HOSTLER LAYOUT TOURS 2024
By Mike Murphy
September 7th is the day! Most of the time for each house is 10 am to 4 pm. PLEASE Check each individual listing for sure.
VISIT LAYOUTS in the Hostler HOME LAYOUT TOUR(s). You must sign in on a guest register at each home visit to get your points credit. Adult members and Partner Members will receive 10 points. Other family members (same family name) signed in will receive 5 points per home. Guest/Non-Members signed in will receive 5 points that will be credited to you if listed under your name. All Hosts receive 50 points.
Let’s have good participation! The host guys who open their homes to you for the day do a lot of work to get ready, I know because I have done it. Below are the 5(Five) homes that will be open for you to visit. They are somewhat clustered in the South Ogden and Morgan area, so you do NOT have to crisscross all over the valley.
Lee Witten, South Ogden, Steve Blodgett, South Ogden, Gary Brooks, Layton, Brian Brendel, Mountain Green, and Ray Carter, Morgan.
NOW HERE IS THE BEST PART.
At each home, a business card-size paper will be available for you to pick up. The card will say on it, “I WAS THERE!” On the back side of the card will be the HOST Name. If you get all five different host names and come to my house at 4:15 pm and bring the five different cards you picked up from the other homes, you will be entitled to a FREE PICNIC. Beginning at 4:45 pm we will have Hamburgers plus the trimmings and drinks and you can stay as long as you want.
BRIAN BRENDEL 6066 N. Robinson Ln., MOUNTAIN GREEN, Ut. if you get lost call 703-244-7594 If you are using a GPS enter Morgan and NOT Mountain Green.
HOURS 10 am to 4 pm
Brian’s N Scale C&O Mountain Subdivision has 80% completed bench work and sub roadbed, 100% completed backdrop, a section of track that runs on DC for the time being, and is just beginning the scenery process of planting about 70 gazillion trees. The layout was designed by Bernard Kempinski. Layout dimensions are 22' x 38' overall and include a staging "mole", a trip thru the restroom, and future hidden furnace room staging. It models the present-day Mountain Sub as though it was still owned by CSX. (Buckingham Branch Line are actual present owners, with CSX trackage rights, and Amtrak 3 times a week for the New York-Washington-Chicago Cardinal.) The layout is dated 2005 and runs from roughly Charlottesville, Virginia through Clifton Forge to Covington, Virginia. The Mountain Sub is the highest point on the C&O and offers Eastern Mountain railroading through areas of single-tracking and a future large yard at Clifton Forge, and several large future industries, including Lehigh Cement in Craigsville and the Westvaco Paper Plant in Covington.
Drinks and photos will be allowed. Unattended children will be given espresso and a puppy. Do not try to park in the driveway. You will enter through the garage and go up about 4 steps to enter the train room area. Watch for signs to direct you. Look for the “HOSTLER EVENT” sign.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS:
Go up Weber Canyon, I-84 East, and get off at the Mountain Green exit, Exit #92, Mtn. Green Huntsville. At end of exit ramp, go left under the freeway, then right onto the Highway Rd. Proceed about 100 yards to Robinson Lane and turn LEFT, there are big Pagoda-looking things on each side of the entrance. Head up Robinson Ln. about a half mile total (past the large median), the house is on the right, and there are lots of rock walls.
STEVE BLODGETT, 4685 S. 1575 E. 801-624-9339, Hours 10 am to 4 pm.
On Harrison Blvd. near the DEE EVENTS CENTER, turn EAST on 4600 S. at the stop light. Ogden Clinic is on the corner. Go up the hill about ½ mile then turn right on 1575 east. It will be the third house on your right-hand side. Walk down the walkway on the left side of the driveway to the rear of the house. Just a few steps going up into the house. Steve’s Railroad is 28 x 12 feet, HO scale set in the late 1800’s. He has about 200 feet of mainline track and will have trains running. Cameras are welcome but NO outside food or drinks. All Children should be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Steve has many beautifully made wood structures, lots of outhouses, highly detailed locomotives, lots of mountain scenery, a ten-foot river, many bridges, and trestles, one being over four feet long and 1 ½ feet tall. The layout is controlled by Easy DCC
GARY BROOKS 2351 E. 3100 N. Layton, Ut. 801-814-3606 if you need help
HOURS 10 am to 4 pm 2024 NEW UPDATES
Gary’s address may scare you but it is easy to get to and relatively close to the others. See Driving Directions.
Gary’s GNKFB Railroad is a HO scale layout that is loosely based on the Great Northern Kettle Falls Branch line that ran between Spokane, Wash, and Kettle Falls, Wash, between 1965 and 1970. It is a DCC-controlled system with a computer interface that runs JMRI. The layout was started in March 2014 and is a three-deck layout. Currently, the lower staging level is completely finished and the scenery on the second level is mostly complete. All track work is installed on the upper level, with work beginning on the scenery. All track is powered, including turnout frogs, and all turnouts are DCC and pushbutton controlled with LED indicators. All turnouts are either jig-built using Fast Track jigs or scratch-built and are servo-controlled with Tam Valley Depot controllers. The layout has just over 400 feet of mainline track.
Please no outside food or drinks. Photos and small children are allowed if attended by a guardian.
You will enter at the front door. Look for the “HOSTLER EVENT” sign.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS:
Go out of Ogden to the East on Hwy. 89. Down the big hill and through the opening and junction to Weber Canyon and then up the next big hill going South on Hwy 89. Stay over in your right-hand lane as near the top of the hill, you will turn Right off 89 onto Hwy 193. Go around the sweeping big curve and to the first stop light (2400 E.) and turn RIGHT and go about a block & half to the first LEFT, 3100 N. and turn left. Gary’s house will be the third house on the North or your right side, lots of trees.
RAY CARTER 436 SHERRIE St., MORGAN, UT. If you get lost, call 801-726-5088
HOURS 11 am to 4 pm
The layout is an HO scale with a loop of HON3. I model the Union Pacific Railroad in Morgan and Summit Counties, which includes the Park City Branch to Coalville. It also includes the Western Pacific at Keddie, California. The layout is in the 1960’s-70’s era. It includes a 180-foot double mainline track with signals. The layout is three levels, with staging on the lower level and the Park City Branch on the upper level. I have been working on this version for 20 years. The track is 100% complete, and the terrain is about 95% complete. The layout is controlled by NCE DCC.
I am just getting a good start on scenery, but I will have trains running. Please, no outside food or drinks. I will provide drinks and a snack. Photos are welcome, and so are children if they are with a responsible adult.
You will enter through the garage and go down the stairs on the right side of the garage.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS:
Go east on I-84 and take exit 103 at Morgan. Turn right onto State Street and continue for .8 miles. Turn right onto Young Street for .3 miles. Turn left onto Sherrie Street (410 West) and go south one block, and the house is on the corner on the north side of the street. 436 Sherrie Street
LEE WITTEN, 852 E. 5500 S. 801-479-1206 Hours 10 am to 4 pm.
Get on Washington Blvd. and go South toward Ogden Regional Hospital. STAY On HWY 89 as it turns EAST by the Maverik. Go to the next stop light and turn RIGHT onto 850 East. Go just a few blocks and look for the street sign on your left side for 5500 S. His carport is right there and faces south. Enter from the carport. The room size is 12 x 18 feet in the basement, so steps are required. The railroad is on HO scale, 50s circa, and is 100% finished. It is a single-level, continuous loop single mainline with several industries and towns. Occasionally you will see Amtrak run through town. It is DIGITRAX DCC controlled.
