Model railroad trackside photos

Looking at other model railroads can inspire you to reach greater heights on your own layout. Ask your local hobby shop owner about modelers or clubs in your area whose railroads you could visit. And remember, no matter how incredible the artistry involved, every one was built by someone who was a beginner at first. Maybe someday, a picture of your layout will appear in Model Railroader magazine’s Trackside Photos. You can also see layout videos posted by Model Railroader readers.

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Union Pacific train No. 30, the Butte Special, runs south (railroad east) alongside Highway 91 near Blackfoot, Idaho, on Bob Johnson’s HO scale Butte Lines model railroad. Bob, of Belleair Bluffs, Fla., took the photo on his model train layout, which features the UP’s Butte Line from Pocatello, Idaho, to Butte, Mont., in the 1950s.

Bona Vista RR Consolidation no. 28 pulls into Colfax Yard as its train crew prepares to call it a day. The 2-8-0 ­locomotive is a Bachmann Trains Spectrum series model, and the factory in the background was kitbashed from several Revell kits. Gerry Leone of Excelsior, Minn., photographed the scene on his HO scale BVRR model train layout, which was featured in Great Model Railroads 2008.

A pair of Norfolk & Western Y3 steam locomotives pulls a coal hopper train past the station on Ron Brimer’s steam-to-diesel transition-era model train layout. Ron, of Lawrenceville, Ga., based the HO scale 7′-6″ x 11′-0″ model railroad on ­Appalachia, but doesn’t model a particular prototype. Photographer Johnny Johnson combined several shots to increase the photo’s depth of field.

Art Fahie was modeling in HO scale when he volunteered to build an Ntrack module needed by his local model train club for a model railroad show. Since then, that modest module became the Niagara & Pearl Creek, an 11 x 29-foot N scale model train layout based on the New York Central. Here, a set of Alco diesel locomotives pulls a passenger train along the shore of Curry Cove. The photo was shot by Paul J. Dolkos.

A string of Electro-Motive Division SD diesel locomotives wearing the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy’s Chinese Red thunders onto the Mrs. ­Hippy River Bridge. The action takes place on Garry Boyd’s freelanced HO scale CB&Q Heartland Division model railroad. Garry, from Cadiz, Ky., built the bridge piers from 1⁄4″ plywood. The bridge is made with Atlas Model Railroad Co. deck-truss approaches. Garry also shot the photo.

It’s the middle of the Great Depression in central Colorado as Denver & Rio Grande Western no. 360 heads a westbound stock extra through the town of Sapinero on Terry Fearn’s HOn3 model train layout. Terry, from Anaheim, Calif., built the narrow gauge model railroad in a spare bedroom. He scratchbuilt the depot in the background from photos of the prototype and also took this photo.