...an unbelievable chance find in an Edmonton, Alberta pawn shop, a piece of model railroading history that is one of the scratchbuilt masterpieces of yesteryear...
From the PNR NMRA Region 6 Highball, Summer 2010, page 6...
Ken McMillan Passes
Ken McMillan passed away on May 31, 2010 at the age of 86.
Ken built and operated the West Hades & Beelzebub - a mostly scratch-built S scale layout.
His prize-winning brass steam engines were controlled with a home-built CTC-16 system.
The entire layout operated flawlessly.
Who can forget dumping live ore loads in his automatic rotary dumper, complete with a working kickback track?
The craftsmanship on the layout was surpassed only by Ken's hospitality to guest operators.
Several of us were honoured to take part in operating sessions late into the evening, the first exposure to operations for many.
Many of us also remember Ken's voice - he was known in some circles as "Edmonton's Frank Sinatra" - and was a frequent singer at Edmonton-area karaoke bars.
One of the treats of the 6th Division spring meet in 1978 was Ken's after-banquet singing.
Ken will be remembered fondly by all who had the good fortune to know him
---Mark Johnson
---owner photos
1 comment:
I AM RHONDA BIRD nee MCMILLAN. I SEE YOU HAVE FOUND ONE OF MY DAD'S ENGINES LUCKY YOU FOR SUCH A FIND IT IS NICE TO SEE DAD'S WORKS IS RECOGNIZED I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE CALL ME PLEASE
780-400-9119
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