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No. 215: Faszination Modellbahn Mannheim 2026

Golden1014

Earlier this month I attended the 2026 Faszination Modellbahn hobby event at the Maimarkthalle near downtown downtown Mannheim–about an hours’ drive from my house in Kaiserslautern. Faszination Modellbahn was a little like an American RPM event, a little bit like an NMRA meet, and a little bit like a train show–except they got 10,000 people through the gate. Anyway here’s what a big model railroad event in Germany looks like. I hope you enjoy the report. The show was held in a huge warehouse and included vendors of all kinds, modular layouts, video presentations (instead of clinics), a few historical … Continue reading No. 215: Faszination Modellbahn Mannheim 2026

Layout Next6 Comments

No. 212: Layout Planning “Inside The Box”

Golden1014

Merry Christmas! I hope you and your families are enjoying a blessed holiday season! Since moving back to Germany last January, I’ve been planning on building a small layout in my upstairs loft. I’ve studied modeling Farmington, Lakeville and Chaska Minnesota on the former Milwaukee Road Hastings & Dakota (H&D) Division among a few other locations, and posted extensively on the layout planning options. Above. A photo of Lakeville, Minnesota, circa 1970. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Road Project on Flickr. In just about every case–Farmington, Lakeville, Chaska and so on–I don’t feel I have enough linear space available. 15 … Continue reading No. 212: Layout Planning “Inside The Box”

Layout Next4 Comments

No. 209: Clear Track in Eulenbis

Golden1014

My wife and I moved back to Germany for work in January 2025. With all three kids in college in the US we thought this would be our last chance to live overseas prior to my formal retirement. I must tell you truly that it was terribly hard for me to move overseas again. I had to pull up roots again, leave my train buddies again, leave my weekend soccer crew again, and leave my old crew at work that I’ve known for decades–again. I left three kids in college out in the Mountain West, and some darn good health … Continue reading No. 209: Clear Track in Eulenbis

Prototype Topics, Railfanning & Museums1 Comment

No. 208: Somewhere on The Southern

Golden1014

By Tom Holley, with Alex Bogaski This is all Alex Bogaski’s fault. Alex is a native Oklahoman and dyed in the wool FarmRail modeler. However, being stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and associating with the wrong crowd, he became interested in the Southern Railway. He acquired a few Southern locomotive models and some rolling stock and naturally needed a place to run them. So, he built the Somewhere Down South layout, a small, Inglenook-style switching layout–generic in nature–typical of a small, Deep South branch line. Being a third generation Central of Georgia district employee, the plan naturally appealed to me. … Continue reading No. 208: Somewhere on The Southern

Layout Visits2 Comments

No. 207: Steve Goaring’s Illinois Terminal RR Layout

Golden1014

A week before Christmas 2024 I dragged my buddy Lonnie Bathurst out to Swanea, Illinois to visit a fellow prototype modeler, Steve Goaring. Steve is a lifetime model railroader and models the Illinois Terminal System (ITS) O’Fallon District in HO scale in his basement. Steve graciously invited us into his home, introduced us to his family, and then took us to the basement to see “The Museum” as he called it. Below, here’s the view of Steve’s layout and workbench as you enter the layout room. The small swinging portion of the layout at the left allows unobstructed access to … Continue reading No. 207: Steve Goaring’s Illinois Terminal RR Layout

Hermitage Road Layouts, Layout Next, O Scale & Proto 483 Comments

No. 206: Back to Germany

Golden1014

My wife and I are leaving the US at the end of January for another three-to-five year job at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. At 61 this will probably be my last full-time assignment working for the Air Force. After this tour we plan to come back to the US and settle down for a while. That’s the plan anyway… Leaving is bittersweet. I’ll miss family and friends, and we’ll be a long way from our three terrific kids who are all in college in the Mountain West. I’ll miss my modeler friends and all the fun RPM events, my footballer … Continue reading No. 206: Back to Germany