Welcome to the NASG Web Site

copyright © Brooks Stover; used by permission.

One of the features of this web site's "Layouts" section is that we show both currently-active layouts as well as layouts that have been dismantled. There is no reason why photos, and videos, of long-gone layouts cannot serve as inspiration to us, today. This photo is of Brooks Stover's first incarnation of his Buffalo Creek and Gauley layout, in a collection of photos he digitized, sent in, and we now show them on this web site. This layout used GarGraves flextrack, A.C. Gilbert turnouts, and ran three modified A.C. Gilbert 0-8-0 switchers, one of which is shown in this photo.

• View Brooks' layout

copyright © Scott Lister; used by permission.

Scott Lister's Greenville & Northern #75, a GE 70-ton switcher, heads south in the town of Travelers Rest, South Carolina. Scott is building a large S-scale layout called the "Greenville and Northern" which represents the upstate South Carolina area in the 1970s. The layout's benchwork and shape is very unique; it allows for both continuous running, as well as lots of industrial switching, while still being able to walk into the layout.

• View Scott's layout

copyright © Jim Martin; used by permission.

Handsome CNR Mogul number 88 glides past the back of Ken's Garage on Jim Martin's Dover Branch layout. The engine, an E-10 class 2-6-0, is heading north from Lake Erie enroute to Hamilton, Ontario in the fall of 1953. That looks like a B&O hopper just behind the tender. Jim's beautiful autumn scenery is evident in this scene which includes wonderful details everywhere you look. Behind the shed on the right there are tools leaning against the wall and discarded lumber in a barrel. On the near side of the tracks the two derelict trucks are exquisite models in their own right. Notice the once-yellow wrecker is missing the driver's side door and the interior details are visible. The period-correct billboard in the background advertising travel by Greyhound bus is the perfect addition to the scene. In fact, it may be that bus travel has cut into the passenger business of the CNR's Dover Branch. This photo appears on the inside cover of the January 2025 issue of the Railroad Model Craftsman magazine as part of the NASG's promotional ad campaign.

• More photos and information about Jim's layout
• Would you like to have your photo in an upcoming NASG RMC ad?

copyright © Bob Haladyna; used by permission.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and/or Hannukah and got to spend some good time with family and friends. Here's wishing everyone a fantastic 2025! Hopefully, it will include some modeling in S.

Bob Haladyna enjoyed running his beautiful Christmas-tree layout this year. It consists of three loops, with the inner loop having a siding at the North Pole passenger station. The layout is complete with candy-cane streets and lit-up snow-covered houses.

• Enjoy more photos of Bob's layout

copyright © Brooks Stover; used by permission.

"Snow Fall At Dundon". It is early winter 1972 and the crew of Buffalo Creek & Gauley #20 are going about switching the B&O interchange at Dundon, WV. They brought a short string of hoppers down from the coal load-out facility at Majestic Mining's strip mine at Bonetown Gap. The 65-ton Whitcomb was nicknamed "Peanut" by the crews as it could only manage six loaded hoppers at a time. One lucky crewman is staying warm and dry in the road's spiffy yellow C-2 caboose, an ex-Pere Marquette unit. This scene was photographed by Brooks Stover on his 12' x 25' hi-rail layout depicting the BC&G as it was in the later years of its operations. The Whitcomb body was built from scratch by Brooks using styrene, and it rides on an American Models Baldwin chassis. It has a Tsunami DCC sound decoder installed. The C-2 caboose was made by centering the cupola on an American Models wood-sided caboose. The company store and other structures were scratchbuilt from mat board and bass wood. The figures are from Arttista and trains run on Fox Valley Models code 138 track. The late Don Heimburger ceased publishing his S Gaugian magazine in 2019 after 57 years of serving the S community. A version of this same scene was featured on the cover of the last issue, the November/December 2019 one. Brooks created this image by combining a photo of the modeled elements with an image of actual barren trees. The snow on the ground was created by over-exposing portions of the ground cover. The snow flakes were added with the paint feature of the photo editing software application Photoshop.

• More info about Brooks' layout

copyright © Paul Washburn; used by permission.

Over the period of the last four months of 2024, Paul Washburn has been busy building another one of his beautiful creations. This time around it is the Santa Maria Valley #100, a Baldwin 2-8-2. The Santa Maria Valley Railroad (SMV) is still in existence today. The railroad was started in 1911 as a shortline railroad to connect the Southern Pacific main line at Guadalupe, California to regional industries. Total trackage is about 14 miles. The Santa Maria Valley carries mostly freight, but it did offer passenger service for a few years during WWII to transport troops. The railroad actually went bankrupt in 1925, but was bought by Captain G. Allan Hancock, and it continued to be held by the Hancock estate until they sold it to Coast Belle Rail Corporation in 2006. Today it continues to offer similar freight service as it did over 100 years ago, except it interchanges with the Union Pacific (after the merger with the Southern Pacific). The railroad had four steam locomotives, namely #21, #100, #205, and #1000. Today it has two GE industrial switchers, a GP9, and a GP35. 2-8-2 #100, the subject of Paul's build, was built by Baldwin in 1926, bought by the SMV in 1942, and sold to White Mountain Scenic RR in 1962 and it is currently undergoing a full restoration at the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, a private railroad in Nevada, which intends to bring it back into full operation.

• Photos of the build

copyright © Bill Lane; used by permission.

Bill Lane had an opportunity to visit Stan Stokrocki's layout and he shared the photos with us. Stan's "Hudson Central" is best described as an urban switching layout. Portions of this layout go back to over 40 years now. The layout's Sherwood area, for example, is based on the "Switchman's Nightmare" track plan from Kalmbach's 101 Trackplans, which is a 2' by 10' section that Stan documented in his 1981 article in the July issue of S Gaugian. In December, 1994 an article appeared in the S/Sn3 Buyers' Guide, where Stan had expanded his layout into an L-shaped one. The photos Bill took show that Stan has continued to expand his layout over the years.

• View photos of Stan's layout

copyright © Bob Werre; used by permission.

A N&W Type A shatters the peaceful and quiet as townsfolk enjoy being out and about on a warm summer evening. This photo, by Bob Werre, is a tribute to famous railroad photographer O. Winston Link. Bob, a professional photographer, is a long-time fan who followed Link's contributions in Life Magazine. Link created the original scene by presetting an array of hidden flashbulbs to capture a N&W type A rushing a passenger consist past a small crossroads village of local characters. When the locomotive entered the camera's view, Link had one chance to capture it. The posed local citizens, who were filling their gas tanks or just hanging out to see what the fuss was all about, finished the scene. This scene on Bob's S-scale layout was captured using a 4x5-view camera and a light brush device which uses a flexible tube that beams directed light into the scene. Bob painted the scene with light in a totally darkened room. Polaroid test shots were used to determine the length of time each part of the scene needed to receive light. Several attempts were needed to get the desired result with each attempt being unique. Some of the village's finest citizens (Artista and SSL&S figures) are posed with a Railmaster and a vintage Dick Tracy vehicle. Building & Structure Co. and Finest Kind Models offered the kits from which the structures shown were built. The N&W Type A locomotive is a brass model imported by Overland Models in 1988 which was custom-painted by Roger Huber. This photo appears on the inside cover of the December 2024 issue of the Railroad Model Craftsman magazine as part of the NASG's promotional ad campaign.

• Would you like to have your photo in an upcoming NASG RMC ad?
• More photos and information about Bob's layout
• More info about the locomotive

copyright © Bob Werre; used by permission.

The Houston S Gaugers were set up at a local train show in Pearland, Texas in mid-November 2024. Pearland is a small town just outside of Houston-proper on the southeast side. Club member Rusty Paulus is setting up an SP passenger train on the layout. These are American Models cars. The club tends to run passenger trains on the outside track and freight trains on the inside track, running in opposite directions, so that there is a high likelihood that visitors will see a train passing by. A visitor to the show took some very nice video of the layout, which you can see via the first link below.

• Video of the layout at the show
• Houston S Gaugers web site
• Rusty's home layout
• American Models Budd passenger cars