Eulogy for John Armstrong (including pictures)

A Eulogy for John Armstrong


All,

Here is my small tribute to John Armstrong, on his passing from our world.
As many of us have not had the chance to visit him or his layout in person,
I hope my sharing of the following gives a feeling for what he contributed
to the hobby that we all enjoy today.

These photographs were taken in Oct 2002 on a layout tour during the NMRA
Potomac Division regional meet. I was simply on the layout tour, I'm not the photographer
(Clint Hyde of NVNTrak and PCR Potomoc Division took the photos - as an attendee at that
convention, he/they mailed us photos on a CD-ROM) .... I hope it's OK
to share these as part of my tribute to the passing of this great model
railroader.

Here is a shot of John Armstrong himself, astride Cattaraugus Yard on his O scale
Canandaigua Southern layout.



The CS was under continual construction since 1950. That's all the more remarkable given
he starting building this first section of the layout, at a time when for fine scale
modeling, there wasn't much more than raw rail, motors, and Lionel shells available.
You can see his concept of the 'cosmetic curve' (to enhance the visual appearance
of the track) in the photo above.

A closeup of John:



Further around to the right, behind where John was standing in the two
above shots, is the 'Ott Dam Power Co'. John never completely 'finished'
the Canandaigua Southern, nor was he concerned with super-detailing his
scenery. His love (he was a Naval engineer) was research and development.
Look at the picture below from the standpoint of innovation: how he combined a
dam, a river, a road, and two industries (power plant, coal), all in a space of
roughly 3' x 4', in *O scale*! :



John was reputed to say, "when I figure out how to make or do something, the
challenge is gone", as he would wink and smile.

In the following shot, you can see the O scale outside-third-rail power system,
next to the very nice 'Warm River' station on the layout. I believe Warm River was
so named because it was physically located next to the hot water heater
and furnace (layout is in the 24' x 36' basement of his house). Thanks
to the O Scale Convention website for the following photograph:

http://www.2004onational.com/John%20Armstrong%209b%20Low.jpg



And John could model very well, I think the prototype for the above photo is
Point of Rocks, Maryland station shown below, just on the Maryland - Virginia border, right off
US 15 and a great place to railfan:



Throughout this treatise, the references I make to his O scale layout, the Canandaigua
Southern, can be read about in the easily available Kalmbach book, "Classic Layout
Designs of John Armstrong", described by John himself on pages 46-55:



(Continued in part 2).

P.S. If you would like a copy of that photo CD-ROM referred to earlier of the NMRA Potomac Division Oct 2002, Clint Hyde has said you can contact him at his email id: chyde@cox.net , and for just $5, he'll send you a copy of that CD-ROM, that's including shipping, handling, everything.

[ 06. August 2004, 06:25: Message edited by: atsf_arizona ]

 

Part 2:

Here is a shot looking at the Canandaigua Southern's Essex Junction and
Irondale. Behind the mountains is a backdrop, which separates the scenery on
this side of the layout's penisula from the other side. While backdrops are
standard practice today, remember that John designed and built his layout in an
era when even the best club model railroads were usually 'bowls of spaghetti'
with 'crawl-under popups' everywhere:


In the above shot, the Canandaigua Southern's famous 'reverted loop' is directly
beneath this scenery, out of sight.

John scratchbuilt big, powerful, smooth locomotives in the 1950's, and introduced
the concept of the 'cosmetic curve' to enhance the layout's and locomotive's appearance.
Thanks to the O Scale Convention website for the following photograph:

http://www.2004onational.com/John%20Armstrong%208b%20Low.jpg


(this shot is a closeup of the Irondale plant in the previous shot)

Here is a photo of his C.S. layout diagram, from the "Classic Layout Designs of John
Armstrong" Kalmbach book mentioned earlier:




As you can tell, John was famous for his sense of humor. This industry on the
CS was the Lugubrium Corp. of America; what you can't see on the sign is "Processors
of the World's Saddest Material, Depleted Lugubrium Reprocessing Plant No. 71".



During the July 2004 O Scale Convention, due to the anticipated very large
number of visitors to his layout during the layout tour, the visitors had
had to get numbered tickets to visit the Canandaigua Southern. His CS was
one of the most famous O scale model railroads ever built.

As the sun sets on his modest home in Silver Springs, Maryland:



May we all be able to remember his presence.

We may all still be able to marvel and respect the remarkable innovation
that he brought to our hobby. Many of John's ideas, such as walking with
the train and only allowing a train to pass through a scene in one direction,
were first tested in theory and practice on this layout.

John Armstrong contributed a giant legacy to our hobby for more than 60 years,
with multiple books and over 100 articles. It is with appreciation, and
yet with great sadness at his passing, that I offer my little eulogy to
John Armstrong, one of the greats of our hobby.

[ 03. August 2004, 14:14: Message edited by: atsf_arizona ]

 

John, thank you very much for this great tribute to John Armstrong. We appreciate you sharing the pictures and write-ups with us.
Bill

 

Nice and fitting Eulogy, John.
That picture of the station in MD is in Point-of-Rocks, MD. My grandpa introduced me to Tim Marletter (who was a TB member and passed away 2 or 3 years ago) on the platform 6 years ago.

 

My condolences to Mr. Armstrong's family too. It seems us old fellows are passing faster than we can keep up. I knew Mr. Marletter, Johnny Niegocki, and now I have an irregular heart beat, so who knows any more? By the time we finally get our roads built we just never seem to have time to "play" before mom calls us in for supper, or we got too old.

 

All,

Thx for giving me the info that the prototype station is Point of Rocks, MD; I updated the text of
the eulogy to reflect that. Great place to stop and railfan if you're on US 15 crossing the
Maryland - Virginia border.

You are remembered, John Armstrong.

[ 03. August 2004, 14:16: Message edited by: atsf_arizona ]

 

I am sad to learn of John's death. Although I never met him, I always enjoyed his articles and track plans in the model railroad literature. The CS was an awesome model railroad, and this was a most elegant and fitting tribute to the man and to his art.

A giant has passed from the model railroad community. We should all remember and learn from his accomplishments and move the hobby forward as a legacy to him and to all the great model railroaders who, as the old hymn says, "from their labors rest".

 

**pulls head out of sand** when and how did John pass???

 

I would like to add that Clint Hyde of the local Washington D.C. NMRA Potomac Division took most of the photos, and post-convention mailed it to us attendees. Thx so much, Clint!

He tells me that this CD-ROM is still available, with full hi-res originals of John's layout and other fine DC-area layouts.

I'm checking with him on details on how to obtain a copy of that CD.

 

I too am saddened by the notice of the passing of John Armstrong. Like most of us, I never met the man, just knew him thru his books and many magazine articles which I read many times as "operation" is my favorite aspect of model railroading. Like already said, all the pioneers of this great hobby are leaving us and they will all be missed: John Allen, Whit Towers, and John Armstrong.

 

Please note that I talked with Clint Hyde, who took the photos of John Armstrong above, he says if you would like a copy of that photo CD-ROM referred to earlier of the NMRA Potomac Division Oct 2002, just contact him at his email id: chyde@cox.net , and for just $5, he'll send you a copy of that CD-ROM, that's including shipping, handling, everything.

 

John Armstrong was a truly great model railroader.

His influence upon our hobby transcends time and scale.

My deepest sympathies to his friends and family.

 

John,

Thanks for the tribute. I never met him either, but as a frequent track plan doodler, I count him as my biggest model railroad influence! There are many of us, my brother (another JA fan) who lives in apartment, among them, that never get real model railroads built, but do create many, many fine layouts on paper using techniques JA pioneered.

I do some professional writing, and I know JA's downhome, folksy writing style influences mine, The phrases "shamelessly", "given and druthers,' "personal immersion (swimming), occularly challenged (fading eyesight) and several others from his writings have found their way into mine, perhaps the ultimate compliment!

 

John , thanks cobber , your beutiful words to a great railway man..... cool !

It is so sad that John Armstrong is no longer travelling the model railway world with us ; but ya know what ; he will be around for ever as long as folks talk model railway.

RIP

( no smiley today )

 

Rowan;

I have to ask... before you dug this 2004 thread up did you see my blog post on About.com today? I linked to the copy of John's eulogy on his own website this morning. It seems the cosmos is calling out John Armstrong's name loudly today.

 

I have been using John Armstrong's book, Track Planning for Realistic Operations, quite a bit in planning my own pike.