CentraMod was surprised and honored to be visited by fellow model railroader Duane Gaddis of Booneville, Indiana on Wednesday, June 6th.
A retired telephone repairman, he had ridden his Harley Davidson, “Old Red” down from Indiana to attend this year’s NMRA Lone Star Region Annual Convention as he has done in years past. This year, he was lucky enough to find the club open for a work session and was able to take a tour.
Duane’s HO layout, The Northern Illinois-Southern Indiana Railroad, was featured over an 8-page spread in the April 1995 issue of Model Railroader magazine.
While Duane mentioned that he has cut back on some of his rolling stock, he does still conduct operating sessions with his friends. Even though his layout is 26 x 46 feet, he said it could get a bit crowded during sessions.
One of the most interesting aspects of his layout is that he designed it to allow for different railroads and eras. The overall generic midwestern feel looks right for whatever equipment he is running at the time. Most of the structures and track configuration are based on prototypes and were compressed to fit his available space.
Duane has modeled the following railroads:
- Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
- Chicago & North Western
- Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
- Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific
- Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
- Illinois Central
- New York Central
He can set up to run in the 1950s, mid 1960s, or late 1970s/early 1980s.
When Duane saw CentraMod’s library, he commented on how valuable his own personal library of books and magazines helped him to build prototypically correct models. He said he has since donated more than 2,000 railroad and model railroading magazines to libraries in his area.
We are glad that Duane stopped by to say hello and check out the club and railfan the Burlington Northern Santa Fe mainline from the depot’s freight dock. As he said in his own words, “If you happen to be railfanning on some lonely stretch of the Santa Fe and spot a big red Harley and an oversized biker with a camera hung from his neck, please stop by and say hello.”
Be sure to check out the April 1995 issue of Model Railroader in the club library to see some great pictures of a beautiful layout.