Dec 23 to Jan 23, 2004 I received an e-mail which said in part: "I don't often write to webmasters to recommend anything or even complain, but it is not often that you find something really helpful. Let me explain, my interest is modelling steam powered railways in Germany and whilst there are a few good site on the internet, they are mostly in German or pretty awful. Last week, I found a link on the NMRA website to The Dorset Reichsbahn Gruppe and it is great. The guys have built a nice small layout, which simply exudes class but most impressively, the site shows how they did it. Their scenery is outstanding, especially their grass and the guys have provided a whole page on how to get the same results. The best thing is they are just plain friendly and share their expertise with other modellers. I wrote to their webmaster about trackbuilding and within two hours he replied with a list of links and a detailed set of instructions on how to achieve the same results." I took a look, left and came back again and then again and the more I looked, the better I liked it. This is a Finescale layout with a lot of personality. So, with that in mind, let's take a look at The Dorset Reichsbahn Gruppe. Jan 23 to Feb 22, 2004 The Dutton Bay Tramway is a freelanced HO scale 2'6" gauge railway set in South Australia's Eyre Peninsula. The layout has a long history, and was first exhibited in 1988. The DBT is now retired from the exhibition scene following the Adelaide Model Railway Exhibition of June 2001. Those modules are being incorporated into the permanent layout, and will never be seen in exhibition halls again. In its exhibition form the layout comprised a terminal station, Anunaka, from where the line meandered through typical Eyre Peninsula scenery, dropping down across a salt pan, downgrade past the gypsum loading bins of Kelvin before disappearing into the fiddle yard. A purpose built shed has been erected to provide the permanent home for the DBT, and progress has been mode on the larger version of the layout, which will incorporate most of the exhibition modules. In addition to the exhibition photos, we can view the progress from an empty shed to a Model Railway on the Dutton Bay Tramway! Feb 22 to Mar 22, 2004 The Michigan Prototypical Operators - Oakland Division in their words because I couldn't say it any better: "We are a group of Model Railroaders and Train Fans who enjoy building and operating in many styles & schemes. We are active in N, HO, & O scale. While many of us have layouts at home, some of us do not, and we all enjoy getting together to simulate operations moving freight & passenger equipment over the roads of our host modelers. This site is about our group, what we think, how we operate, and what our plans are. We use it for our weekly ops session scheduling. You might just have fun looking around at some of the layouts we operate." Yes, you just might. There are many, many photos of the various layouts. So, take a visit to the Michigan Prototypical Operators - Oakland Division. Mar 22 to April 24, 2004 The Cochise & Western Model Railroad Club operates a 20 foot by 40 foot HO-scale layout that is built in the shape of a large "E," with the sides extending the entire 40' length of the room, and a divided center peninsula extending to within 8 feet of the entrance. As visitors enter the layout room, they see a floor-to-ceiling snow-covered mountain with an 8 foot long curved trestle spanning Lombardi Falls and Knott's Landing, named after two former club members who were instrumental in building this scene The club has set up a 'riding tour' of the layout. So without further ado. let's take that tour of the Cochise & Western Model Railroad Club April 24 to May 23, 2004 Paul Templar's Cooncreek & Tumbleweed Springs is an 0n30 logging layout. Paul has been modeling the American scene for the last 25 years and has had his railroads featured in several magazines in both the UK America. His latest article is in the March issue of Model Railroading In building model railroads, Paul has learned that you never stop learning. Paul says: "When I first started into the realms of Railroad Modelling, the knowledge I gained from watching other people work gave me much pleasure. The questions I asked, of these people must have run into the thousands. All were very helpful in putting up with this very young teenager who wanted a railroad for himself." Well Paul is no longer a teenager and his talents and skills are evident in the photos of his latest layout. He is one of those rare people who can build fast and well and I invite you to spend a few minutes and take a look at the Cooncreek & Tumbleweed Springs. May 23 to June 23, 2004 The Delaware & Hudson Railway Adirondack Branchline is a model railroad, based on the real Adirondack railroad built during the period just after the Civil War By 1875, the Adirondack Railroad was finally completed from Saratoga Springs to the new town of North Creek The D&H first leased and finally purchased the line by 1900. Tourists, lumber and minerals provided significant traffic. Iron ore never held high volumes until WWII when the US government need the contaminant in the iron ore. Now for the model. All of the station names and general positions are taken from their real locations. The type of traffic handled at the stations is also as it was about 1950. A shortline railroad delivers iron ore to a blast furnace at Port Henry, and the grades on the layout have been held to ass than 1.5%. following the real branch standards. Freight traffic also follows, the pattern of the real railroad, and the locomotives proved to be a real challenge. Let's visit the past and take a ride on the HO Delaware & Hudson Railway Adirondack Branchline.