The Black Bear and Bayou RR

[LongHornCaddy]

My wife, Lorrie  and I started our railroad in July of 2011.  We'd stocked up on track, turnouts Tortoises and structures for years so we had a nice head start.  Lorrie dilly dallyed in the hobby until we went to the Craftsman Structure Show in 2008.  After the show, she was hooked! I'm very proud of her work.  In June of this year our Black Bear & Bayou Railroad made the cover of The Cowcatcher magazine with a very nice story.  A couple weeks later the Dallas Morning news  Sunday edition did a story on the railroad.

The Black Bear & Bayou is the freelance RR. We decided on a freelance layout because we like to make our own rules The  layout is a mushroom design and  is housed in a detached building in our backyard (with central heat and AC). The layout is set in the transition era of Steam to Diesel. The trains run from southern Colorado to the bayous of east Texas and SW Louisiana. TheHO/HOn3 layout is designed for point to point operations using DCC. Thru freights, passenger trains and way freights. Our scenery features towering mountains, beautifully painted backdrops (Lorrie), multiple ocean scenes, four turntables, a sound enhanced thunderstorm along with many structures (lots of craftsman kits and scratch built). The six track staging yard features a unique home made remote switch panel. Trains are both steam and diesel. The layout has a dual gauge yard, switchbacks, a 40"/43" radius double track helix, two reversing loops and various levels. The LED lighting is setup for both day and night time viewing.   






Somewhere between Louisiana and Colorado, the Palittis can be found a few times a year snooping around. They rarely retrace their steps, especially when driving to southwestern Colorado. Every adventure is unique. When they aren’t traveling during “train season,” Leo and Lorrie canvass local model railroads on home layout tours. They take lots of notes, and their Fort Worth layout is sprouting life as they see it with every last detail. The craftsman kit-laden Black Bear & Bayou model railroad is rapidly becoming a must-see among Dallas/Fort Worth layouts.

[bparrish]

Lorrie and Leo...

I am so happy that after all these years and two forums later you are together in this and willing to share your names and .......... sorta location.

We have watched Leo's modeling for so long and only knew him through a pseudonym name.

Thanx for sharing your amazing modeling skills.

Thanx
Bob

[cuse]

Excellent,


Mr and Mrs Caddy have teased us with small tastes of their outstanding work. I'm excited to see more of their layout here.


John

[ACL1504]

Leo and Lorrie,

Wowser! What a beautiful layout and wonderful scenes. It is really great to have you sharing your modeling and artistic skills with us.

Tom

[Zephyrus52246]

Stunning work.  You two have built quite the layout.  The scenery, backdrops, details, everything is so well done.


Jeff

[tct855]

Lorrie & Leo,

          Thank you for sharing all the great pics.  You are a modeling duo of awesome proportions.  Your skills in layout design & executions are just fantastic.  Perhaps a modeling comic book of you two should be done tackling designs, leaping over installing buildings, shedding some lighting scenes, painting yourselves out of corners and saving wiring confusions for the masses.

I see a book, movie & saturday morning cartoon (perhaps) happening here if you both continue to inspire and share your modeling teamwork. ha.  Thanks for sharing!  Thanx Thom...

[LongHornCaddy]

Bob, John, Tom, Jeff and Thom,

Thank you for the nice comments!

Leo

[gfoyle01]

Wow. This is really beautiful work.  I was happy to find a personal favorite building, Carrick's Bakery, from Rail Scale Miniatures (Carrick's Corner). I would love to see an overhead or full layout view.  Great work.
Roy Clarke

[LongHornCaddy]

Wow. This is really beautiful work.  I was happy to find a personal favorite building, Carrick's Bakery, from Rail Scale Miniatures (Carrick's Corner). I would love to see an overhead or full layout view.  Great work.
Roy Clarke

I'd be happy to do post some pictures of the overall layout.  Right now the layout is in construction mode getting ready for open house Oct.1st.  I'll take the pictures when we get it cleaned up in two weeks.  It will take 7-8 pictures to get the entire layout.  Because of the odd track plan only a small precentage of the layout can be captured in  single picture.

[tom.boyd.125]

Lorrie & Leo,
Together you both have created a beautiful layout with lots of craftsman kits to admire.
Looking forward to seeing more completed work on your project . Texas modelers have created many great layouts over the years. Thanks for sharing ! 
Tommy

[cuse]

I'm looking forward to more views Leo. One thing I think the magazines get wrong is the lack of at least a couple of panoramic views. I certainly enjoy the closeups and track level views, but I also like to get the view that I would as a visitor. The ones where you get a sense of what it's like to be in the room.


Great stuff!


John

[GPdemayo]

Lou, you and Lorrie are doing a really great job.....thanks for bringing us up to date. 

[jimmillho]

Leo and Lorrie------that is one fantastic layout.

I am a little late to the thread, but I will be checking in often.

Jim

[LongHornCaddy]

I'm looking forward to more views Leo. One thing I think the magazines get wrong is the lack of at least a couple of panoramic views. I certainly enjoy the closeups and track level views, but I also like to get the view that I would as a visitor. The ones where you get a sense of what it's like to be in the room.


Great stuff!


John

Thank you Tommy, Greg & Jim!

John, here's some pics of the layout (a little messy).  If you're wondering about all the loose wires in the upper level corner we're having all of our switch panels redone with a laser cutter, the first two panels will go in the corner on the upper level.

























After the switchbacks (upper level) heading upstairs



Coming from the switchbacks to the upper level

[cuse]

Wow. That's great in every way... the facia frames it nicely.


John