Visiting Frank Battaglia's layout

On the way to the Great British Train Show in Toronto I passed through Buffalo, and I stopped to visit my friend Frank Battaglia. He has been fortunate to have three of his layouts featured in OGR Magazine, and another article about his current layout in Classic Toy Trains. He is an overall great guy and I count myself lucky to have him as a friend. The first time we visited, he invited my wife and I along with our golden retriever (!) to visit. While the dog played outside for a bit, she also came downstairs to the basement to see what was going on and Frank had no problem with it.

I had hoped Harrison could come with me this time but it didn't work out. He would have loved Frank's layout. 

My skill in taking pictures is limited, and I didn't bring lots of extra lights (and didn't adjust my camera settings to work best with his ceiling track lights) so many of the pictures are washed out. Still, we had fun running trains (and troubleshooting electrical gremlins that pop up when opening up layouts to visitors!). 

I also got lots of ideas for my own layout. While I took dozens of pictures, I focused mainly on his farm areas and rural scenes as they will feature heavily on my layout.

I loved his trees. I need a bunch for my layout. When I asked him where he got a certain variety that I liked, he said he bought them from a friend who made them. Rats... my search continues.

Thanks Frank!