ETE’s Mountain View Medical Center HO Layout

             On April 18, 2007, the SF Bay Area Chapter unveiled a 32 sq. ft. HO layout proudly located in the pediatric waiting room of the Mountain View Medical Center at 701 E. El Camino Real (Highway 85 South and El Camino Real). It was built as a legacy to Dr. Marvin Small, the chief pediatrician, who recently passed away after a battle with cancer.

            The track plan is an outer loop surrounding an inner oval and figure eight style loop. There are many interesting dioramas on this 4x8 layout and Dr. Small’s family donated some of the buildings.  The corners feature a castle, a chapel, a logging scene and a dairy farm. The figure eight loop breaks the scenery into a nursery, a stable, and farm area separate from a village with mostly half-timbered structures and a town square. There are two stations. One serves the inner loop and functions as passenger and freight stop. The other is a small station serving passengers on the outer loop. Pictures can be found at www.eisenbahnclinic.com.

            The layout was built at Steve Imialek’s home with help from Rolf Krumbiegel, Dieter Vorbach, Hans Auerbach, Pete Nieber, Ian Lorentzen, Wolfgang Leitenberger, and Jens Ullmann. Marklin, Inc. donated the track related materials and Primetime Trains (Cees Feith) donated the Noch scenery items.

            Presently, the trains are running about 40 hours per week as an estimated 350 youngsters a day get to push the button and watch the trains run for about three minutes. Youngsters of all ages seem to be enjoying this European style train layout.

Last modified on June 09, 2007