In The Corner: With Rick Bivins

Why “In The Corner” as the title of an almost monthly newsletter column? Because as a kid, I have fond memories of several corners within the house where I grew up! And, I almost always end up working myself into a corner…somewhere.

As most of you know, I have a fondness for three rail O Gauge trains. After building a layout in the upstairs room of the house I decided and was greatly encouraged by my lovely wife Kathy, to build a building for my trains. Well, it has only taken me two years to build a 16’ by 27’ pole building and an addition (lean-too) 8’ by 27’ of which 18’ of is enclosed (lovely wife Kathy said to build it bigger….I will learn to listen to her one of these days). All of which is sheathed, insulated and has a concrete floor.

As you can see from the pictures I have started to build the layout. The start date of January 9th is significant. My Grandmother Opal Bivins passed away seven years ago on this date. So…my goal is to have trains running by February 9th which at this writing is five days away! I will be able to answer “yes” or “no” to that by meeting night.

Here is the plan…sorta! Lionel is near and dear to my heart so it all starts with Lionel Track, old school tubular rail track, traditional style scenery and accessories. And of course the obligatory PlasticVille structures will adorn the layout. Traditional stops there. The track plan is a point to point, no round and round running which is fine and fun but I want to venture into a little different territory. Well, different for O Gauge three rail anyway.

Trains will run with command control, CTC signals, a dispatcher, a car card/waybill system and at some point a fast clock. Scenery will be as stated; traditional to a point. I hope to use a little more ground cover than days of old but not as radical as some of the layouts others are building and the ones we see in the magazines. The best part? People! I plan to have run sessions and theme nights such as: all New York Central or Penn Central or South West RR’s or GP-7/9 night etc. Variety and interesting scenarios will be “the norm”.  

So…while I am building it “my way” I hope others will find “their way” to my place on run nights. Run nights will be at this point planned for the first Monday and third Thursday of each month at 6:30PM. That is of course subject to weather and holidays but I will try to keep things “on track” for those nights. Maybe you can join me “in my corner” of three rail bliss!

Editors Note; To appease my want to keep “The Project Corner” a monthly article, I decided to have Ricky’s first “In The Corner” column be this month’s highlight. After this submission, Ricky’s column will have space outside of “The Project Corner” when he has a story to submit. – Matt Gentry