1968 – 1973
Al Prechtel lived across from us on Hopkins Street. He had worked for many years in our family grocery store as a “jack of all trades” and prior to that he served in the US Navy during WW II and was a survivor on the USS Arizona in Hawaii. He was one of those people who could do anything with his hands from fixing bicycles and appliances to building anything out of wood.
As a child I loved to go over to his house to look at the train layout he had built in his basement. It was a cramped space, and yet he built the most amazing layout. He always lamented on what he could really build if only he had the room to do it. At the same time my brother had a big, eight- foot by twelve-foot table in our basement with some Lionel tracks tacked down to it that he never used. I asked my parents if we (Al & I) could build a layout in our basement and got approval.
Al and my dad flipped the table over and construction began. Al was like a child in a candy store. He finally had the room to build a real layout. For the entire summer of 1968 Al would come over after work and we would toil away as the diorama took shape. We did not pattern it after anything specific as many do; we just wanted it to have tunnels, curves, a rail yard and even a Turn Table and Engine House. Al was the expert when it came to laying the tracks, really on everything, and became very accomplished at building papier-mâché mountains. We built the main track using “H.O.” scale tracks and related engines and cars. Al even managed to have two separate zones, so more than one train could run at the same time even in opposite directions.
As the route took shape I focused on the mountains and how they would be decorated. I created a number of mines with working “N” gauge engines and cars that would go in and out of the mine tunnels. I had a “Boot Hill” perched just above the town, not far from the closest road we had constructed on the valley floor.
Even after completion Al continued with his afternoon visits throughout the winter, making tweaks where ever necessary and to just sit back and watch the fun he had created. By the following summer Al did not drop by all that often. His focus had changed to rebuilding every broken or abandoned bicycle he could get his hands on.
I remained close with Al over the years immediately following our construction project, that was until 1972 when we picked up our house and moved it to the west end of town. Moving the giant layout became a daunting task. First, we tried to cut it in half and move it that way; but, we soon learned the layout would be a victim of the move. We offered Al the first pick at anything he wanted (which was quite a bit), and sold the rest of the parts and pieces off to other collectors.
Al offered to help me build a new train layout in our new location but that was vetoed by my parents. They had hopes of finishing the big room downstairs and the table would have been in the way. I think Al enjoyed building these kinds of things more than the operation of them after the fact.
As I got older I lost track of “Mr. Prechtel” and do not recall if he stayed in Aspen much longer or not. Looking back I wish I would have learned more about the man and his past.
Dooger's Blog 