April 2025 Layout Progress

Blogging has been slow, but, work on model railroad activities have not stopped; it's what keeps me sane!

In February I traveled to the Mad City train show in Madison, WI. On the drive up from Southern Illinois, we made a side trip through Chicago and did a little railfanning. We also set up a tour of the Prairie Scale model railroad club in Lombard. This layout was huge! We also stopped in Western Springs to see some BNSF Race Track action, and that did not disappoint.

In March, some friends and I made a day trip down to Jackson, MO to the St. Louis Iron Mountain and Southern tourist railroad. They have a unique 2-4-2 steam locomotive with an interesting history. When I was a young boy I remember riding the train pulled by this very steam engine, and I vividly remember getting a tour of the cab. A mission of mine is to work towards earning the NMRA Achievement Program certificates. In reading the requirements for Master - Locomotive, I would need to scratch-build a locomotive. What better goal than to recreate this special train from my childhood.

Details sell the scene. They tell a story. They shouldn't be the star of the show, rather a supporting cast to make the star (the trains!) shine even brighter. I think there should be just enough detail to make the layout seem alive, without drawing so much of the viewer's attention from the trains for which the layout exists in the first place. So, I'm not going out of my way to model a scene exactly. The road markings may not be precisely to scale or in the right position, the signs are cut out perfectly, or every blade of grass standing straight up, but together create just enough of a world that the trains aren't out of place.

And, of all the layouts I've built over the years, this is the first I've completed to such a degree. That alone has been a huge motivating factor in making regular progress. Last week's successes push me to get back at it next week. Thanks for reading.

So with camera and tape measurer in hand, I spent a couple hours measuring, photographing, and drawing the details of every inch of this engine. That data should aid nicely in building a sample model, which can then be refined into a finished operating model ready for merit contesting.

Finally, half the St. Marshall Sub layout is sceniced and detailed. I've been busy making trees, adding details, installing streetlights, and painting streets. These finished scenes are important to me. One aspect of the hobby I really enjoy is photographing models, and having a finished scene to give models a nice stage makes this easier.

When I say "finished", of course I mean finished enough to take convincing photos. There will always be details to add, grass to highlight, signs to install, track to weather, etc. So it's all a "work-in-progress", but I feel like I can move on to other sections of the layout without this nagging feeling that something else is half-way done.

Years ago, I started buying detail parts by the box-full. I knew a layout was in my future, and I knew that it would be smaller than other layouts in my area. The plan was to make up for the small size with large quantities of accurate details. Every week, I've gone through this box and pulled out a few details that I then spend adding throughout that week. The following photos highlight these details. Click to see them larger!