Grants Pass Railroad

Larry Brinker's water scene at the California end of the Grants Pass Railroad. Larry scratch built this sailboat including sewing the sails, rigging the lines which actually  raise the sails.

A New Blog...
I was over to visit Larry Brinker's layout last week and thought I share a few of my photos from that visit. Larry's layout follows the history to a point of an actual railroad. California & Oregon Coast Railroad Co. which was founded in 1911 by the city of Grants Pass to connect with the 15.7 mile Crescent City and Smith River Railroad logging railroad  built in 1906.  The rails only made it 15 miles west before it went into receivership. Larry then made up his own railroad the Grants Pass Railroad. He has built a line that runs from the California waterfront up high into the mountains. He also has a knack for building boats of all kinds. They are all scratch built. He also showed me his sailboat model that he actually sails. He built it as a young lad as a model then converted it later as a sailing model which is remote control.

This is not a Seaport Model Works kit but a scratch built model that Larry built using the advertising  for a guide. He did use Seaport Model Works detail parts to finish the model. In the background the seaside building is Sam Cahoon's and Fish head Fertiliser built from pictures of  Bob Hayden's and Dave Frary's Thatcher's Inlet series. There now is a kit available for this structure.

Larry stands beside his remote control sailing sailboat that he built as a young man. He may in the future tell you the story of this boat on his blog. I enjoyed the story on my visit.

Larry likes building model structure kits or scratch building a similar freelanced copy of a kit as much as he does building boats. From what I saw he has done a great job building both. He also has been recently working on painting his backdrop. He has become a quick study in backdrops and has just finished another wall which looks great. His layout is actually finished but as all of us there are always changes to be made. He also has a narrow gauge line in the mountains. It runs as a HOn30 gauge line.

Larry has started a blog a couple of weeks ago that  follows his construction...so check it out at http://grantspassrailroad.blogspot.com


Grants Pass Railroad

Flatheads is a Full Steam Ahead laser kit that Larry has built.

Wicked Wanda's is a Bars Mills Scale Model  Kit that Larry has done a fine job building...seems there are a couple of good timer's hanging around out front.

A logging shay idles in the siding out front of the Kerby station . The station  is a Down Town Deco Kit which looks at home in the mountains. Note the nice job done on the backdrop. Each wall painted it better than the last. This one might be hard to beat.