Pour a mug of hot chocolate and sit by the fire for these chilly model scenes
The weather outside is frightful, so pull up a chair by the fire and sip some cocoa while you enjoy these model railroad winter scenes.
On a still winter night, G-D Line No. 4 eases a train of holiday merry-makers to the interchange at Mina, where they will transfer to the Devil’s Gulch & Helengon for the rest of their journey to the New Year’s Eve celebration at Helengon. Ron Foreman of Glendale, Calif., lit this scene on his HO scale layout with a single flashlight to give the moonlight effect. The snow is Woodland Scenics Soft Flake Snow, shaken on temporarily, then vacuumed up after the photo was shot. This photo appeared in Trackside Photos in MR’s
January 2022 issue.
Though there’s no snow on the ground, it’s definitely December as the Burlington Route Christmas train makes its way through the night. As it glides along the Mississippi riverbank, it passes a riverboat lit up and packed with holiday revelers. The scene is part of the Twin City Model RR Museum in St. Paul, Minn., which celebrates the holidays with special “Night Train” events from November through February. More information about the museum is at
tcmrm.org. Paul Kampe shot the photo, which appeared in Trackside Photos in
January 2017.
A Forks Creek & Central freight led by Heisler No. 79 exits the tunnel and crosses Fall River Trestle as it makes its way south from Shavano, Colo., on a cold winter day in 1898. Ron Morse of Lenexa, Kan., built and photographed this HO scale diorama. He scratchbuilt the bridge, abutments, and tunnel portal. He used powdered marble for the snow. The locomotive is a Pacific Fast Mail brass model. This Trackside Photo appeared in our December 2019 issue.
With a cold January sun rising in the east, Wisconsin & Southern Electro-Motive Division F45 No. 1002 pushes its way through the previous night’s snowfall. Modeler R.G. Hough braved the winter morning chill in his hometown of Mount Morris, Ill., to photograph his HO scale Athearn Genesis model outdoors on a diorama sprinkled with Woodland Scenics Soft Flake Snow. This photo appeared in the
January 2020 Trackside Photos.
The engineer of the Denver & Rio Grande Western 0-4-0 waits at Frazer for word that the main has been cleared of freshly fallen snow so he can go pick up his train and start the day’s work. Richard McOrmond of Malvern, Pa., photographed the scene on his large scale Chester Valley Garden RR. The locomotive and caboose are LGB models. Frazer Depot is scratchbuilt. The snow is real.
An eastbound coal train emerges from Moffat Tunnel in the midst of a spring snowstorm. The N scale scene is part of Mike Danneman’s N scale Moffat Route layout, which was featured in our December 2011 issue. Mike created the snowfall effect by placing a paint-splattered glass plate in front of his camera lens. He models snowpack with Hydrocal sifted onto the terrain, while the snow between the rails is powdered white marble.
East bound train our of the East Portal has no curve in the tracks, West portal has that curve, but west portal is smaller than east portal as pictured.