[LateStarter]

Alameda South Coast
1970's

It was a modest 5x8, with code 100 flex track on a plywood/homosote substrate.
Transition era...
I had a Varley 'Lil Joe', a Mantua 0-6-0, three PFM brass steamers, and an AHM Big Boy.
An Athearn Hustler and two Atlas F-A/B's from trainsets were my only diesels.

The Hustler is pushing a 'who knows what' boxcar that I'd repainted and lettered. That's a Campbell water tower in the background.
The Hustler was just airbrushed maroon & gray, and I hadn't yet replaced the handrails.

I tried to section it all up and take it with me when I moved, but it was hopeless.
It took an army of relatives to cart it all over to the Boys Club.

 

[LateStarter]

Found six more...
It'll take awhile. Photographing photographs isn't easy.
BTW, the water tower is a Fine Scale Miniatures kit... not Campbell.

 

[Big Ed]

Found six more...
It'll take awhile. Photographing photographs isn't easy.
BTW, the water tower is a Fine Scale Miniatures kit... not Campbell.

Do you have a scanner on your printer?
I used to scan them and then you can post them.

 

[Old_Hobo]

Actually, there’s nothing easier than photographing photographs these days.....I do it all the time in about 10 seconds.....a cell phone or tablet is just a mobile scanner...... 😁

By the way, can I ask how old you were when you had that old layout?

 

[LateStarter]

By the way, can I ask how old you were when you had that old layout?

Late teens to mid 20's.

[Edit]:
No, I'm wrong... late 20's to mid 30's.

 

[LateStarter]

Actually, there’s nothing easier than photographing photographs these days.....I do it all the time in about 10 seconds.....a cell phone or tablet is just a mobile scanner...... 😁

Alrightie then!
They're all curled-up Kodacolors, and my cellphone repros are coming out sucky.
I'm fixin' up a popsicle stick jig to hold 'em flat.

 

[LateStarter]

Fine Scale Miniatures Coal Bunker.
It's an elevated track-level, so there's a retaining wall out away from it.

 

[LateStarter]

PFM Atlantic #3307 on a lower level, viewed from the side of the coal bunker.

 

[LateStarter]

I just realized I posted some of these pics four years ago.
Since then, I've changed phones, and they didn't transfer in my files. Also, all the originals curled up inside the envelope in storage.
But oh well... I'll try to repost them anyway.

 

[Old_Hobo]

It’s amazing how cel phones today can capture an image and colours so sharply, compared to those old film photos of yesteryear.....

 

[LateStarter]

BTW, remember Floquil paints?
All the painting I did back then was with Floquil. Probably killed a few brain cells.

 

[LateStarter]

A better view of the retaining wall.

 

[Eilif]

Neat stuff. Somehow 70s layouts on vintage home cameras look more real than modern layouts and perfect digital prints.

 

[MacDaddy55]

A better view of the retaining wall.
View attachment 554880

Late Starter this is a great photo I really like it....it looks like an old photo of an actual crew....so it was an old Kodachrome camera...sweet!!

 

[LateStarter]

PFM #3328 4-4-2, and a FineScaleMiniatures brick-house water tower kit (I had mistakenly said it was a Campbell in the O.P.).
There was an abandoned tower almost exactly like it just a 15 minute bicycle ride from where I grew up.

I think the figures are Preiser... (don't remember).
I also don't remember the signal mast manufacturer. It wasnt LED, (probably g.o.w.) but it worked, and it was realistic.

Not sure if it's apparent, but all the structures and both steamers were carefully weathered (the structures with mostly 'water colors'). There's a generous amount of bird droppings on the roofs.

 

[LateStarter]

Behind the coal bunker...
That's a Jordan kit stakebed truck. They're kinda' like Sylvan kits, but supremely easier.
The withered pine tree is from a Campbell 'dowel' kit... I left off about 60% of the branches to simulate a blight, so-as not to hide the view of the coal bunker.
After all these years, I still have dozens of healthy ones, and they reside in Pines Nest on my current layout, mixed-in with all the Scenic Express, GCG's, JTT's and awesome Europeans.

 

[LateStarter]

PFM Atlantic #3307.
It's been carefully weathered.
I think this locomotive would pull a dozen plastic-wheeled passenger cars. I only had two coaches, but it did pull all 16 of my freightcars with no trouble.

The maple tree armature is handmade... (plaster over twisted wire).