Who created Thatcher's Inlet?
Bob Hayden and Dave Frary
When was Thatcher's Inlet created?
Born of a series in RMC magazine starting with four articles written in 1972 by Bob Hayden and Dave Frary.
The idea was to build a 6'6" by 3' core of a narrow gauge railroad, then expand in transportable pieces.
Where was Thatcher's Inlet built?
In Dave's basement and yard
Where was Thatcher's Inlet based on?
Franklin county, Mythical Maine
What materials was original TI built with?
Wood, a pressed paper material called Homosote, heat formed florest foam and scenic materials.
Have you built the TIII exactly as Thatcher's Inlet was built?
Yes and No. The buildings are as close as I can figure out to the orginal structures, using articles written and pictures published by Bob Hayden and Dave Frary, kit bashing techniques and written descriptions of the buildings from the articles, or estimating structures based on 2 or 3 views from the series. Some buildings that were kit bashing fodder in 1972, are now collector's items, namely the Fine Scale Minatures(FSM) Flour Mill. Other structures are just hard to find, but have been located with a lot of luck and head scratching as I traveled with pictures in hand, to local swap meets and a couple times resorting to Ebay.
However, some buildings were kit bashed based on pictures without benifit of plans and ended up slightly differently than the Dave Frary photographs. Errors in fractions of an inch resulted in a noticable difference in the final building. Every building is a learning experience for better or worse. Color film was proportionately more expensive 30+ years ago as was the expense to print color in magazines. So you might notice some differences in colors.
Did you get help from others?
Yes, friends have provided inputs from Coast to Coast, from Europe and Asia. Invaluable assistance was provided by an awesome hobby shop owner that specalizes in N30 models. Big Al spent long hours finding odd ball parts for me to add a detail on a building or car.
Is there a list of the characters of the Elk River?
People- Elk River
How do you justify characters from Elk River living in Thatcher's Inlet?
People move. Good chacters are drawn to good working enviroments.
Human Resources would call it Retention.
What do you mean by TI left and TI right?
The left side (or right side) of the layout as viewed from the front of the railway.
The links show the different sides, just for my reference. The numbers on the scanned picture correspond to the notes on the page below. Buildings that I have completed are colored green below to mark progress.
What year was the Thatcher's Inlet set in?
Tuesday 1928
How do you justify the differences in Thatcher's Inlet?
TIII is backdated to 1901, in the eighth year of business.
If it is 1901, why the cornerstone of the municipal building marked 1907.
It was a typo.
What? A typo on a cornerstone! How did that happen?
The TI muni building was built under two rival factions of the Republican party back when a city deficet was bad govenment. With the advent of the Railroad as a tax source in 1893, two years of planning established a 6 year timeline to buy the materials and build without incurring dept. The Silver panic of late 1893 and recession following: depressed material costs, accelerated scheduled timeline of unionized contract labor and resulted in 1899 laying of a cornerstone marked with 1901. See RMC 1972 pg 42
It is a hobby, having fun