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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 50,000 pages of content on this site!
  • We have over 16,000 products documented, many with photographs.
  • There is a listing of more than 570 "S" layouts.
  • There are over 600 manufacturers and retailers listed that carry S-scale products, today!
  • There are over 30 events coming up in the near future where you can see S in person.
  • We average over 450 news announcements 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


copyright © Mike Marmer; used by permission.

This is a view across the center part of Mike Marmer's "D&K Railroad" layout. It's an island-style layout occupying the center of the room. It is flanked by display cases showing Mike's large collection of cars and engines. One of the iconic scenes on Mike's layout has to be the "S Helper Field" where the local baseball team, sponsored by the D&K Railroad, is facing off against a visiting team. As is common in scenes like this, the railroad tracks aren't far away. Mike's 9' x 13' layout has been "finished" for a number of years now and he gets to enjoy operating it. Mike models the Western Maryland and the Chesapeake & Ohio and runs his engines using the Lenz DCC system. You can see more photos, including a night scene of the base ball field on this page.

Photo #2


copyright © John Henning; used by permission.

John Henning shared this photo taken on his home layout. Of particular interest is the uniquely-decorated pair of hoppers in the foreground. The Gulf, Mobile & Ohio RS-3 in the back is an American Models locomotive. The photo was taken on John's modular layout. The layout was built by Doug Evans who took it to many local train shows. When Doug wanted to retire the layout, John bought it and set it up as his home layout.

Photo #3


copyright © Bob Hogan; used by permission.

Bob Hogan had been thinking of doing this project for several years and finally got around to it. He used an old issue of the Narrow Gauge And Short Line Gazette magazine which had drawings for these cars. In 1902 the Sierra Railway built its 19.3-mile Angles Camp branch from Jamestown north to Angles Camp, California. This line contained 4% grades, very sharp 28-degree curves, and a switchback. San Francisco's Holman & Company built two unique "shorty" 32-foot (end sill-to-end sill) passenger cars for service over this rugged line. Both the combine #5 and coach #6 have survived these many years and can still be seen at the Jamestown Railtown State Park headquarters (prototype photos can be seen on this page). Both cars have been used in many movies over the years and even on a few railfan trips. The combine #5 served as the Sierra's primary caboose during the early 1950s until the arrival of new Baldwin diesels and a newer used caboose #7. Because of their heavy use in Hollywood movies during the 1940s and 1950s, these cars were painted a variety of colors. Bob chose to use a Floquil "coach green" as this is how he saw them most often during the 1960s and 1970s. His guess is that they were painted the standard "Pullman" green when built. Bob built his models by creating a wooden base. The sides and ends are styrene. The roofs are resin from old V&T Shops Sn3 kits that he both widened and cut to length, which required a lot of sanding. The windows are by the former Grandt Line Products company, and the trucks are old brass Kemtron On3 ones, re-gauged for S. He used brass and white metal parts from his parts box to complete the detailing.

Photo #4


copyright © Bob Werre; used by permission.

The scene is based on three railroads sharing facilities in Omaha/Council Bluffs, Bob Werre's main yard. Member roads are the UP, MILW, and CNW which all served the Omaha area and exchanged traffic. Here, in the early morning, is an MILW L2 Heavy Mikado being readied for its east-bound run. Its consist will include five PFE reefers of citrus, six empty autorack cars, and fifteen cars of mixed loads. The locomotive was a custom-built model using S Scale Locomotive & Supply parts and a rolled boiler based on a Southern MS4 as Bob has an affinity for Elasco feedwater heaters. Over the years, the model has been modified twice to improve its running qualities. In the background is a plaster and wood freelanced roundhouse using wall castings from C C Crow for a D&RGW Sn3 house. Sixteen wall segments were spliced for the two main walls. Roundhouse doors, windows, and roof vents were laser-cut from the D&RGW kit. The turntable is also a much-modified vintage O-scale wooden kit from H&D models. The arch was a soft-metal kit, also O-scale. Bob Werre is a professional photographer, and so he elaborated on how he actually took this photograph. His overall theme was to create the mood around the roundhouse of a clear, warm evening. He chose to utilize LED lighting to supplement tiny lights already installed in the raised roof section. Two arrays of thin "pancake" lights were added as the roof was removed. He then added a larger overall LED array with a blue gel filter to give the twilight effect to the sky. That light was simply laid on top of the rolling stock and aimed up to the ceiling. Another small LED array off to one side was used to simulate yard lights around the turntable pit area. Lastly another smallish array in the form of a "free" light from Harbor Freight with a blue filter lit the smokebox front. The headlight, also an LED, was lit for the scene. With the setup complete, Bob then made five exposures stacked together with different focus distances. Adobe PhotoShop was then used to align and blend the five exposures into the final result shown here. This photo appears on the inside cover of the March 2024 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine in the NASG promotional ad campaign. For information on how you, too, can have a photo of your layout appear in one of the NASG ads in RMC, see this page. You can view a few more photos of Bob's layout as well as some of the layout's details on his page on this web site.

Photo #5


copyright © Alan Balma; used by permission.

This photo, taken near Aloquin, NY in the Fall of 1956 on Alan Balma's PRR Elmira Branch, was taken with an iPhone 15. The locomotive is an American Models GP9 and the cars are S-Helper Service products. The scenery materials are from Scenery Express and Woodland Scenics. The abandoned cabin was built from scratch by Alan. The bridge was constructed from an HO-scale Walthers kit. Alan used art resin to create the water. The foreground tree was made from Woodland Scenics armatures and Super Tree material, and the background trees are all Super Trees.

Photo #6


copyright © Bill Lane; used by permission.

The converted-to-scale Lionel Norfolk & Western Y3, pulling a train of the new ScaleTrains hoppers, runs around the freight bypass while the two "Red Bird" GP9 locomotives are in the station. Bill enjoys switching time periods as the mood strikes, so this photo shows a (temporary) transition-era scene. He is currently exploring modeling the more modernday period in S, and so he stated that after this photo, he will put his modern equipment back on the layout.

Photo #7


copyright © Michael McConnell; used by permission.

This is a highly detailed scene on the South Jersey S Gaugers' club layout. It is modeled on the straight module at one end of the layout (the "north" end). The layout uses hi-rail track. Everything on the module is securely fastened down, so that it can be transported to local train shows with minimal damage. You can see a fully-detailed track plan of the club's layout on their page. It is the module labeled "2" in red on the right-hand side. On the track plan, the interior orange track line is actually the track shown in this photo. Be sure to visit the club's web site, as it contains a lot of good photos and information.

Photo #8


copyright © Dick Karnes; used by permission.

The P&LE Berkshire #9405 hauls a coal load past the Quaker Hill Creamery at Putnam Hills on a branch line on Dick Karnes' New York, Westchester & Boston. The locomotive began as a scratch-built NYC Niagara (4-8-4) when Dick was a college student. The project was put away for 50 years. Then its original converted O-scale Lobaugh chassis was replaced by a spare Omnicon PRR L1 chassis. The new chassis created the major portion of the P&LE loco, whose boiler and cab are identical to the Niagara's. The tender is built from two spliced S Scale Locomotive & Supply Berkshire tender shells. This photo appeared on the inside cover of the February 2024 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine in the NASG promotional ad campaign. For information on how you, too, can have a photo of your S-scale layout appear in one of the NASG ads in RMC, see this page. You can see more photos of Dick's layout on this page. Due to a move, Dick's layout was disassembled in August 2023, cut into 13 sections, and these were moved to the Miniature Railway Institute and Museum in Hopkins, MN, where the plans are to re-assemble the layout for future visitors and display. All of Dick's cars and engines were part of this move. This museum will help to keep Dick's layout visible to visitors for many years to come. You can read about the actual move in the February/March 2024 issue of The S Scale Source.

Photo #9


copyright © Roger Nulton; used by permission.

Northward freight #72 approaches the crossing of route 231 in Greencastle, Indiana. S-scale modeler Phil Johnson scratchbuilt the Monon Grill from Roger's photos so that crew members had a place to "go for beans" while waiting for the dispatcher's clearance in Greencastle. Brooks Stover authored an article based on the model's story, as told by Roger, that was published in the June 2022 NMRA Magazine. You can see more photos of Roger's Monon Railroad Fourth Subdivision layout on 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.

February 18, 2024: Bill Lane holds an S-scale Amtrak day on his layout. The two trains shown in the video are all equipment made by American Models.

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