I just uncovered these photos from the "Lobster Cove" project I built for the folks who owned the Franklin Mint back in the mid 1990's. This is a 3' by 5' HO model railroad. A loop of track and two sidings with a bridge, tunnel, waterfront, and a New England village.
It was sold through the American Express credit card mailing list. You could own a ready-built HO Lobster Cove for eight credit card payments. The White Glove folks would deliver it, set it up and run the trains to make sure it worked.
My job was to build the layout for the brochure photography and then build casting masters so all the pieces could be sent to China and duplicated. I did it. They duplicated the layout in China I was told. The project was dropped before it really got started because not enough of these layouts were sold.
The Lobster Cove layout eventually became the basis for the model railroad that appeared in the movie The Love Letter. Same dimensions, scenery and track plan, only the structures were different.
This would be a nice little HO model railroad project for someone who wants a small, highly detailed railroad. I don't have plans or other photos, so you're on your own...
That's a neat little layout! Maybe you can collaborate with Scott or Hal to set something up with this.
ReplyDeleteI've been a fan of the Franklin Mint for at least the past 20 years - I used to dream about buying some of the cool stuff they put out. However, I can never recall ever seeing this, and I had tried to get in to HO Scale model railroading around 1991, but had to put it off when little hands got in to all my stuff and tried to eat it or stuff it in the VCR.