Longtime Model Railroader author and photographer Paul Dolkos passed away on August 9, 2024. You can read his obituary here.
In this photo gallery, we’ll take a look back at Paul’s home layouts, as well as his photography work published throughout his 50-year association with the magazine.
The staff at Model Railroader extends its sympathy to Paul’s family and friends. We hope you enjoy this look back at his photography and modeling.
The June 1973 Model Railroader was the first to feature a Paul Dolkos cover image. The scene shows a Max Gray HO scale Western Maryland Shay switching Coalton on the Severna Park Model Railroad Club’s Chesapeake & Allegheny RR.
Paul Dolkos wrote “The urban scenery of Severna Park” for the December 1975 MR. The Bull Session column in that issue contained a photo and biographical information on Paul and his modeling interests.
In the March 1983 MR, Paul Dolkos shared the story of his HO scale Duquesne RR and Tygart Coal & Lumber Co. At East Tygart, Mogul No. 13 is in charge of a string of coal hoppers.
Here is the track plan for the Duquesne RR and Tygart Coal & Lumber RR. Paul Dolkos started work on the layout in January 1967 and dismantled the layout in the early 1980s when he moved to a new house.
Paul Dolkos introduced his HO scale Boston & Maine in the September 1986 issue. The cover image showed Alco S4 No. 1270 being readied for its afternoon switching duties at Woods River.
Paul’s 14 x 15 foot Boston & Maine layout featured handlaid turnouts and 20” minimum radius curves on the visible areas. The photo below the track plan shows 2-8-0 No. 2725 taking on fuel and water at Woods River.
Paul wrote the two-part series “Lessons from a successful layout” in the October and November 2005 issues of MR. In addition to sharing what he’d learned after nearly two decades of building and operating his HO scale Boston & Maine, he shared several new images. In this scene, second class symbol freight DJ-1 waits at Woods River for the first class Alouette’s departure.
When Paul noticed visitors and operators regularly peeking through the covered bridge on his layout, he decided to have some fun with the scene. He added a hiker figure hiding from a moose at the other end of the bridge.
After more than 25 years of modeling the Boston & Maine, Paul switched gears and built the HO scale Baltimore Harbor District. Here, tug Curtis Bay eases a Western Maryland car float up to the float bridge at Wagners Point.
The HO scale Baltimore Harbor District measured 17 x 17 feet and featured a staging yard in the 9 x 17-foot workshop. “Urban architecture is different from that of rural areas, offering new and interesting construction opportunities,” Paul wrote in Great Model Railroads 2021. “I also wanted a prototype location with seaport operations and a car float.”
Paul Dolkos also photographed other model railroads, including the HO scale Los Angeles Junction built by Lance Mindheim, owner of The Shelf Layouts Co. “I owe my entire modeling career to Paul and occasionally wonder where I’d be had we not met,” Lance said. “He invited me to his home to see his layout. I remember the visit like it was yesterday. Something just clicked during that day. It was like the curtain opened and I finally understood how to model. The biggest lesson being to use the light and general touch.”
One of Paul’s longtime friends was Chuck Hitchcock, builder of the 28 x 54-foot HO scale Argentine Industrial District Ry. featured in the February 2007 issue of MR. “Paul and I became friends in the late 1950s when I was beginning a new job in Kansas City and Paul was at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base,” Chuck said. “Paul soon became one of the Kansas City guys and we spent time getting to show him the railroads here and around Kansas City. We both enjoyed the time we spent together, and that lasted some 45 years.”
