Welcome to the NASG Web Site

Welcome to the National Association of S Gaugers' web site! The NASG is a non-profit organization that supports all 1:64, or S-scale, modelers, manufacturers, and vendors. We have a ton of content, so take your time exploring this web site.

To Get You Started...

This is The S-scale Web Site

There are over 49,000 pages of content on this site!
We have over 15,000 products documented, many with photographs.
There is a listing of more than 550 "S" layouts.
There are over 550 manufacturers and retailers listed that carry S-scale products, today!
There are over 40 events coming up in the near future where you can see S in person.
We average over 500 news reports per year.
This web site is updated nearly every single day!

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

The Canadian National Railway local M236 is southbound out of Simcoe, Ontario on its way to the Lake Erie community of Port Dover on Jim Martin's "Port Dover Branch" layout. The S Scale Locomotive & Supply E-10 Mogul runs on battery power. The rolling stock is a combination of S-Helper Service, S Scale America, and American Models products. Tomalco Track code 70 and code 83 rail is used throughout. The stake bed truck in the foreground right is a Railmaster kit, and the large industrial block in the background was built from HO-scale kit components. The Harley-Davidson motorcycle (background, left) is a Hallmark (of Christmas cards fame) model. Peter's photo of Jim's layout appeared on the inside cover of the June 2023 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman in the NASG promotional ad campaign. You can see more photos and details covering Jim's layout on this page. For information on how you can have a photo of your layout appear in one of the NASG ads in RMC, see this page.

Photo #2

This is Bill Lane's first, all-3D-printed car. He decorated it as a Conrail class H56A three-bay covered hopper, which hailed from Penn Central during the mergers that formed Conrail. The Pullman Standard 4750 hopper was designed in CAD by Ben Trousdale. Ben estimates he spent about 2,000 hours designing, printing, test-fitting, and back to designing again. Bill was able to get an early "final" print, which arrives as a kit. After assembly and then painting the model, Bill needed to find prototype information about the lettering of the car. This proved to be a challenge as so few photos of the real car exist, and those that do, didn't have legible lettering. He eventually bought an Intermountain HO-scale model, and composed the lettering from it, which he then commissioned Circus City to design and print for him. Everything except for the trucks and couplers are 3D-printed. While most of these projects have to be labors-of-love to bring to fruition, it does show that with today's technology an S-scale freight car can be produced that is likely never to be produced by any of the major manufacturers. You can read more details about Bill's adventure and a number of intermediate photos on his personal web site.

Photo #3

This scene on Alan Balma's PRR Elmira Branch, set in the fall of 1956, shows RS-3 PRR 8818 crossing a lake with a local freight coming from Penn Yan, NY on its way to the Division Point Yard in Canandaigua, NY. The RS-3 is from American Models and the freight cars are from S-Helper service. The house is a BTS 110 Second Street kit. The girder bridge is a 90' Walthers HO-scale kit and sits on Pre-Size Model Specialities abutments. The background trees are all Scenic Express Super Trees, and the foreground trees are made from Woodland Scenics' armatures. The water is Art Resin topped with Woodland Scenics Water Ripples. You can see more photos and details covering Alan's still-under-construction layout on this page.

Photo #4

At the Annual Spring Train Show in Lindsay, Ontario, the Canadian-based S Scale Workshop set up their Free-mo-style layout in late-March 2023. This was the first show since the lockdowns began. This was a photo Jim took of a CNR 2-6-0 passing by an open field being worked on by a local farmer. The combination of 3D modeling and scenery with a photo-realistic backdrop really make this image stand out.

Photo #5

The Flying Yankee, a River Raisin Models import, has just arrived at Troy, NY on Dick Karnes' "New York, Westchester & Boston" layout. The Yankee is flanked by an American Models Alco FA-2 (heavily re-worked into a CNR FPA-2), and an Overland Models caboose. Catenary spans are from Model Memories. Dick hand-laid all the track using code 70, 83, and 100 rail. Dick is an NMRA Master Model Railroader (MMR) and a prolific author. Uniquely, he is also the only surviving charter member of the NASG, and has been continuously active in the organization over all of these decades (he is currently an associate editor of the NASG's The Dispatch). Dick's photo appeared on the inside cover of the May 2023 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman in the NASG promotional ad campaign. You can see more photos and details covering Dick's layout on this page.

Photo #6

Paul Washburn has completed the construction of another D&RGW steam locomotive, this time it is the C48 #1151, shown here pulling a mixed-freight train on his layout.

Photo #7

This is Paul Heater's first attempt at making a scale freight car. He started with an A.C. Gilbert depressed-center flat car. Gilbert produced three models that came with a from-factory load of a large industrial reel. These were the #636, the #936, and the #24519. The first two were decorated for the Erie railroad, and the latter for the PRR. These almost 11-inch long models are made out of die-cast metal (except for the 1952 #636, which was made out of pressed wood), and so are quite heavy. The #936 is based on a real Erie car, an engineering drawing of which can be found on the Fallen Flags web site. Gilbert made models that could withstand a child's handling, but most were based on prototype research. Paul repainted both the car and the reel, and applied NWP decals. He replaced the tie-down wires with actual chain and attached them as they would in the real world. He also added wood cribbing to keep the load from shifting. Paul removed the exposed portions of the cast-on side steps, and replaced them with hand-formed wire steps. The trucks are American Models 6-wheeled tender trucks (part #6WHTK). He also replaced the couplers with those by American Models. Finally, he added and weathered the wooden decking, which is decking material sold by Micro-Mark for ship building. As with any super-detailing project, Paul indicated that there is always more that can be added to the car. He is currently working on a second depressed-center flat car.

Photo #8

Jerry Poniatowski built this C&O Brill Gas/Electric from scratch. He stated that an interest in transition-era alternatives to full trains made him want to build this car. It features Black Beetle trucks, a fully detailed interior, and a removable roof. It required hours of research. Power for the seven LEDs is provided by two parallel-wired 3-volt alarm batteries in the roof activated by pressing the smoke jack. Various S manufacturers were sourced for some of the details, but many were also scratch-built. The photo of Jerry's model was taken on Bill Bartlam's Surrey Valley Railroad layout. An article for the NASG's The Dispatch is planned with a more detailed description of how Jerry built this beautiful model. Jerry won the "Best of Show" award for the locomotive at the 2022 NASG Convention.

Photo #9

Three-truck Climax #16 hauls a string of log cars to the mill while 2-truck Climax #4 can be seen in the background heading down the switch back on its way to Camp 8 with a caboose in tow. This scene was captured by Pete Smith on his Sn3 "Loon Lake Railway & Navigation Co." layout. He uses Tomalco code 70 flextrack with regular point turnouts on the mainline, and Tomalco code 55 flextrack with stub turnouts in the back woods. The locomotives and rolling stock are P-B-L products. The geared locomotives are brass, as is the caboose at the far end of the log train. The caboose in the upper right is an injection-moulded plastic kit. The skeleton log cars are white metal kits. The photograph was taken using a tripod-mounted iPhone 11 camera. Pete took eight photos, each with a different focal point and combined them with a photo stacking software called Helicon Focus to achieve the exceptional depth of field. Pete's photo appeared on the inside cover of the April 2023 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman in the NASG promotional ad campaign. There is more information available about Pete's layout on this page. For information on how you can have a photo of your layout appear in one of the NASG ads in RMC, see this page.

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.

May 30, 2023: South Jersey S Gaugers club member Jim Oliver built a test bridge for his layout. To verify the dimensions, fit, and design, he decided to build it out of affordable cardboard. This video shows the strength of his design, showing a coal train running through the bridge.