NEB&W may be mothballed

[Bill Gill]

I'm posting the text of an email I got today from John Nehrich, the staff advisor for the Rensselaer Model Railroad Society at RPI in Troy, NY.This information came as a surprise as i had been working on a couple projects for the April Operating Session, which may or may not happen depending on how quickly things develop. If you know of modelers interested in the layout. please let them know.

Hi, I'm trying to send out this info to all our active club members and supporters but in my rush, I'm sure I'm overlooking many - please spread the word and for anyone who hears about this only secondhand, I sincerely apologize.

We have just gotten word that shortly, perhaps a few weeks, a professional mover is going to come in and crate up sections of the layout, along with everything else, and move them out of Davison.  These will either be stored in a warehouse or if we are lucky, moved to a new permanent home.  The school wants to rehab Davison over the summer with all new plumbing, etc., but wants the layout now.  At first when they were talking about this, they were figuring they would totally box in the layout to protect it from swinging pipes around, but they would have to remove the backdrop and build us a whole new one.  On reconsideration, they figured it would be better to move us instead.

So where?  Barb Nelson, who used to work at RPI in space allocation, is now the Executive Director of TAP Inc. (Troy Architectural Program) and wants very much for us to move to some place where the layout can readily be seen by the public.  She is very sympathetic to our needs and attuned to the entire downtown building boom.  She thinks there may be some appropriate space downtown opening up.  Many developers are having a hard time filling their first floor with retailers, and she sees the layout as generating a lot of foot traffic.  We don't have anything definite yet.  If it does, our role might change, whether we stay a part of RPI, be a collaboration with say the county historical society, become totally independent, or who knows what.  We know one important consideration no matter what would be to ensure this is a permanent home.

Or we have been talking about a new building, a simple (and thus cheap) steel shell building on a concrete pad floor somewhere on RPI property.

For years and years, we have looked at moving to an existing location in an unused space, but we take up far more room than people think.  And if we were to move into J Building or Winslow, even if we fit – we don't – it would cost so much to remove walls, etc.  But now we are talking about a prime location, not a spare attic or unused basement.

Please spread the word to EVERYONE you can think of.  Massive amounts of publicity are needed, and soon, both word-of-mouth and professional media.  In this way, we may reach some wealthy benefactor, or even just convince the school the importance of not letting us wither away in storage.  We will be looking into some type of go-fund-me campaign, hopefully in conjunction say with a local historical group.  (We probably can't do it under RPI without stepping on some toes).

The contract to move us has yet to be signed, but they are aiming for a few weeks.  Then we will know the timetable but it likely to be soon after.  Once we have a definite date, we are hopeful of holding one last operating session.  If you know of individuals who need to see the layout, I can set up an individual tour - it may be now or never.   
- John Nehrich

[Hydrostat]

Bill,

what a pity. Sorry to hear that. I hope you'll find a good place for a long layout's future.

Volker

[Bill Gill]

Thanks, Volker.
For those not familiar with the NEB&W, here is a virtual tour of the layout:
https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=e6d8iA5vGQ5
That gives a sense of the scope of attempting to relocate or rebuild it.
The layout will (or would have been) fifty years old in its current location next year.
It was not designed or built to ever be moved, but the club has relocated on the campus
at least two or three other times since its inception in 1938, so it can be done again.

[Lawton Maner]

This  is disturbing news.  The cover of the January issue of Railpace when I first saw it looked like a model scene of the D&H tracks modeled on the NEB&W.  Yes, their work is that good.

[finescalerr]

The NEB&W's problems are what bother me about layouts in general: So few people appreciate them. It's hard enough to find people to preserve historic railroad equipment. To most people, and certainly most schools and businesses, even a remarkable layout is nothing more than a "train set", a toy for old men. Almost nobody has any idea of the research, time, skill, labor, artistry, or anything else that has gone into such a layout's creation.

Whenever I admire a great model, diorama, or layout I must remind myself that, to most people, they represent nothing more than the time a childish adult wasted on a trivial pursuit. And that really ticks me off.

Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

That virtual tour is pretty cool. What a huge layout! I hope a better home can be found for it.

[Bill Gill]

Russ, Back when the NEB&W got a grant to present open house tours they go lots of visitors. As the grant ran out the club wasn't really able to adequately prepare for and man both those open houses and still run its operating sessions for its members. The winter holiday open house was always very busy and people wanted to it run longer. But final exams, students going home for the holidays, etc. really made that increasingly difficult. After several years of trying to make it all work, the club reluctantly stopped the open houses (it is a student activity after all). It garnered a lot of lingering resentment as a result. Other modelers felt the club became elitist.
Most student members for the past few decades come to the club with no modeling experience or background in railroad history. The club introduces them to all kinds of modeling techniques as well as the history of railroading in the northeast.
John Nehrich has invested 50+ years in the layout. I'm waiting to hear how things are developing.

Ray, Thanks, me too. Potentially it can be a good thing, but the amount of work it will take feels monumental and the time frame to pack up sounds too short. The old basement came with many problems. If you tilt up on that virtual tour you'll see a maze of plumbing, much of it dripping condensation in the summer and running water from not uncommon leaks from the dorm above during the school year. Besides a week of cleaning track for operating sessions, there is always repairing track and turnouts wracked from water that found its way onto the layout despite a hodgepodge of gutters, plastic sheeting and other stuff trying to collect or at least divert the water to the floor. 

[SandiaPaul]

I hope this works out. I've been following the layout for many years, most of my adult life in fact. Such good information comes out of there.

[Bill Gill]

Thanks.

[SandiaPaul]

Any news on this?

[Hauk]

Any news on this?

Good news:
https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Massive-model-railroad-is-on-the-move-13706710.php?fbclid=IwAR2ZTvPgGEBBRxJcl-mFtXRdQGOPZNOq_qqpICTIpmlEIhdUK40vti18E0M

[Bill Gill]

I haven't seen the new location yet and have only had bits and pieces of information updating what's going on, so the following information is not ironclad.
The new location is in another basement of an office building off campus where RPI rents space. It is about 0.8 mile (about 1.3 km) from where it was on campus. The building is located in a small office center on a busy route and I think there is a bus stop nearby. There is at least a law firm and a pediatrician in the building at present. Parking availability looks reasonable.

The NEB&W "officially"has been cleared out of the dormitory basement, though I believe there are a few things yet to move.

The newspaper article states that the club will open the layout in the Fall, but I have heard that the new location still needs to be cleared out and cleaned up and that the pieces of the layout won't be moved into it until late Fall at best.

Overall things sound promising. I have questions about how accessible the new basement will be to the general public and how easily student members will find it to zip over to the new place when they have a little free time to work on projects.

[finescalerr]

If RPI rents space in an off campus office building, what happens when the lease expires or if somebody decides to use the basement for storing football team equipment? -- Russ

[Bill Gill]

Russ, that's one of the lingering questions. Unfortunately there wasn't any existing space on campus big enough that was available and new construction wasn't an option.