HO Scale Layout

"benjrblant" (benjblant) 01/02/2018 at 12:58 • Filed to: None

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Dropped by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! this past week and spoke with the Denver HO Club’s president about the model rail layout in the basement. It’s quite impressive and the attention to detail is surprising.

February will mark the 50th anniversary of this layout at this location in some form or another. It’s been modified and revised over the years and its based on small Colorado towns and parts of the state. The target date is 1958, and it is mostly D&RGW though a few locomotives and cars are modern. Just about all of the buildings and structures are hand built from scratch.

One of the several control and switching stations. Most switches were electronic.

Editions of Model Railroader magazine stored in binders that dated back to 1939.

The club president mentioned they’d really like to have some “younger members such as yourself” because many members are well into their 70's. I’ve found these models intriguing, though I couldn’t dedicate the space, time, or budget to owning one. Might be nice to help maintain such a nice historical one.

Photos on a Nikon D7100 at ISO1600 and 50mm f/1.4 AF-D. Edits in Lightroom 6.

Agrajag > benjrblant 01/02/2018 at 13:25

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This is an awesome post.

When I was a kid we had a giant HO setup in our garage. It was nowhere near completed but was still freaking pretty awesome. It was destroyed when we moved and never got rebuilt.

average user > benjrblant 01/02/2018 at 13:28

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I love these dioramas that comes out every year around the holiday season at one of my local malls. Unfortunately, this kind of hobby takes a lot of money and time, not to mention generous chunks of real estate at home if you want to do it properly. City dwelling youngsters with 2 bedroom apartments are not going to take up train modeling.

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > benjrblant 01/02/2018 at 13:30

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It’s gorgeous. Great photos, too. I love scale model trains so much. When I was a kid I was lucky enough to get a train set one Christmas (They’re super expensive here, I dunno if they are in the States, too).

I dedicated my whole room to it. I enlarged my table, put it in the middle of my room and fiddled with the setup for months. My neighbor used to do a lot of woodworking so I had access to a lot of sawdust, which I used extensively. I made water towers out of old toilet rolls and houses from cardboard. It was super fun. I’d like to invest in a train set again, and set up a diorama (is that what it’s called?).

I think it could be a fun project to approach it as something more silly and casual than usual. Since all of the accompanying models are ridiculously expensive (like the trees and rocks and such), I’d love to embrace the shittyness of the props, and make the whole thing out of milk cartons and bottle tops and such...

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > benjrblant 01/02/2018 at 13:31

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Pretty cool! I had an HO set when I was a kid - quite a few random cars from many different US states and Canadian provinces...I’ve still got my three locomotives as well (A Chessie System and classic-livery CP rail diesel [no idea what engine model] and a small steam ‘shunter’).

All of it is safely locked up in boxes in my basement somewhere...I’ll have to set them up again someday! :)

dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter > benjrblant 01/02/2018 at 13:36

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Greeley actually has a pretty sweet HO railroad museum. My grandmother had a bunch of HO gauge stuff she gave to my cousin. I forgot what happened to them, but I think they got lost somehow. Definitely a ton of fun for a kid (or grown up for that matter).

Party-vi > benjrblant 01/02/2018 at 13:40

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I just picked up five O scale cars for my dad, who had three different O scale tracks around the Christmas tree at their house. He’s god a ton of Z-scale as well. Really great post here.

OPPOsaurus WRX > benjrblant 01/02/2018 at 13:45

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HO yea!!!!! my setup is less impressive (and currently in a box)

shop-teacher > benjrblant 01/02/2018 at 14:07

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That is really cool.

benjrblant > OPPOsaurus WRX 01/02/2018 at 15:02

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In arch school, I wanted to make all of my models the same 1:87 so I could make a giant layout with them, but none of the professors seemed to think that was cool. Lame-o’s.

Stephenson Valve Gear > benjrblant 01/02/2018 at 18:20

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The CRM is fantastic, and the layout certainly impressive. A club is a great way to enjoy model railroading, so I would encourage you to to get involved with them if you have an interest.

user314 > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 01/02/2018 at 21:39

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 Oh, that Chessie System engine is gorgeous!

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > user314 01/02/2018 at 21:48

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I always liked the color scheme as a kid as golden yellow, bright orange and shades of blue are my favorite colors :)

That being said, it’s weird to have it as I am way up here in Nova Scotia, Canada. :P

I have a soft spot for the old-livery CP Rail engine though. It was my first one and, being Canadian, a Canadian-Pacific engine seems good to have, even though we have Canadian National and VIA Rail on my side of the country! A few CP rail cars pass through here now and again though!

ttyymmnn > benjrblant 01/08/2018 at 22:42

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Nice shots. I love set ups like that. I’ve got a big HO set in my parent’s basement, and it’s been there for about 30 years. I have no idea what condition it’s in. I’d love to get it back someday, but even then, I don’t have room to set it up.

benjrblant > ttyymmnn 01/08/2018 at 23:17

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This club had a handmade brass-weighted track scrubber car which I thought was awesome. Had a little rolley cloth that would hold some alcohol and be drug around to keep the track clean.