Charlie Bailey is passionate about toy trains. He collects Standard gauge (modern reissues from Lionel and MTH) and takes pride in the wonderfully detailed and expertly wired O gauge railroad filling much of the lower portion of the home he shares with his wife, Jane. We’re thrilled to be able to tour Charlie Bailey’s 42 […]
Section: Layout Visits
Ken Smith’s South Durham Ry.
Ken Smith’s South Durham Ry. is an HO scale shelf layout that fills a 9′-6″ x 11′-0″ spare room. The freelanced model railroad depicts a North Carolina bridge line connecting the Southern Ry. (SOU), Seaboard Coast Line (SCL), and Durham Southern in the 1970s. Second-generation diesel power moves grain, plastic pellets, perishable fruit, and other […]
Tom Kaiser’s O gauge layout
Name: Tom Kaiser’s O gauge layout Dimensions: 10½ x 11 feet Track: Lionel FasTrack (diameters range from 31 to 60 inches) Motive power: Atlas O, K-Line, Lionel, MTH, Ready Made Trains, Williams Rolling stock: K-Line, Lionel, Menards, MTH, Ready Made Trains, Williams Controls: MRC transformers (2) Accessories: K-Line, Lionel, Marx Structures: Bachmann, K-Line, Lionel, MTH, Plasticville U.S.A., scratchbuilt See more in the […]
Operating Behind the Scenes | La Mesa Model Railroad Club’s Tehachapi Subdivision
Operating Behind the Scenes | La Mesa Model Railroad Club’s Tehachapi Subdivision | Join Model Railroader Editor Eric White for a rare, insider look at a world-class operating session over the gigantic HO (1:87) scale public display highlighting Southern California’s famed Tehachapi Loop. Peer into the invite-only November 2023 session that required more than 30 […]
Art Volz’s O gauge layout
Name: Art Volz’s O-27 gauge layout Dimensions: 10 x 20 feet Track and switches: Lionel (diameters range from 27 to 31 inches) Motive power: Lionel (postwar, modern) Rolling stock: Lionel (postwar, modern), Menards Controls: Lionel Nos.1033, 1034, type-ZW transformers Accessories: Lionel, MTH Structures: Atlas O, Lionel, Menards, MTH, scratchbuilt, Woodland Scenics See more in the Fall 2024 issue of Classic Toy Trains! See Art’s track […]
Exclusive Layout Extra | Final ride along the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy in HO scale
Final ride along the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy | In this salute to Model Railroader magazine’s renowned MR&T (a.k.a “Myrt”) 28 x 54-foot model railroad in HO (1:87) scale, Trains.com cameras capture the final run over the entire +200-ft mainline route. Enjoy this first-ever, on-track perspective video of the storied layout that thrilled MR staff […]
Climbing over La Mesa Model Railroad Club’s Tehachapi Subdivision
Climbing over La Mesa Model Railroad Club’s Tehachapi Subdivision | In this Trains.com Video Exclusive Layout Extra, our staff captures trackside views of both freight and passenger train forging the enormous 42 x 80-foot HO (1:87) scale public display depicting the route over Southern California’s famed Tehachapi Loop. Sit back and enjoy this extended reel […]
Harvey Simon’s HO F Line traction layout
Harvey Simon’s HO F Line traction layout is set in modern-day San Francisco, re-creating the route between the Castro District and Fisherman’s Wharf. The modified walk-in model railroad features open-grid benchwork, 6-1/4” minimum radius curves, and a mainline run of 40 feet. In this layout tour video, you’ll get an opportunity to see San Francisco […]
Harvey Simon’s HO F Line traction layout
Harvey Simon’s HO F Line traction layout is set in modern-day San Francisco, re-creating the route between the Castro District and Fisherman’s Wharf. The modified walk-in model railroad features open-grid benchwork, 6-1/4” minimum radius curves, and a mainline run of 40 feet. In this layout tour video, you’ll get an opportunity to see San Francisco […]
Brian Sheron’s Long Island Rail Road
Brian Sheron’s Long Island Rail Road is a 27 x 48-foot HO scale model railroad that depicts Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the north shore of Long Island. He built the layout, featured in the August 2024 issue of Model Railroader, in three phases. Brian started work on the model railroad in 1988 with the Port […]
Brian Sheron’s Long Island Rail Road
Brian Sheron’s Long Island Rail Road is a 27 x 48-foot HO scale model railroad that depicts Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the north shore of Long Island. He built the layout, featured in the August 2024 issue of Model Railroader, in three phases. Brian started work on the model railroad in 1988 with the Port […]
Sam Foster’s Owl Cove Lumber Co. in O scale
Enjoy a glimpse of 1930s-era logging operations on Sam Foster’s 6 x 40-foot On30 (1:48) scale model railroad. Tall timber and equally impressive railroad engineering abound on this freelanced, around-the-walls narrow gauge (30″) layout. You can read more about the layout in the August 2024 issue of Model Railroader magazine. […]