"Hey mack, can ya spare a dime for a cup o' joe and the paper?" The 1930's. It was a different kind of time; innocent yet streetwise, teetering between great industrial advancement and the earthy, simple ways of the past. Possibly the last decade where horse and engine labored side-by-side in daily life. It was a time of pragmatism in the face of worldwide economic disparity. Wishful optimism for the future yet unsuspecting of the coming Second World War.
It was a time when the automobile was still confined to cities a few navigable back roads. For the railroad reigned supreme as the force of progress across the nation. And no town it seemed was beyond the echo of it's steam whistle. It was common. It was life.
Intrigued by the true and very strange tale of the Dingmans Falls & Delaware Railroad, I decided to undertake an N Scale modeling of the real-life prototype. Not so much for line for line detail, but for the flavor of the time and the region, it's character, if you will.
We here in South Florida do not have basements, and Lord knows the attic temperatures are not friendly, thus we make do with what room we can eke out of our living space. I had made a decision that my train layout would not hide in a garage, or fold up into a closet, nor would it descend from the kitchen ceiling with the click of a remote. No, Sir. I would create a centerpiece of it. A piece of furniture of museum quality that would proudly display in the middle of a room, as appropriate and unobtrusive as a coffee table.
In fact, it would be a table, a 46" round pub table that stands chest high. A beautiful and elegant solution for the bench-work. But the real challenge will be to create a round (pizza) layout that is both interesting, fun, and incorporate all the elements of the 1930's DF&D Railroad and the geographic area that we all love so much.
This website hopes to document the process for your enjoyment. Welcome.
— Mr. Mahoney, Curator
IN MEMORIAM
This site is dedicated to the memory of my friend James Lloyd Brown, who was literaly raised between the tracks.
God bless you, Lloydie.
An 1941 annual report open letter to DF&D shareholders from Executive Director Mr. Dwight Hobbes was written as follows:
Dear valued shareholder,
Greetings. I am greatly pleased to report to you, on this our tenth anniversary of the Dingmans Falls & Delaware Railroad Company, that profits are up and the state of the company is fit and able.
While good investment news is always welcome, it is our love for the railroad that binds us together as a family. With Mr. Derwent's determined leadership at the helm, and my partner, Mr. MacGregor's fastidious nature, the DF&D grand future is assured in the decades to come. For America runs on it's rails, and that will never change. God bless.
