Muskrat Ramble Railroad - Bayou Fish & Greens

Here's an awe inspiring layout called the Muskrat Ramble Railroad. Its an On30 scale exhibition railroad shown at the Narrow Gauge Convention in Sydney, Australia and has been featured in at least two issues of Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette and surely in other publications.

The layout is set in the Louisiana Swamps 1925. This building was based on a Walker Evans photograph.

More pictures of the Muskrat Ramble Railroad here.

On30 Mining Office

Here is the "final" result of my mining office showing the weathering from the salt process. I say "final" because I can think of a few more details to add (like a bucket for under the water pump). The office has a full interior. I didn't have room for a wood stove. Maybe I'll give it a little electric heat unit. The mining area is going to include some power generation. Plus I'll need to light the interior so all of my interior goodies show.

I build the "stone" foundation using cork tiles. I wrote about the process here.

I'm in the search for a better digital camera!

Explosives Shack

On30 Dynamite Shack for the Hardscrabble mining area of my layout.

The Mine Models of Junior Yamachi

I'm inspired by the models of Japanese modeler Junior Yamachi. His mining buildings in particular intrigue me. I think it has a lot to do with the originality of design. He seems to capture the essence of these mine buildings without totally copying a prototype. I get a bit tired of seeing the same mining models over and over. It seems that American modelers are so focused on creating exact copies of prototypes where as some of the best European and Japanese modelers I've seen seem to approach modeling from more of a Hollywood set design approach. The buildings suggest what might have been instead of making a statement of this is what it was - exactly. I guess you might call it a bit of whimsy.

See more of Junior's modeling

Farm Stand Part 3

Update on my Farm Stand project. I found out the over sized skids I used make the whole building too high for the wee folk. I sanded down the skids to bring the whole thing down.

Added signage (notice the poster for the Yee Haw County Fair with Earl the Singing Chicken and the poster for a Tent Revival) and some veggies. I'll still be adding a lot more veggies.

Moveable Road Side Stand - O Scale - Part 2

Moving along...

I'm using 2x4's and coffee stirrers. The beams on the bottom are rather over sized but that's old barn beams Farmer Joe had laying around.

I'm covering the roof with corrugated metal.

Now to find/make some signs. Still have to make a door for the back.

Movable Road Side Stand - O Scale

Last summer my 10 year old son wanted to sell some extra veggies at the end of our driveway. I looked around on the web for some plans for a farm stand and I found these plans from 1949 for a Movable Roadside Stand from the USDA. You can probably ask your local agricultural department for these plans.

I never made a full size version but I did think it would make a neat model for my On30 layout. The plans are actually in 1/2 scale or O scale. But unfortunately my print out was smaller than actual size. So I had to print out a scale ruler and take it from there.

For a little building this model actually has a lot of parts to it but fortunately there are no windows to deal with.

Resources:

Movable RoadSide Stand Plans
http://msucares.com/pubs/plans/5699.pdf

Building and Construction Plans from MSU
http://msucares.com/pubs/plans

Farm Building Plans from Colorado State Extention:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/blueprints/farmbuildings.html

Model: Red Stag Lumber Company

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Model: On30 Critter

On30 Critter
by Jerry Lawrence

(Photos Russ Reinberg/Finescale Railroader)

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Model: My Mod of the Gas Mech

Here is my modification of the Bachmann On30 Side Rod Gas Mech so far. Not everything is glued in place yet and I have a lot more of detailing planned - driver, sun screen in the back, clip board, tools, driver etc.

I removed the cab. Cut away most of the cabin just leaving the bottom panels. On the roof I filed off the ridges and plan to add a metal roof. The new roof supports are painted plastic lollipop sticks. - EMF

Model: Open Cab Conversion Kit for Bachmann's On30 Gas-Mechanical

This Backwoods Miniatures kit contains all the components from their earlier Gas-Mechanical dress-up kit plus further new etched parts, pre-cut, jig-drilled brass angle and pre-cut basswood parts to construct the model pictured. Designed for easy ACC 'superglue' assembly. More info

Model: Davenport Spotted On The Owen Firty Timber Co

This loco is based upon the Bachmann #25899 0-4-0 Davenport, with the addition of a Backwoods Miniatures dress-up kit.

The Davenport has been fitted with a Umelec ATL-2064 Sound Decoder, with it's speaker behind the grille. More Info

Model: A Rainbow of Colors

Bachmann trains offers its Davenport gas mech in a variety of colors, road names and as undecorated units.