My Model Train Layout

I have always loved scale models and model trains. Over the years I have planned and built a few, and I am now in the process of building another one. I am taking a short break from painting to work on it. Well, sort of.

Here are a few random images from some previous projects, and my latest one. The top photo is of a scale model of a scale model of a Z- Scale layout I designed a while ago. I made the mountains from clay, and the buildings from scraps of basswood. I sprinkled some ground foam to suggest grass and used pipe cleaners for trees.  I mounted the whole thing on a piece of 5" x 7" tempered hard board.

I made a small diorama for my brother a few years ago to display an N-Scale coal train model I had given him. This image is a close up of it, with a passenger car to show context.

The sketch above is for a small 13" x 22" Z-Scale layout I am working on. It will have a European theme. Just below that is an in-progress shot at my work bench.

Which brings me to my current project: a portable N-Scale layout symbolically representing Los Angeles. It will have Amtrak, Metrolink and BNSF intermodal freight traffic. 

A centerpiece of this layout will be the Pasadena Train Station which I have painted and sketched for many years. It is now a nice restaurant in the middle of a mixed-use development but on my layout it will be an active working passenger station serving Amtrak's Southwest Chief and Sunset Limited trains.

These images show my practice model. I used mat board, ink, and colored pencil, and mounted everything to a piece of bookbinder's chipboard