The "More Than Just HO, HO, HO" Story

Hand-made row houses which is where my friend Jerry lived when
he was a child.  You can see him playing in front of his house while
his bike sits along the curb in front of the Yellow Cab.

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in front of my childhood friend Jerry's home on Manheim Ave.  Place seems so much smaller than it did when I was a child.  Probably because it is 1:87 scale!  Yep, it really is that small, since I am standing in Jerry's basement looking at his HO train yard and his old home is part of the layout.  I wrote a story recently detailing Jerry's new addition to his train collection, a pair of diesel-electric engines, but his train yard is more, much more, than the trains that run on the nickel silver tracks.  

A Pennsylvania Railroad electric engine pulls out of
Lancaster Train Station on this HO train yard.

First, I should clear up what HO really means.  When I was a child my dad bought me a Lionel Train set for a Christmas gift when I was 10 years old.  Back in the 1950s "O" gauge miniature railroads, which was what the Lionel set was, were the rage, but in the 1960's HO began to challenge the market dominance of "O" gauge.  The HO designation came about since it's scale is about half that of "O" scale.  

Some of Jerry's many trays of supplies he uses on his train yard.

HO scale layouts are more suited for smaller spaces and tend to cost much less than the "O" scale layouts.  HO trains run on two-rail track which is powered by direct-current.  The locomotives, rolling stock (cars and carriages), buildings and scenery are made by quite a few manufactures in a variety of price brackets.  That being said, Jerry likes to make all his buildings as well as much of his scenery.  He has a few kit buildings which he bought, but most of his structures are hand-crafted such as the entire row of homes where he grew up in Lancaster, PA.  

The scene behind the trains is one of the few things on
Jerry's train yard that he didn't make himself. 

He buys materials to make these structures from hobby shops and catalogues.  He also uses items found in nature to help make his scenery for his train yard.  His entire catenary system (wires above the train tracks that are needed for  real electric engines) is hand-made and actually can be used to run his electric locomotives.  He currently is working on a few more buildings that surrounded his neighborhood near Manheim Ave. which was a block from my childhood home as well as a block from the Lancaster Train Station.  Could be where he began his lifelong love affair with trains.  I have included photos of some of my favorite parts of his train yard so you can see how detailed and realistic an HO scale train yard can be.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - click on photos to enlarge.

A car dealership under construction. 

Here a train passes by a church and under a covered bridge, all hand-made.

A woman hangs up wash while her children play nearby.

The old swimming hole.

Hand-made garage with a 1:87 scale red truck similar to Jerry's own real-life truck standing in front of the garage door.

Workers work on a new roof while another worker creates shingles under the porch.

Jerry's Circus has the elephants raising the Bigtop.

More elephants take a break in the shade.

A casting facility that was close to our homes.  It was leveled years ago, but brought back to life in Jerry's train yard. 

People wait for the train at Lancaster Train Station's platform #2.