A micro-layout based on E. L. Moore's Bott's Cotton Gin

David Fugere's rendition of Bott's Cotton Gin (Photos courtesy David Fugere)

Paul alerted me to this excellent model of E. L. Moore's Bott's Cotton Gin, a project that appeared in the Sept '78 issue of Model Railroader, by David Fugere. It's nice how he has incorporated it in a micro-layout - looks like it's HO-9.

Photo courtesy David Fugere

Bott's was one of E. L. Moore's last published projects, and was his second last to appear in MR. 

In the late fall of 1975 ELM had to get cataract surgery, and in his usual colourful style mentioned to Russ Larsen in a letter dated 19 Oct '75 that it was coming up:

Was gonna have the other eye castrated, but now I find they gotta search around among my entrails to find a missing bolt or link or something. This has been the year of one damned thing or another but hell, 1976 is just around the corner. 

In Jan '76 ELM let Larsen know his eye surgery went fine and he was getting together some prototype photographs on which Bott's would be based. ELM submitted the Bott's article to MR in July '76 with this accompanying letter:

July 22, 1976

Russ Larsen, Editor

Model Railroader,

1027 N. 7th St.,

Milwaukee, Wisc.

Yup, like usual your letter got here the day I mailed mine . . . .

Well, here it is, Bott’s Cotton Gin, 2800 words, two sheets of drawings and three photographs.

Friday is my grocery shopping day, a cab to the grocery and then a fella who runs an off side taxi service brings me home and carries up my groceries . . . and also runs me by the post office branch. Everything works out just fine. Walk about four blocks in the morning using a plain old stick cane and later go out in the back yard to sit to keep my cats company . . . beats cleaning out the bathtub, if you get the connection. My two cats are so lazy they don’t want to go out unless I go out with them.

Keep up the good work . . . 

E. L. Moore

In 1976 ELM was 78 years old. It's good to hear that he was still building models after cataract surgery, getting around his neighbourhood, and apparently using the Uber of his day :-)

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P.S.: David, you should consider submitting a story to The Micro Model Railway Dispatch about your layout. And thanks for allowing me to post your photos!