J. Armstrong Machine Co.
Branchville
GTRR NHRR
Farnams Station
Elwood Stone Co.
Mr. Bills Adams Station Depot Cheshire
Callahan Post & Beam
Coaling tower
Car shop
Berkshire Jct.
Bassi Coal Rudd Manuffacturing
Pittsfield New Haven Jct. (Yard, East staging)
Stairs down
Drawing by Ken Lawrence Dick Elwell’s HO scale Hoosac Valley Railroad Room size: 34′×64′ Teamwork and friendship on the Hoosac Valley R.R. D
ick Elwell and Bob Van Gelder have forged an abiding friendship since their paths crossed at a 1990 train show, and, if it falls short of being a symbiotic relationship, it nev-
ertheless has all the markings of an enduring bond. To be sure, from the perspective of a half-century’s history, two decades represents a minority stake in the Hoosac Valley Rail- road story. Still, Bob recalls, his friendship with Dick was immedi- ate and one that’s only grown stronger with time. “I’ve never had a friend as good,” he says. The founder and driving force behind South River Modelworks
and its limited-run craftsman kits, Bob remembers he has “worked with Dick since the day I started my business.” While Bob is a household name today among most serious model railroad- ers, few, if any, knew him at all on that January morning in 1990 when he first set up shop at the Big E Train Show in West Spring- field, Massachusetts. At a train show known for sending home hobbyists with over-
flowing bags of modeling wares, Bob sat at his table with a single item: the Delabarre Tap & Die Co. The first kit offering from the fledgling South River, it depicted a real building in Conway, Mas- sachusetts, that had risen in 1909 amid the ashes of a 19th cen- tury woolens mill. Dick liked what he saw. “I thought it was great,” he recalls. “I
looked at it for about five minutes, then went to tell Lou Sassi,” Dick says, referring to his longtime friend and the closest thing any layout has to an official historian. “I built the first one [of the Delabarre building kits].” Since then, of course, Bob’s business has benefitted from the
veteran modeler’s advice on new structures and his tacit en- dorsement of those already on the market. Dick’s Hoosac Valley R.R. has just about every one of South River’s annual craftsman offerings. Even though Dick says that the HV is now “finished,” finding a home for future South River offerings might cause Dick to reconsider!
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN 47 Essex Jct., NY (Yard West staging) Car wash Depot Dispatcher
Czubert’s Pier Station
Hoosic Falls
Coaling tower Mason’s Mill
Whitehall
This partial CTC machine keeps things fluid during the Hoosac Valley’s operating sessions, which keep ten to twelve opera- tors busy for three to four hours.
Keller Bay Pop’s Coal Dairy
Adirondak Northern RR
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