The first major layout that I saw in OO, a big influence on me at the time, was featured in the May, 1979 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman, “The OO scale Saint Anne” of Ed Costello. I have had this issue packed away for years but getting it out again now, it seems like only a little while ago I was looking at the photos, they feel extremely familiar.

First, the cover shot: a pair of scratchbuilt diesels, an Alco RS-3 and a Baldwin AS-16 running on the layout. WOW. Turning inside to pages 68-73, it is a large layout. There are a number of scratchbuilt diesels on the roster including an Alco RS-11, a GE U33C, and a C628 Alco. In the photos they look great, like brass models, very well detailed and to scale. Quite a number of scratchbuilt cars are featured in the photos as well, with glimpses of some old standards such as an S-C 4-6-0. He reports that the layout had a mainline run of about 350 feet. The track was handlaid on cardboard ties with code 100 rail; it looks quite good in the photos. The outside third rail is very striking in the yard areas. Costello must have been quite a craftsman, mentioning in the text that many models had new drives, etc.

The text is very interesting to read today. This section answers the perennial question “why three rail?” and also gives details of how he got started in OO.

Three-rail operation was normal in the early days of the hobby. The insulated tires used at that time had a bad habit of loosening and then falling apart. I began to rebuild them by pinning them for permanence and adding the pick-up for outside third rail. Since this is no longer a problem, the thought of changing to two-rail often pops up in my mind. It leaves my mind just as fast—the job would be too big and too time consuming. I am content to leave this aspect as it is.

The Saint-Anne was started in 1936 with the purchase of a Scale-Craft 4-6-0 kit from a friend who had won it as a prize but had no real use for it. It cost me $15, was a pleasure to build and is still on the active roster. It was converted to outside third rail pick-up for the reasons mentioned above.

He might not have remembered the year correctly, the S-C 4-6-0 was introduced in 1937, but certainly Costello qualifies as an OOldtimer, he was there very early on in the history of OO and stuck with it for a lifetime. He concluded the text noting,

I remained in OO scale because I enjoyed scratchbuilding. To this end, I have added working scale crossing gates, lighting systems and other details to the layout. There are a number of things that I know I could do to change the Saint Anne, but I am pleased with the railroad. No matter what the scale, the sight and sound of a moving train will always be intriguing. This explains why the Saint Anne was built in the 1930s and why it has endured. My enjoyment of scratchbuilding offsets the lack of commercial products in 4mm scale, which explains why the Saint Anne continues to thrive as an operating reminder of a scale that is almost unknown in the hobby today.

A number of pieces of equipment from his layout were in the Morlok collection and are divided between several collections in the east. May they be long enjoyed.