Working the float bridge, the log camp, and more

Long Island Rail Road Alco S-2 No. 420 uses a reach car to pull cars from the car float docked at the Eastport float bridge. John Ciesla photographed the scene on his HO scale Eastport Branch modular layout, which was featured in the November 2021 Model Railroader. The float bridge was scratchbuilt from scavenged spare parts from old structure kits and styrene Micro Engineering girders. The barge is made from a length of 1 x 4 lumber. The locomotive is an older Atlas model.

The Rangeley Express crosses Main Street in Rangeley, Maine, on its way to the Rangeley Lake House resort on a busy day in the summer of 1915. Dan Welch, from Georgetown, Texas, shot the busy scene on his HOn30 Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes. Forney locomotive No. 7 is a vintage brass import by The Car Works, and parlor car Rangeley is a vintage brass import from Sango. The structures are a mix of kits, kitbashes, and scratchbuilt.

The crew plays checkers in the baggage compartment while Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe combine No. 2028 awaits pickup for its day’s duties on the Cadiz mixed train in 1945. John Walker of Little Orleans, Md., kitbashed the HO scale baggage-coach-caboose starting with a Bachmann Pennsylvania RR 77-foot combine. John added window screens, opened the baggage compartment door, detailed the interior, and modified the heavyweight’s roof to make it look more like a Santa Fe car. He painted it with Trucolor paints and added decals from Champ and Microscale. He photographed the car on the layout of the Northern Virginia Model Railroad Club in Vienna, Va.

Rio Grande Southern Galloping Goose no. 5 returns from a morning trip to the Iowa Tiger Mine to the town of Cole. Behind it, Denver & Rio Grande Western class K-27 2-8-2 Mikado is bound for the mine with a train of mine supplies. Dennis Jackson of Broomfield, Colo., photographed the action on his HOn3 model railroad.

The horse-and-buggy meets the iron horse on the Flushing & Brooklyn RR in 1838. In just a few decades, the steam locomotive would displace the horse as the primary mover of long-distance transportation. Frank DeStefano of Little Neck, N.Y., took the photo on his freelanced HO scale layout. The Norris-built 4-2-0 locomotive is a Bachmann model, as is the passenger coach. The livery stable is built from an American Model Builders laser-cut wood kit.