Layout Update & Overview 8 10 24

[@OtterCreek]

Watched the whole thing! In two different installments and three cups of coffee LOL. Thanks for sharing your build, I love watching come together.

[@TheMillennialModeler]

I grew up next to the B&LE and used to have a similarly sized HO layout of the B&LE system. Your layout brings back a lot of good memories. Thank you for giving this railroad the attention it deserves!

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

@@TheMillennialModeler thank you for the kind words!

[@154Colin]

That is HUGE!!!!! You'll have plenty to keep you busy well beyond retirement.

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

@154Colin lolol yes. That's the plan!

[@jefflynnalex]

Loved the entire tour. I think your presentation was very easy to follow with the system map, the prototype photos and the explanation of each point of interest on the layout. That layout is so massive, I don't know how you find the time but, with every update, you've made significant progress. I cannot wait for you to tackle the Allegheny River Bridge. It is SO MASSIVE while also being the most recognizable structure on the entire railroad!

[@SPSteve]

Impressive layout! Subscribed.

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

@@SPSteve welcome aboard!!

[@Robls501510]

Had to watch over multiple days, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Really looking forward to some scenery on the layout.

[@lxndr3299]

Enjoyed the update. I always watch the full length of your videos. You have a wonderful pike.

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

Thank you! This was a long one!

[@randysrockandrollrailroad8207]

Sure miss Daylight Dave, and the box car with his name is sweeeet. That's a very cool and large layout. Thanks for sharing Now to go watch one of Dave's video 🤠

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

Thanks for watching! It's gonna take decades to "finish" , but I enjoy the process

[@admiralseabass8993]

another great update

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

Thank you!

[@AppalachiaRRlover]

I’ve said it before and say it again your layout is freaking spiftacular!

[@daviddryden8088]

Please, for the love of all that is Holy, if only behind the roundhouse, dirt, ballast. ground cover, a dead tree, a bush...anything!! Please! Sometime between now and 2030 would be super!! 😊 I'm sure you see your layout in your minds eye everytime your down there, as we do in the hobby. Doesn't mean I still don't want to see a smidge of scenery. That said, I've been watching this layout from almost the beginning and it will be a thing of legitimate tours, articles and accolades someday. Your knowledge of the B&LE, benchwork, trackwork, rolling stock and roster are some of the best in the hobby and weathered to near perfection. Long overdo and great layout update Ray!

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

@daviddryden8088 thanks man. Scenery will come in time. I'm one guy, and doing a marathon not a sprint. I think there will be some scenery in the next year.

[@TrainzLuvr]

Very cool tribute to Daylight Dave and BACV! I miss him too, his humour and the experience and knowledge of 1:1 railroading he was sharing with all of us...

[@nkiey]

Fantastic! Can't wait to see how scenery develops.

[@dundasjunctionmodelr.r-jam8267]

Your layout looks fantastic, very impressive

[@HerbertMorse]

As an 30 yr employee this is great to see worked mostly at Albion in the late sixties then in PGH you have done a great job !!

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

Best. Compliment. Yet. Thank you!

[@locolorenzo]

I really enjoyed the tour, Ray. Interesting back-story to every scene on the layout, and tons of operational potential. Gotta Love It! Good to hear that you're still teaching drum camp, too. Best wishes. . . . . . .Lawrence

[@jeffklein602]

Really cool. It feels to me like you have enough track at this point...

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

@@jeffklein602 mainline is done. Lots of yards and industry to do yet

[@The0311gruntUSMC]

Always enjoy your updates. For the ones that watched the entire video in one sitting (me) is not incredible. Your work is incredible! Thank you for the update.

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

@The0311gruntUSMC thank you sir.

[@davidharrison5613]

welldone

[@patricknoveski6409]

For one guy, u really have done so much. If you need scenery and color guy, it would be fun to help. Not sure what you do for work, but must be good seeing there's a bit of coin involved with proje t like this. Great layout bro. P.j. signs.

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

Having a scenery guy... sounds mafia and I love it. Lol! I'm an manufacturing engineer, started as a tool & die maker. Got my journeyman papers in 2001. You're not wrong, there's nothing cheap here. I am pretty proud of how hard I deal hound though, the trick is to not be in a hurry to get anything and waiting for killer deals to show up. It's a hobby of its own lol.

[@hoscalemodeltrains1221]

Well done Ray. And wow that was a long one but it was full of info and insights.

[@BeykoEngineering]

Looking Good!

[@ronaldrondeau7870]

Thanks for the up date nad for a reminder about Daylight Dave I miss that guy he gave me lots of info

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

He was just so fun. His layout absolutely came alive with his narration.... and the things you'd learn!

[@darylhitchcock7680]

WOW... Great Layout Tour... Looking forward to following...

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

Thanks so much!

[@CraftedJR]

Impressive as always Ray!

[@sdmsapphiremodels]

Watch the whole video and never got bored, i absolutly love this layout, the size of it, the plan it has, including so much, taking personal libertys to add in industry, to add scenes that otherwise wouldnt be possable, i love how openly realistic the whole layout is! I also really like the attention to detail you put into the locomotives to get them as correct as can be, for example the 3d printed smoke box cover, also how is the project of the bigger steam engines coming along? With the brass boiler and cab on a BLI drive? Also love the MARKS caboose's being added to the rolling stock roster, aswell as the factory on the bottom level, that is awesome, and the daylight tribute car is really neat aswell! Absolutly love following this layout, have for a year and a half and enjoyed every single video, cannot wait for fall to roll around! And last but not least, sorry for the wall of text 😂 Have a good one man and good luck on your travels!

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

Thank you! Always so much to do. At least I never have to worry about being bored!

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

I have not started work on my 2 10 4 drives. I need to. I just know it's going to take a lot of time, and there's just other things to focus on. Still. I need to get to that one.

[@samlivingston4130]

Erie had trackage rights on the Bessemer from BK to XN. And of course a significant interchange at Shenango. The B&O at Butler was another major interchange, but more so later on.

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

I forgot about that! Thank you!

[@samlivingston4130]

@@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061 Your welcome!

[@samlivingston4130]

@@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061 "From 1906 until the late 1930s, Erie trains were granted overhead trackage rights on the B&LE Meadville Branch from French Creek south to Meadville Junction, then south on the B&LE mainline through Greenville to Shenango, a distance of 32 miles. In later years, the Erie and EL would use this route when necessary to detour trains, such as during the 1966 installation of welded rail on this section of the EL," page 34 of the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad in Color.

[@mikerabold2361]

I'm still watching Ray lol

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

Lol awesome! Thank you

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

Like captain Jack said (kind of) in pirates of the Caribbean "ah, but you do know him".

[@RolandForest]

I’m hoping to start my own basement build this year and I feel overwhelmed at the prospect. You work is so precise, clean and huge, How long did it take for you to get from an empty space to where you are now? Any advice for a person new to this hobby ?

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

I'm a little over 3 years in, starting with gutting what was there, and building all the walls, blacking out the ceiling, etc. I should do a "so you want to build a big layout" reflection video someday lol. Advice. Pick a railroad or region, and time frame to focus on. Let that drive your purchase decisions. It's easy to start buying stuff you like, and the next thing you know you have a small fortune in trains and can't piece together one train that looks like it belongs together. Other than that. It's a marathon not a sprint. The goal isn't to finish, it's to enjoy the process. Start small (this is my 5th layout build) and learn, make mistakes, try again. Good luck!!!

[@RolandForest]

@@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061 Great advice …I needed to hear that . Thank you

[@leehanna4929]

I definitely enjoyed the layout tour, Ray. Any idea what signal system you will use?

[@mapruitt]

What a great video, Ray! Your layout is mind-boggling. How many scale miles is your mainline?

[@bessemerlakeerieinhoscale6061]

@@mapruitt thanks Mark!!!!

[@elleryparsons2433]

Summer Can Be a Busy time Late Aug to Oct the Start of Model Railroading Oct Is The Start Railroading Season is My Start.

[@The0311gruntUSMC]

IM sorry.... Daylight dave was annoying!