Crescent green rules on an O gauge Southern layout

HERE’S A MYSTERY FOR YOU: Why did lifelong O gauge enthusiast John Staschak, who came of age with the roar of Niagara Falls in his ears, decide to base his current three-rail empire on the Southern Ry.? Not the New York Central or the Erie RR, both of which served his hometown, but the line famous for its steam engines and passenger cars painted a distinctive shade known as Crescent Green.

To make matters even more puzzling, John has been passionate about the Southern since he started to crawl, if not sooner. Infancy was when he received his first toy train, a Lionel no. 2231W diesel freight outfit. In fact, his dad had picked out the top-of-the-line O gauge set even before John had left the womb. What did this happy baby know about railroads and the regions of the country they served?

John’s fascination with the Southern and its roster of motive power and its memorable group of streamlined coaches and freight equipment has never abated. Even now, more than six decades after getting his first electric train in 1954, he declares the Southern his favorite and surely the premier line on his 12½' x 25' home layout. Let’s listen as he talks about his preferences and the layout he built.

married Sharman in 1978, and their kids came in 1982 and 1985. A growing family demanded a larger home, even if a train room remained impossible. John waited until they moved to a still bigger house.

What began as a 4' x 8' display constructed by John, his father, and his son, Justin, eventually expanded to 8' x 20'. And guess what? The old Plasticville structures, including the farm, airport hangar, gas station, and school, helped the three create a village to be served by the postwar Southern diesels and their cars.

Creating a plan

The next stage in John’s education as a model railroader occurred between 2002 and 2006. He built a 12' x 20' O gauge display using layout design software on his home computer. It featured solid and level benchwork and superb scenery. John had come to appreciate the benefits offered by command control, and therefore elected to install both Lionel’s TrainMaster Command Control and MTH Electric Trains’ Digital Command System.

Not many years later, Sharman and John decided to move, in spite of the fact that doing so meant abandoning the layout. Yet the opportunities offered by a new residence – with a bigger and totally finished train room – were just too tempting.

New Southern home

The latest chapter in John’s O gauge odyssey opened about a decade ago, when his wife and he settled into their newly completed home. The western end of New York remained the right spot for them. And the Southern Ry. was still the right railroad. John had every intention of continuing to model in Crescent Green.

A day of reckoning took place shortly after John walked downstairs to the cavernous basement. He acknowledged that no matter

how experienced he might be when it came to electronics and scenery, the amount of time required to build and troubleshoot a large three-rail display was absolutely daunting.

Consequently, John collaborated with the master craftsmen and technicians at Scale Models, Arts & Technologies Inc. (SMARTT), the respected firm established by Michael Hart in 1995. They conferred regularly on the proposed track plan, making sure it contained features John desired.

As John described the layout, its main level stands 42" off the floor and features a pair of main lines, two reverse loops, several passing and freight sidings, and a freight yard. Ten inches below the surface is a four-track staging yard. Almost 8" above the main level is an elevated section of the key main line. There’s also a branch line in the mountains 7" higher.

Getting down to specifics, John says that the first main line contains 148' of track and the second one has 175'. The branch line spans 65'.

“All the tracks are interconnected,” John goes on. “This allows trains to move from one level to another, including through the staging area.” Another notable element he likes to point out is “a canal-based water attraction with a container ship docked as part of an intermodal transfer point.”

Excellent foundation

The builders at SMARTT needed 39 sheets of ¾"-thick cabinet-grade plywood, each measuring 4' x 8', to create the system of interconnected modules for John’s layout. The legs were 2 x 4 pieces of lumber. There was also a functional swing bridge that provided easy access to the inner aisle.

To be sure, John Staschak grew up and continues to reside in western New York. Yet the gift of a Lionel set led by Southern Ry. F3s launched his love of that distant railroad.

1 John Staschak makes no secret of his lifelong interest in the Southern Ry. Current models of some of that fallen flag’s historic engines find homes on his O gauge layout. Leading the way this morning is a shiny Lionel no. 11334) 4-6-2 Pacific.

2 Long freight trains have ample room to stretch out on John’s railroad. Most of them feature models of locomotives that once distinguished the Southern Ry.

3 The hard-working crew is struggling to upright the fallen Hooker chemical tank car before any of its hazardous contents escape and contaminate the nearby forest.