I showed my grandfather this video, and he smiled the whole way through. Not only because he's a railroader, but also because he is from upstate Maine, and Mr. Gillen's nor' eastern accent really made him chuckle. He was a brakeman on the D&H in the early '50's, and then an engineer on the B&M up until he retired in the early '90's. Great job to Mr. Gillen, by the way. Absolute masterpiece of a layout, and the amount of detail that went into it is truly staggering.

Not just a train lay out but his memories. Wow.

You know you've got to do an interview with him now. So many years of Railroad history to share and it sounds like he'd be more than happy to do so!

Cherish the old. I dont need to tell you this Hyce but their knowledge is invaluable. Makes me miss my Grandpa even more.

This was so awesome to see. My son told me that this video posted this evening, but we knew it was coming as Tom is my uncle. He's the one who inspired my love of trains when I was a young boy when we all lived on Long Island. I had operated on some of his prior layouts and am thrilled to operate this one along with my teenaged son who is now into the hobby as well. Every town name on his layout is a place Tom lived in or a place where he owned property. My Aunt doing laundry in the actual laundrymat in Worcester is one of my favorite scenes. He and his craftsmanship have been my inspiration for 4 decades now and I'm proud to call this man my uncle (cousin by blood technically but he's always been Uncle Tom). Way to Go Uncle Tom. Your layout deserved to be seen and thanks to Hyce for making that happen!

Thank you for posting my Uncles layout for the world to see. I know he really appreciated it and is looking forward to me and my dad showing this to him! Once again, great video, Hyce, and thank you!

My grandpa is 89 and lives in Indiana he made a layout of his little home town of when he was a kid, he still lives there and has made the local paper before. It is not as nice of a layout but it means so much to our family because most of us live in the area still, (one of his other grandsons lives in Colorado and works in Denver.) His brother ran the towns ford dealer for around 20 or 30 years. The dealership was turned into the fire station where I curently help out. Its awsome how small of a world it can be and. It's always fun how the old guys can remember so much, as much of the town has changed but it's all based out of memory. Hyce I love your videos they are just so happy and fun, I hope to drive the 17 hours to come see the museum and maybe you here at somepoint in the next few years or even months! Thank you for making such great videos.

This is beautiful, absolutely awe inspiring the amount of thought and care he's put into this work of a lifetime. So glad you were able to capture it on film, especially as maestros like Tom ain't gettin' any younger. All the best wishes to this charming gentleman and thanks for sharing his world with our world.

Wow Mark I can’t find the words to adequately express what I saw. This was ultra beautiful, beyond a work of love. Like you said a testament to Tom Sr. himself. The detail was amazing I loved how the rigging actually worked on the boat and the station roof that removed to reveal the interior, made me scream! OMG to the so realistic lighting. Not to mention his gigantic and beautiful model train collection itself. I’m beside myself. Many thanks to Tom Sr. for inviting us to see his magnificent masterpiece layout. And as always kudos and thanks Professor for creating this fab video. Please film more of these, so do enjoy seeing other people’s train collections, layouts and all that. It’s inspiring, like a class field trip. This made my day-cheers to you Mark and Tom Sr.!

That was one of the neatest layouts I have ever seen, it was so cool hearing the story behind it, and the fact he was already okay with it being filmed, that is one special individual

Hey Mark, I have to compliment you on taking the time to tour Tom's Layout! It's so cool and I hope to see more layout tours in the future of your channel as it really is very cool to learn the history and stories behind each and every model layout! Love this and I can't wait to see more!!!

Love model railroad content! It’s always so cool to dive into model railroads and the stories of their creation

This is an AWESOME layout, I LOVE how everything from the gentleman's life is on the layout!

Old boy's has a hell of a story. Like you, I enjoy talking and listening to our seniors share their life experiences. You pay attention you may learn many things you'd never given a thought to otherwise !

its so cool to see Toms layout this was really cool made me cry a little so nise and pawsome and so sweet what a nise thing to see

I hope to have a HO scale railroad just as big one day! That was an incredible layout.

the whole layout is beautiful and the amount of memories that are there for him is equally as beautiful

That was an awesome layout! Your reactions to seeing the layout were great!

Fantastic video as usual. Please let Tom know how much we all appreciate him sharing this amazing layout with us.

It's so crazy to me seeing all this stuff that's based on Massachusetts and Upstate NY, exactly my part of the country. It's one thing when I got to the big train convention in Springfield, as I did today, and see for example the Adirondacks recreated exquisitely, but to see you guys out in Colorado looking at all this stuff that's based on my world, getting excited about it, it feels like you're visiting my hometown. Next time I go to Colorado, I don't only want to go to the Colorado Railroad Museum again, but I want to really talk and connect to everyone there. I also hope I can come in the summer next time to see the steam engines running. I remember seeing 20 there and getting exciting because she's a Schenectady Locomotive Works Engine, and one of volunteers guys, maybe it was one of you, told be me you'll be running her in the Summer. Oh I wish I could have been there this summer! Even if I saw them all before, after watching your videos and learning all about the Engines and their quirks, it will be so much more exciting to see those Engines. Since Tom Gillen's from my area, I wonder if he knows all the same railroad guys my Dad does. It's a small world, the model railroad scene. My Dad's not very active anymore in it, but he's always wanted to get me into it. I'd love to meet Tom too; his work is so impressive!

That’s so cool and so much little details hope have a layout like that someday

I would LOVE to see more operations. Tom is right to be proud of his work, this layout is magnificent!

Just the amount of detail in the layout speaks volumes of how dedicated and skilled Tom Sr. is. The fact that there are so many tiny details on such a huge layout is incredible. Cheers to Tom and I hope that his wonderful layout continues to grow and morph into an even more amazing masterpiece

Such a special and touching look into Tom’s railroad and his life. “That’s my dad up there on the roof” Much thanks to Tom for wanting to share his model railroad and experiences with us and to Hyce for bringing it to life for us to enjoy.

Hyce, Ask Tom if he’s thought about modeling the maintenance yards formerly located in Oneonta, NY ( Oh -nee - on - ta ) which were located roughly an hour south of Worcester. ( Woo- ster ) Our farm was bordered by the D&H tracks near a grade summit at Ararat, PA. The 15 mile climb began at Steven’s Point, PA , a constant grade to Ararat, then a near equal grade down into the coal fields which began in Forest City, PA. The climb was steep enough that during the steam era a pusher locomotive would shuttle back and forth assisting with the climb. As a child, I learned the distinctive sound of a laboring steam locomotive. Bark - bark - bark in a slow cadence traveling not much quicker than a fast walk. Forest City was located at the northern tip of the Wyoming Valley anthracite region where Tom’s coal breaker model would have been located in Wilkes Barre, PA.

Awesome layout Tom has…seems like a great guy to know…thanks for sharing his layout with us

Very cool, I love the concept to manifesting a lifelong collection of memories in the form of a layout. It's a unique take on the hobby. I know a model railroader who've done the same thing, each bit on his layout is memory from his upbringing and life in Morshyttan, right down to individual scenes such as picknick with his parents in the garden of his chidhood home, all maticulously scratch built. Props to Tom Sr, for the "Railroad of Memories" and the woodwork.

As someone from upstate NY i have a special appreciation of this layout

I've been to several of these places and model the east coast myself. The farms, towns, and industries all look amazing.

the actual "yeah its not that much guys just my little layout" i am scared of how much this costed him

So much details gone in to the HO Scale. So much work but at the end it came out great.

What an awesome layout!

I really appreciate this kind of content, and getting to know some of the volunteers at the Colorado Railroad Museum.

It's nice that you got to record this, otherwise his life story might have never been recorded and passed on.

Loved it and the history and the craftsmanship of it. Totally awesome.

I love seeing someone model where I was born with Plattsburgh. I plan to do N Scale D&H layout one day.

Hey hyce if the RROL division of the ES & D is not absolutely abandoned we’re going north to Alaska to mine the miners with a total of 3 maps and other things that might bring ya back and reopen the line 😊

Beautiful layout! Thanks for sharing!

This is great. Thanks for sharing and thank him for hard work and sharing.

Loved the bull sessions with the old timers back in the day. So many stories. Appreciate it more now that I'm the old timer.

I first knew about the D&H from the funni SD45 lashup from I Love Toy Trains and Im so proud of that fact.

Great layout! Nice to hear of places close to where I grew up in upstate NY :-)

Really nice tour of a beautiful layout!

Thank you Tom, amazing layout and work

When you get the chance hyce you should visit Hamburg in Germany at one point. They have the biggest H0 scale model railroad in the world at "Miniatur Wunderland." Its absolutly amazing

What an incredible soul!

I only could hope to have that sort of layout sometime in the future. For now I'd settle for having my own house with a basement to start building in 😂

Grew up back east this is spot on .

I for one would love to see more of modle railroads and different layouts.

Show quality layout with an amazing story!

What a cool way to tell you life's story! Really cool video that I didn't expect to enjoy nearly as mush as I did.

Awesome, so many thanks! 🙏

So cool

Beutiful. Absoluteley a beutiful layout.

That is one really, really cool layout.

There’s a Long Island community in Colorado who knew. I know one Ho modeler from Long Island moved there.

Another instance of what would it have been like to grow up in a different decade to experience what we only know about in books or the few remaining that tell the stories of years past

Goals. Just. Goals.

Thanks for sharing this, Mark! Tom Sr is a gem of a human and a master craftsman. (With a sense of humor of another era.) The fine details and vignettes are where it’s at. This begs the question, HOn3 or Sn3 empire for you and when? 😏

this is awesome.

I really want to have a layout like this someday. My main issue right now though is space. I would have nowhere to put my masterpiece.

That water looks pretty good, you should def ask him how he got it that good. Is all this stuff hand built (I'm guessing the cars and locos are bought as)? Also, gotta say, new camera is working great, looks nice.

Love ya', Toms

Random question I’ve asked people recently does/did your grandma make good cookies? Also really cool video

At the 12ish second mark you pass by two gp30’s and they are like red and gold/yellow, are they a freelance road by the creator Tom, and if so what is the road name?

2:26 was that a rail barge? did they have a need to take trains/cars across bodies of water that didnt have a rail bridge?

I think there's a rapper with the same online name as you

1hour gang

please do a video on eletric trains (evaluation of them and some of the mechanics) and evaluation of diesel and steam, atualy just evaluation of different types of trains the porters steam loco the Japanese class d5, the Chinese QJ 2,10,2 or just exsamples of asian trains how do gear trains work something on saddle bolier and side tanks (like the big water boxes) tank engines double ended diesel trains (and electric) American and European switches other then the British class 07-09 what to do if the train stalls one talking about the different types of steam funnles and there uses, steam locomotive combination breaks (steam and vacuum brakes) the breaks commonly on wagons that you turn like a valve/leaver mechanical breaks a short video on how a Armstrong turn table works a basic video on flagmen/break men who would ride with the train and any other "small" jobs what did trains (mostly steam) do when going in tunnels, ive heard of gas masks or just useing a wet cloth, or did they bring in other engines like later on they used electric trains, or were there no big tunnels. why are some trains wagion tops (the stream lining thing to boilers) railway terms abd slang one on the meaning of flag and lantern colors like green on rear engine means theres another one coming soon, the different types of cut offs/reversers/Johnson bar some are a big lever, some are a big valve wheel, and ive also seen some that are like rods, one exsample is train sim world 3 and im not sure where to find the other reverser wet vs dry/saturated vs super steam,

That is amazing!

That's awesome, such a human being. Lots to learn. Always ❤️🌹🙏🦜