March 10, 1969
Mr. E. L. Moore
525 Oakland Ave., Apt. 3
Charlotte, NC 28204
Nice job on the canawlers, E. L. ....
I heard you were in the boat buildings business for canal boats on Bart's Kneehigh Canal so wasn't too surprised to see the manuscript.
Although not definitely model railroad stuff, we think they will add to the scenic effects on some pikes, especially as many modelers are going to olden time railroading, so we're taking the piece and I'll have the cashier's office send you a check for $75 for it.
Glad to see you haven't forgotten MR with your stories....
Sincerely,
{signed Bill Rau}
That was the acceptance letter Model Railroader sent to E. L. Moore for his manuscript, A Pair of Canal Boats. Unfortunately, it never saw publication. Hopefully, the models made their way to Bart Crosby, a friend of E. L. Moore's who commissioned them.
This was E. L. Moore's second manuscript on boat building. The first was add a Harbor to your Pike, Part 1: Tug Boats that was published in the January 1968 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. I was fortunate to see one of those the tug boats at last year's meet-up.
[This background painting was used in the canal boat photos as well as a few others. I think it uses oils painted on a board. Did E. L. Moore paint it? I don't know.]
But, there was also a canal boat on display at the meet-up - it's in the second half of the tug boat post - it was called the Long Beach and was made for his friend Fred Kelley. You'll notice that the Long Beach isn't one of the boats in these photos, so Mr. Moore may have built other boats than were described in these articles.
The canal boats were one of the 6 lost articles. Drawings and text will eventually be sent. I didn't compare to see if these were the exact pix they intended to use or not.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteIs that the same backdrop he always used? I don't remember painted buildings, but he probably hid those most of the time. On my N scale EVRR, I copied the same cloud patterns, although it's a subtle thing. Only you and a few others would see it.
ReplyDeleteI think he had two other backgrounds: one with rolling hills which seemed to get used a lot, and a second with taller, peaked mountains (the one used in the water wheel mill photo). Although, maybe these two scenes were part of one large backdrop.
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