Sibley's - Rochester, NY
Layout Introduction by Clay Buckage
 This layout is one of the few surviving display layouts built by
the Gilbert Display department, in this case by Frank Castiglione
and Art Mauzaka. It was originally preserved by Frank Ligocki, who
purchased it from Sibley's along with all its accessories and
rolling stock in 1953. This was all according to the Gilbert plan of
"self liquidating" displays. Frank kept the layout preserved
throughout the years, and the preservation of this layout continues
today in the hands of Clay Buckage. The track plan used for this layout was typical of a style of layout produced by Gilbert in the early 1950's. Another example of the use of this layout plan was the studio layout used in the production of the Boys' Railroad Club television show. 1 The Sibley layout includes the often used harbor scene at one end as does the studio layout used in the production of the "Boys Railroad Club" television program that aired in the early 1950's. Clay says close examination of the scenes in the program show slight differences that seem to confirm that this layout was not used in the television program.
|
Track plans courtesy of Jeff Faust
For more information on the Sibley layout, there is an article which appeared in Classic Toy Trains which tells the complete story, but ends before Clay and Charlie purchased the layout. 2 There is also a brief write up on the layout while in the stewardship of Clay and Charlie Buckage, which appears in the Train Collector's Quarterly, complete with color photos of the layout on display. 3 In addition to the photo gallery on this site, there are also photos of the layout on the myflyertrains.net and the Gilbert Gallery websites. To see the photos, click on the links below.
See more photos of the Sibley Layout at the following locations:
Notes
1 See Articles in
S Gaugian Magazine for
Jan/Feb 1985 (p33), July 1984 (p29), and May 1991 (p19) for
references to this type of layout.
2
Flyer Survivor, by Jeff Faust, Classic Toy
Trains, May 1998, page 84.
3
A Gilbert Store Display Layout, by Charlie
and Clay Buckage, Train Collector's Quarterly, October 2007 (Vol.
53, No. 4), page 10.