Module Monday: The Streets of Bethlehem

The Streets of Bethlehem city module.

Over the year's I've had a chance to photograph numerous modular layouts at the Railroad Hobby Show and interview the module builders.  Here is a look back at one of these module profiles which was compiled during the 2009 Railroad Hobby Show.

Module Spotlight Scale: HO Size: 28"x72" Standards: Club Years Constructed: 2003 Features: Swamp, Beaver Dams Era: 1950s Club: Central New York Modelers Owner: Bill Brown, MMR

For this week's Module Monday, we return to the Central New York Modelers and look at another one of their modules.  This month we look at the award winning "The Streets of Bethlehem" built by Bill Brown, MMR.  The module features a spectacular city scene from the 1950s complete with tremendous detail and animation.  On the module, Bill shows off his structure building ability with lots of kit, kitbashed, and scratchbuilt structures each weathered and detailed.  The module has lots of lighting with street lights, interior building lights, and flashing traffic signals.  A high line on the module is animated with a reversing circuit that allows a train to move in and out of the scene, capturing the viewers attention.

To make transportation easier, the entire back portion of the module which features the bulk of the city lifts off as a separate piece.  When the module was first constructed this allowed the city portion of the module to be placed into the home layout Bill had.

Bill has one numerous awards with the module.  The first award won was the Baldwin Award for Best in Show during the June 2003 NMRA Northeast Regional Convention held in Fishkill, NY.  In 2006, the module won the DPM Module Award for the best use of DPM City Classics structures on a module as well as the Best Module in Show at the 2006 National Train Show in Philadelphia, PA.  Of course, the module also received Best in Show in 2010 at the Railroad Hobby Show.

A repair shop on the front of the module.