Bill’s send off.
Off to Vancouver….
William D. Ackland, MMR
A great time was had by all last night as we bid farewell to Bill Ackland, MMR. He is moving to Vancouver shortly and we decided to spend an evening with him for dinner. Bill’s contribution to the hobby and model railroaders in the area can’t be overstated, his tireless effort to organize the annual Doubleheaders Layout Tour always resulted in a flawless event.
Among many things too numerous to mention, Bill was responsible for keeping the art of hand laid track alive in the area. Many visitors to the layout tour often remark how many layouts in the area sport hand laid track, and it is because of Bill’s tutelage that many of us learned the craft, including me.
His layout, the STR (Stump Gulch, Torrent and Rock Junction) , built over 30 years ago reliably hosted a weekly operating session for its entire life, and will hopefully still be kept operating as it was passed onto one of the operators. Many model railroaders learned the ins and outs of building a layout designed to operate from Bill and his weekly sessions. The result of a few operating sessions at Bill’s was usually a layout being torn out and restarted after one had “seen the light”.
Bill’s constant badgering on the importance of design and planning before building resulted in better work from all who took his advice.
This is just a scratch on the surface of Bills contribution to the hobby. We all wish him the best, his presence will be missed, especially on Monday nights…
Mark and Kevin laughing it up. (I think Kevin wanted me to pull his finger)
Chris and I taking reciprocal pictures….
Ok, normally I don’t like to stick my face in on the site, but since I stuck questionable pictures of everyone else here, I’ll be fair…
-Tim
About the Author:
I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!
Posted by: Tim | 05-17-2007 | 10:05 AM
Posted in: Picture of the Day