Скачать или смотреть St Louis & Suburban Electric Railway

William J. Clouser was renowned for his superb modeling skills and ingenuity. He was among the earliest advocates of finescale (Proto:48) standards for track, wheels, and overhead wire. Bill produced a high-quality line of scale models and detail parts, and his models, magazine articles and photography continue to inspire others.

Bill was fascinated by the electric railways that once operated in and around St. Louis. These railways are represented on the 1/4-inch scale model railroad that he built in his home fifty years ago. The layout is remarkable even by today's standards.

In May 1966, his friend Bob Hegge filmed the layout in action using an 8mm camera. The dawn-to-dusk sequences in this 8mm-to-video conversion begin with United Railways streetcar 600 making its first run in the early morning shadows and end with all of the equipment resting in the yard as the sun fades to night.

In between, star performers include a two-car ITS interurban train dragging a freight trailer and ITS Class "C" loco 1595 switching and hauling freight trains. Realistic slow speeds with smooth starts and stops are apparent. Watch trains backpole nimbly through complex junctions (occasionally a giant hand descends from the sky to throw switches and guide the trolley shoe through the frogs); the wire is pulled so taut, you could almost pluck out a tune. At 8:50, as the interurban train backs around an impossibly sharp curve, note the thin wheel profiles.

To answer your question: Yes, the electricity that propels these models comes from the overhead wire.

Bill and his son Stephen play cameo roles in the video. The subtitle, "A Project Eternal," suggests that Bill really didn't intend to finish the layout - there would always be a new project or something which he could do better. Currently the layout is preserved at a small museum of early P:48 layouts in Tehachapi, CA. David Neubauer (who now owns the original 8mm film) and Minerva Clouser encouraged us to share this video with "the rest of the world." We added a soundtrack (Baby Boomers will surely recognize the first tune), but otherwise the film is unedited.