Welcome to the NASG Web Site

The National Association of S Gaugers is a non-profit corporation that supports all "S" (1:64) modelers, manufacturers & vendors.

SCALE MODELING
standard-gauge
narrow-gauge
HI-RAIL MODELING
AMERICAN FLYER

To Get You Started...

We have a ton of content, so enjoy exploring this web site.

This is The S-scale Web Site

It features...

...75,000+ pages of S content!
...16,000+ products documented, many with photographs.
...600+ "S" layouts.
...575+ manufacturers and retailers carrying S-scale products, today!
...dozens of local events where you can see S in person.
...just about daily updates! Yes, S is alive and thriving! Join us!

The Premier S-only Event of the Year is Here!

The 2025 NASG Convention, to be held in Norwich, Connecticut, is now officially open for registration! We invite you to join other S enthusiasts to the "S Event of the Year", where we will have rail- and non-rail tours, vendors bringing their S wares, informative clinics, and contest models to show. Get inspired and enthused about modeling and about S! Bring your spouse, your children, your grandchildren, and your display or contest models. Spend time with old friends and make new ones. Make a vacation out of it! Visit a beautiful part of our country. You can find all of the details on our web site here, or click on the "Events" button.

About the Home Page Photos

Below is a bit more detailed information about the photos shown in our home page's rotation. Click the photo to see the larger version used on the home page. To help keep this listing fresh, please consider sending the webmaster a photo of your layout, diorama, module, model, or an S-scale event.

Photo #1

This scene represents the countryside of western New York State on Gaylord Gill's "Buffalo & Chautauqua" layout. The locomotive is a B&O E-27 2-8-0 by S-Helper Service. While the body is plastic, the details rival some of the brass imports. Track is Tomalco Track flextrack code 100 (now owned by Micro Engineering). The weathered barn (center-right) is a board-by-board kit from Finest Kind Models. The foreground barn is scratch-built. A Pringles® can forms the silo tower. The brick farmhouse on the right was kit-bashed from HO-scale modular components by DPM. The position of the red barn in the side of a hill, with access at two levels, was inspired by the farm Gaylord's grandfather had in the 1940s through the 1960s. This photo appeared in the April 2025 Model Railroader magazine issue in their Trackside Photos column. Contact NASG Central VP Brian Jackson (central_vp@nasg.org) about submitting your photo as a potential candidate for the Model Railroader Trackside Photos column, to help promote S-scale to other modelers.

Photo #2

Tom Lennon took this photo at the Twin Cities Division of the NMRA's "2025 Modelers Retreat", which happened in mid-March in Plymouth, Minnesota. It is a Railroad Protype (RPM) style meet. Set-up is Friday evening and the show happens all day Saturday. There were clinics held, and visitors could admire and ask questions about models shown by fellow modelers of all scales, including S. This year there was quite a turn-out of S modelers. Five of the seven tables shown in the foreground of this photo held models from S-scalers from Wisconsin and Minnesota. They brought new products, rebuilt older models, 3D-printed items, as well as scratchbuilt models.

Photo #3

Just for fun, Bill Lane set up about 30 feet worth of engines on his layout so he could take this photo. There were a few more than that could fit in a single photo. All of these engines were in one 5-amp DCC district. While he stated that the DCC system managed to handle it, starting the system up with these engines all in the block did not work. This is likely due to the in-rush current that the decoders (especially if they have sound) and any "keep alive" circuits require when they are first turned on; they draw more current than what they need after everything has stabilized. It does show, however, that modern S-scale locomotives can be very efficient with regard to current draw.

Photo #4

John Degnan set up this display at the recent Central Georgia Railroad Prototype Meet (RPM) in Macon, Georgia. It is a simple, but very effective way to demonstrate S-scale. John used older models of cars and engines, kits still in their boxes, undecorated shells, as well as the recent releases by ScaleTrains to show a wide range of available products, all positioned on sections of flextrack. NASG promotional material was used to promote both S and the NASG itself. John even had a tablet computer set up displaying a continually rotating display of more S items. RPM's are a great way to introduce other modelers to the size and heft of S models. John reported that there were two other modelers at this Meet showing S-scale products. See our "Events" page to find an upcoming RPM meet and set up an S-scale display or your small portable layout.

Local Events

Photo #5

It is 1939 in southern Quebec, and a CNR local freight behind H6-class 10-wheeler #1338 is heading east to Dunham with a short consist of gondolas. The locomotive was built by Simon Parent from parts of his own design plus parts that were available from S Scale Locomotive & Supply. The model matches the prototype #1338 details with the modifications it had in 1938. The stock car is a resin kit Simon produced several years ago based on a CNR Fowler car. The wood reefer is a modified S-Helper Service car with 3D-printed roof and hatches. The steel 8-hatch reefers are CNR Series 1 cars built from MLW Services resin kits. The CNR gondolas are pilot models of a kit Simon plans to release soon. The truck on the bridge is a modified Hartoy item. Simon hand-laid the track and scratchbuilt the bridge from engineering plans. Simon took the photo, which appears on the inside cover of the April 2025 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman in the NASG promotional ad campaign.

Photo #6

Tom Lennon sent this photo for the purpose of adding it to the flat car entry in the Product Gallery section of this web site, but it was such a striking photo that it is featured on the home page rotation. Tom took this photo on Steve Doyle's layout. The 60-foot flat car is a kit available from Pre-Size Model Specialties, which Tom built, painted, and decorated for the Santa Fe. These cars were purpose-built starting in 1964 for transporting farm machinery and heavy equipment.

Photo #7

Tom Roell provided this photo as "just another box car" to add to this web site's Product Gallery, as there was no listing of it. However, what makes this 2006 Toy Train Operating Society's SP Division convention car so unique is that, while it was commissioned from Lionel, it was actually built and decorated by USA Trains, who are one of the major manufacturers for G-gauge trains. This may well be the only S-scale product produced by an G-gauge company. The box' label indicates that it is a "Newport & Santa Ana Railway Reefer", but the car is correctly decorated for the Santa Ana & Newport Railway (reporting marks SA&N). That railroad operated about 11 miles of track in Orange County in California for a very brief time from its inception in 1890, through 1899. The Southern Pacific created the SA&N, but in 1899 decided to just merge it into the SP itself. The line was mostly used for transporting harvested celery, but was later abandoned as agricultural land became residential, and the wharf that its served became too small to handle the larger freight vessels.

Photo #8

Canadian National train number M236 passes the Clubine Mill on its way to the Lake Erie community of Port Dover. Jim Martin captured the action on his S-scale Dover Branch. The ten wheeler #1533 was built from a limited production brass kit designed and assembled by fellow S-scale modeler Simon Parent. The van (caboose) is a resin Ridgehill Hobbies kit, and the rest of the train is ready-to-run plastic. The train runs on Tomalco code 83 flex track, and the mill structure was scratchbuilt, primarily from foam core and computer-printed building papers.

More photos and information about Jim's layout

Photo #9

A PRR RSD-4/5 works Koenig Fuel at Olean in southwestern New York. Gaylord Gill took the photo on his 1953-era Buffalo & Chautauqua layout. The RSD-4/5 locomotive is an early brass model imported by Alco Models. The brass tank car was made by Southwind Models. Both are custom-painted. The code 100 trackwork includes flextrack from Tomalco Track (now Micro Engineering) and turnouts from Old Pullman Model Railroads. Arttista provides many of the S-scale figures on Gaylord's layout, although he sometimes alters their poses. This photo appears on the inside cover of the March 2025 issue of the Railroad Model Craftsman magazine as part of the NASG's promotional ad campaign.

Featured Video

We want to reward you for scrolling all the way down to the bottom of this page by offering a featured video. This video will be replaced from time to time as S-scale modelers make new ones available, so scroll down here every so often! Contact the webmaster if you would like to nominate a video.

April 26, 2024: Running and building a huge train.