56 Classic Toy Trains • September 2004

Updating Lionel’s ’49

DEAN BITTICK APPRECIATES the clas-sics. For example, he collects andrestores antique automobiles,

with the overall aim of showing his dif-ferent Model A Fords to new genera-tions of enthusiasts.

The same reasoning is behind his ter-rific O gauge railroad, which is modeledafter the layout built in Lionel’s salesshowroom in New York City in 1949.Dean didn’t duplicate that legendary lay-out rail for rail. Instead he did his verybest to update its classic design in a waythat is sure to inspire others to buildmodel railroads.

Kughn and CTT connectionsThe wheels started turning for Dean

after he read the premier issue of CLAS-SIC TOY TRAINS magazine way back in1987. An avid collector of postwar Lioneltrains and classic cars, he devoured thecover story about Richard Kughn, thenowner of Lionel Trains Inc. Kughn col-lected toy trains and antique cars andhoused them at “Carail,” his privatemuseum in Detroit.

Dick Kughn was living Dean’s dream.“I wanted to build a really nice layoutand combine it with my interest inantique cars. Dick had done that, whichis why I contacted him about visitingCarail. He graciously invited me to stopby for a personal tour during a nationalModel A convention that was being heldin nearby Dearborn.”

After that visit, an awestruck Dean leftMichigan determined to start work onan O gauge layout in the 1,600-square-foot, climate-controlled structure next tohis Missouri house. Besides his vintagecars, this structure would come to housean 11- by 21-foot model railroad.

“I had built layouts since I was a boy,so I knew how to handle the wiring andelectrical work. But I didn’t know a lotabout landscaping.

“Then I saw the February 1992 issueof CLASSIC TOY TRAINS, with the great

article on the 1949 New York showroomlayout, and realized I wanted somethingjust like that.”

Dean used schematics of Lionel’s lay-out as the basis for his re-creation. Heincluded many of the elements originallyfound on that O gauge masterpiece.Among these highlights are a river andwaterfall in the foreground, a no. 313bascule bridge traversing the river, pas-senger platforms, a mountain, and anelevated track encircling a small town ofPlasticville models.

The layout that Dean finished in 1997isn’t a complete replica of Lionel’s show-room display. However, comparing pho-tographs of that vintage railroad andDean’s contemporary classic reveals anumber of similarities.

“My layout is close to Lionel’s, but Ihad to stray away from the schematicsfor a couple of reasons,” Dean says.“First, I didn’t have enough space. Thatlayout was huge, 16 by 32 feet, so thisone is scaled back. Second, I addedAmerican Flyer S gauge track near thetop of the mountain.

“Lionel’s main competition was theA.C. Gilbert Co., so you would havenever seen that in the New York show-room,” Dean laughs. “But I wantedforced perspective. The smaller gaugegives the illusion that a train is fartheraway and so makes the mountain lookeven bigger and taller.

“The Flyer line reminds me of therivalry between the two firms – and oneI had with my cousin. He was a Flyer guy,and I was Lionel. As kids, we endlesslydebated which brand was better.”

September 2004 • classictoytrains.com 57

1. Dean Bittick’s prized Lionel no.2544W Super Chief train from 1959eases to a stop in front of a stationscene inspired by Lionel’s famed 1949New York showroom O gauge layout.

layout Dean Bittick based his O gauge railroadon Lionel’s showroom pike

story and photos by Jon Bauer

When Dean isn’t playing with hisLionels, he zips around in this stunning1931 Model A Ford Deluxe Roadster.

58 Classic Toy Trains • September 2004

No more debatesLooking at Dean’s picturesque layout,

there is no doubt as to the winner ofthat debate. He enjoys talking aboutbuilding the railroad just as much as hedoes running trains.

“The accessories are mainly Lionelpostwar pieces, along with some modernreissues. Many of those on the layout,such as the water tower, log loader, sta-tion platform, and Lionel City station,were included in the 1949 display.

“Something that was harder than Ithought, but important, was to have thetracks be straight,” Dean explains. “Itook a lot of time to get them absolutelystraight, because that’s what you see ifyou go down to a real track.

In the center of Dean’s layout is anicon from the 1949 showroom: the J.L.C.Manufacturing Co. “I wanted to have myown version as a way of saying thanks toJoshua Lionel Cowen for all his com-pany did to make my childhood morefun,” Dean says.

One accessory that wouldn’t havebeen found on the original showroomlayout is an impressive stainless-steelbridge. That bridge heralded Dean’stransition from toy train collector to“hobby professional.”

“I needed a bridge to go over one ofthe log loaders, and nothing else wouldwork,” Dean recalls. “So I designed onewith help from a friend of mine.”

That humble yet impressive structureturned out to be the beginning of Stain-less Unlimited, a firm that fabricates awide variety of O gauge, S gauge, andLarge scale bridges from stainless steelin a variety of styles and lengths. Deanand Jim Ballmann do much of theirbusiness by mail order and the Internet(stainlessunlimited.com).

Scenery and detailsFrankly, it’s impossible to miss the

details Dean has put into his layout,though it takes time to see all of them.The more you look at Dean’s layout, themore likely you are to see somethingthat you hadn’t seen before.

Arttista and Plasticville figures injectlife into a range of vignettes that arepulled straight from the heartland. Menwork along the tracks, swimmers float ona river, and hobos make dinner over anopen fire.

The bluffs recall the slate in Missouriand elsewhere in the Midwest. So does

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2. A Lionel no. 2245 Texas Special F3A-B combination guides a freight trainthrough the Ozarks on a summer day inthis beautiful part of Dean’s layout. JimPeters painted the picturesque mural.

the ballast which, though made from catlitter, looks like it had been broughtfrom a nearby quarry. Hundreds ofMoondog Express rubber ties give thetracks the look of an actual railway.

Bittick Mountain rises four feet fromthe base track. For this massive scenicfeature, Dean began with Hydrocal forthe hardshell contours. Woodland Scen-ics landscape material then provided therustic look that he desired. “This is ascene from the Midwest, so I knew it wasimportant to get all of these detailsright,” he says.

Five tunnels bore through the moun-tain. In addition to the American Flyerloop at the top, the layout includes dou-ble- and single-track tunnels at groundlevel, and a reverse loop on the elevatedtrack. The O gauge lines mimic those onthe 1949 layout.

“Because of the space I had to workwith, the tunnels were a real challengebecause the trains come out on a curve.”Dean adds, “Let me say, there’s not a lotof clearance on the side. You can slide apiece of paper between the train and thetunnel opening, but that’s about all.”

60 Classic Toy Trains • September 2004

11'-0"

21'-0"

6

1

2

3

4

5

Layout at a glanceDean Bittick’s O gauge layoutDimensions: 11 by 21 feetTrack: American Flyer S, Lionel Ogauge tubularSwitches: LionelLocomotives: American Flyer,Lionel (postwar, modern)Rolling stock: American Flyer,Lionel (postwar, modern)Controls: Lionel KW (1), ZW (3)transformer, conventional controlAccessories: Lionel (postwar,modern), Marx, MTHStructures: Buildings Unlimited,Lionel, PlasticvilleVehicles: Dinky, Eastwood, Lionel,MatchboxFigures: Arttista, Plasticville

3. Three Lionel ZW transformers anda KW transformer power Dean’s layout.To the left and right of the transformersare switch and accessory controllers.

Illustration by Kellie Jaeger

The river and waterfall posed anotherchallenge. “I had never made anythinglike them,” Dean confesses. He plungedahead and used Enviro-Tex and Hydro-cal, with exquisite results.

Years after its completion, the riverlooks fresh and inviting, and the falldrops gracefully into a churning basin.Three tracks span the basin of the water-fall on a wooden trestle that was hand-crafted by Wayne Berry, another friendand fellow hobbyist.

The river seemingly stretches milesinto the distant landscape, thanks to thespectacular mural that was painted in2000, after the layout was finished.Matching colors used in the landscape,Jim Peters visually extended the layoutinto the artwork.

“The mural is so detailed that it flows

with the layout,” Dean says. “You canlook into it and see cattle grazing,plowed fields, and the river. It’s really acontinuation of the layout.

“When Jim completed the mural, hetold me he had added a surprise,” Deansays. “I looked and there was my house!Kind of a neat touch that puts me rightin the layout.”

Nine trains at onceThe layout can run nine trains,

including a trolley and inspection car.Dean prefers running his trains to see-ing them on display along a wall. Trainsare often rotated from shelves to track.“These are wonderfully crafted toys thatare meant to be used,” Dean says.

“I tried to make this a running layout,

September 2004 • classictoytrains.com 61

4. Spectacular Lionel postwar horse-power rumbles out of adjacent tunnelbores. Press Dean and he’ll admit thathe prefers the no. 726 Berkshire (left) tothe nos. 2379 Rio Grande F3 or 2339Wabash GP7.

On a separate diorama in Dean’s trainroom, die-cast metal planes await flightinstructions at the Plasticville airport,complete with Plasticville hangers and aLionel no. 197 rotating radar antenna.

one that would run as many trains aspossible, continuously, in a small space.I also wanted lots of action, just the wayI did when I was a kid. At night, whenthe only lights are those coming fromthe layout, it’s beautiful.”

Today, Dean’s collection includesmore than 75 locomotives and hundredsof pieces of rolling stock. Among his

favorites are pristine examples of thenos. 726 Berkshire and 773 Hudson,plus the no. 2544W Super O Super Chiefstreamlined passenger outfit from 1959.

Dean, a professor of business andmarketing at East Central College inMissouri, focuses on Lionel’s products aswell as its marketing programs. He ana-lyzes the firm’s catalogs and showroom

layout to learn how toy trains became sopopular with the public.

“The Lionel catalogs are classics,”Dean says. “The showroom display wasbrilliant. Open to the public, it wasdesigned so dealers could come in andsee new trains in action. They would gohome and put what they liked in theirown storefront windows. Very smart.”

Just the way Dean saw what DickKughn had done at Carail, and thenwent back to his home to build his ownlayout. “When I set a goal,” Dean sayswith a smile, “I just dig in and work at it.

“I always wanted to have a nationalchampion Model A Ford, and I man-aged to do that. My other goal was tohave a top-notch layout for these won-derful trains. Having it featured in CLAS-SIC TOY TRAINS is like having anothernational champion.” T

62 Classic Toy Trains • September 2004

6. Scrap metal and coal operationshelp support the economy of Dean’srailroad. Vintage Lionel accessories anda replica of the J.L.C. Manufacturing Co.from the 1949 New York showroom lay-out dominate this area.

5. Lionel purists may be surprised todiscover that Dean added an S gaugeline in the mountain. The slightly small-er American Flyer freight train suggeststhat the mountain is larger and fartheraway than it really is.