It was about five years ago when I got back into the hobby, and ran across The Gauge, don't even remember how I found it. But I do remember there was a Structure Challenge in progress, and someone was building a Fire Station. I'll always remember that because the modeling was astounding. The firehouse was built on a diorama base, with trees and fallen leaves and firetrucks and it was just spectacular. I was so impressed, that I just knew that The Gauge was the place to be.

Great modelers, great people!

EDIT: It was the thinking about the current challenge that jogged my memory about that old challenge and spurred me to start this thread.

Oh... does anyone remember that firehouse?

No, Gary, I don't remember the firehouse ... I'm much newer than that. i had asked doctorwayne a question in a PM over on the one of the Model Railroader forums and he suggested I visit here, that I might like it.

There was the "Fall Bash" or some such thing going on and I was awestruck by the model work. At the time I only had web access on the weekend, when I went to the American Legion for breakfast and jumped on-line on their WiFi connection. But I signed up the next weekend and have never looked back! This place is awesome!

I wouldn't mind seeing that firehouse, though ... it sounds like it was "the real deal!"

biL, there's been a bunch of good modeling and a bunch of good discussion since I've been around. And then there was a moment or two of drama, but all that got fixed thanks to our fine hosts Mikey and EZdays.

Gary, I joined about the same time as you, and I don't remember that firehouse. It took a few months for me to find my feet and search through the forums, so I likely missed that thread.

Gary,

Yeah, when I first looked around at train forums, I found the same thing, the old Gauge was among the top. It was the level of help and encouragement that I got for the people there that wasn't there on other popular forums, that made things easy to hang around. We've been going on a long journey together ever since. And you're right, there were a few bumps along the road, but it was these people that we met along the way that inspired us to maintain that level of comradeship and prompted Mikey and myself restore Big Blue to its former glory. We're glad that we did, and we're pleased that what we've done here is appreciated and working well.

As for the firehouse, I did a search over there in the contest forum and came up dry. I'll keep looking though, and I'll let you know if I find anything. Remember though, that there was one big bump about a year or so ago that some new admin that knew nothing about what was sacred and what was just old stuff, decided to go on a delete (as well as a banning) rampage, so the thread you're talking about could be lost. When he got the boot, Mikey and I went back and tried to restore things, and CG tired to get back some of those deleted threads, but I think we only got about 90% of what was deleted.

The Gauge was the 3rd forum I joined in 2001..I recall the subject was the difference in locomotive handling-EMD and Alco..I explained the difference in the throttle response between Alco and EMD..I also like the friendliness of the forum and overall modeling questions..

Gary S Wrote:Oh... does anyone remember that firehouse?

Gary,

I'm still looking over there, but one big problem is that when that forum was merged with the paper modelers and the forum name was changed, all of the links prior to that had changed as well, and as a result, the ones that weren't corrected, are all broken. There are many of them that way and that's making my search tedious so I might just have to abandon it. Well, I have to admit, it was interesting though since I had to look through a lot of older contest projects and that in itself was enjoyable. That's what's really slowing my search down, those old threads are such an inspiration and a delight to go through that I can't go through them quickly.

ezdays Wrote:

Gary S Wrote:Oh... does anyone remember that firehouse?

Gary,

I'm still looking over there, but one big problem is that when that forum was merged with the paper modelers and the forum name was changed, all of the links prior to that had changed as well, and as a result, the ones that weren't corrected, are all broken. There are many of them that way and that's making my search tedious so I might just have to abandon it. :

The Shark ate them.

eightyeightfan1 Wrote:The Shark ate them.

Or...... one of the shoe heads "booted" them into oblivion!

" out for browsing "

I just got back from "there"........the developers tore it all down, and.......... " put up a parking lot ".

It's really tricky getting around what with all the damage done by sharks. But at least the new guy there had the good sense to keep everything that was important. He just rearranged things, but the important stuff, (what the shark didn't eat), is still there.

Not to reminisce too much but the change in the structure of the old place (from name.com/forum to forum.name.com) was also responsible for many of the broken links.

I joined The Gauge in its original (?) configuration after another forum I had only recently discovered imploded. I was new to all forums at that point, but fortunate enough to find The Gauge. Had I not, I don't think that I would be in any today.

Andrew

ezdays Wrote:As for the firehouse, I did a search over there in the contest forum and came up dry. I'll keep looking though, and I'll let you know if I find anything. Remember though, that there was one big bump about a year or so ago that some new admin that knew nothing about what was sacred and what was just old stuff, decided to go on a delete (as well as a banning) rampage, so the thread you're talking about could be lost. When he got the boot, Mikey and I went back and tried to restore things, and CG tired to get back some of those deleted threads, but I think we only got about 90% of what was deleted.

I wish I could remember who did it. Being a first impression upon my re-entry to the hobby, I just remember being in a certain amount of awe at the time and effort that went into it. As you say, there is a good possibility that the photos are lost to oblivion. I was hoping that the builder was still around, or that someone would remember who did it. Thank you for taking a look around for it.

ezdays Wrote:

Gary S Wrote:those old threads are such an inspiration and a delight to go through that I can't go through them quickly.

I need to make a trip "over there" and dig around. But honestly, I boycotted "over there" a long time ago. Still, might be an interesting trip.

Gary S Wrote:I need to make a trip "over there" and dig around. But honestly, I boycotted "over there" a long time ago. Still, might be an interesting trip.

By all means, head over to there, there's much to be admired. We are lucky that just about everything got preserved or restored after the chaos caused by one person who was not of this world.

I've spent about all the time I can afford looking for that thread. As I said, lots of interesting stuff to look through, but no luck on finding a firehouse project that fits this description. I checked all the threads in the contest forums as well as in the Academy and nothing. I did not check the gallery or blogs, but I wouldn't expect it there. It could be among the lost threads. I wouldn't have pursued this, except for the fact that I enjoyed looking and really got lost there for a while.