Scale Model Railroading

Idaho man is keeper of model train masterpiece
KXLY
Jesse Bennett likes to build things. He took the timber on his property and built his home. Once that was complete he dedicated his energies to a life long hobby of building model trains.

Model railroad provides fun outlet
TheAmanac.net
Peters Township Police Officer Dave Stanton and his DARE students are a long way from completing their recreation of a famous local railroad.

CAMRC open house event Saturday
Log Cabin Democrat
Model train enthusiasts from around Arkansas will meet in Conway on Saturday at an open house event sponsored by the Central Arkansas Model Railroad Club.

Garden Railroad Tour arrives in Des Moines July 31
Des Moines Register
In Fred Loveridge’s small town, the main employer is a factory called Barney’s Big Bricks. It’s just down the road from the church and cemetery.

The carousel on the east side runs daily. Trains on the local railroad line, the Beaver Valley and Donnelly, bring a bit of the outside world into tiny, isolated Pleasantville.

All Aboard! Bethany Village Train Enthusiasts Add 4th Train Display to Elaborate Models Running Throughout Community
EarthTimes.com
The onlookers watch as the train rolls into the station with smoke puffing from atop its stack, the whistle announcing its arrival. The crowd presses forward as the train rolls into the depot. But this crowd is not made up of passengers, these are residents of Bethany Village who are on hand to watch the two new model trains make their run… more

James May’s Toy Stories aired last year in the UK.  May, famous as one of the three presenters on the modern incarnation of Top Gear hosts the show and revisits his favorite toys from childhood.  He brings them back to life in a big way in each episode.

Various episodes included him creating a full scale Lego house and, of most interest to model railroaders, he attempted to create the world’s longest model railroad.  The attempt failed after vandals destroyed a part of the track.

From BBC America:

James is used to goofing around with his pals from Top Gear and taking on some insane challenges, but for this series he’ll leave the keys to the supercars at home as he embarks on some ludicrously ambitious adventures and feats of engineering using classic toys.

Over the course of six episodes James and thousands of volunteers will undertake challenges like laying ten miles of model railroad tracks, creating a life-size bridge out of Meccano (aka Erector set) pieces and building a full-scale Lego house.

He’ll get both adults and children out of the house and working side-by-side on these fun, spectacular challenges; reminding everyone of the joys of doing things together while playing with toys that have captured our imagination.

Victory for Model Trains and Open Source Licensing
IT Business Edge
Friday in The Standards Blog, intellectual property attorney and open source software advocate Andrew Updegrove noted that Robert Jacobsen and Matthew Katzer have settled their dispute over model train software. And that, believe it or not, is a big deal for open source software developers.

Model RR goes digital
Lansdale Reporter
As with television, music and film, the Logan Model Engineers model railroad club has gone digital.

All aboard on a model train wonderland
Victoria Times Colonist
The tiny coastal town of Wilfredton seems frozen in time. The year is 1984, or thereabouts, and Wilfredton’s 1,000 citizens mingle among quaint heritage buildings in the downtown core, up the mountains, and beyond the rock quarry, mines and logging camps on the rugged coastline.

Workin’ on the (mini) Railroad
Tonganoxie Mirror
A building measuring 20 feet by 40 feet is home to Stolte’s hobby: model trains. More than 1,500 feet of track connects various communities in the display. Kansas City, Atchison, Leavenworth, Lincoln, Neb., and Omaha, Neb., are a few of the communities represented in the display that runs along the walls at two levels: about 4-5 feet from the floor and another level at 7 feet. Track also meanders throughout the building at the lower level as well.

Bethel father, Plumcreek son bond over love of trains
Leader Times
There’s nothing Frankie Johns and his dad, Merle “Bee” Johns, like to do more than take a ride together on the Cass Scenic Railroad in the little mill town of Cass in the mountains of southern West Virginia.