In the August 2025 issue of Model Railroader, we featured Art Kear’s HO scale Buffalo & Susquehanna to Wellsville, Addison & Galeton. The 12 x 32-foot multi-deck walk-in layout features a logging line circa 1910 and the steam-to-diesel transition era in 1950.
“Once the train room was completed, it was time to get started on the layout,” Art wrote. “Potter County in north central Pennsylvania would be the setting.
“I couldn’t settle on one theme,” Art continued. “In my youth, I enjoyed watching trains on the Wellsville, Addison & Galeton. My other interest is logging railroads in the 1910s. Climax, Heisler, and Shay locomotives, along with Barnhart log loaders, were all items that I wanted to model.”
The layout has a mainline run of 96 feet. The minimum radius is 22”, and the minimum turnout is No. 8. The height ranges from 24” to 52”, and the maximum grade is 2% on the upper level and lower staging. Additional features on the model railroad include wall-mounted benchwork, Homasote roadbed, and Atlas and Shinohara code 83 flextrack. Direct-current Model Rectifier Corp. Tech II power packs are used to run trains.
“The structures on the layout are a mix of kit-built, kitbashed, and scratchbuilt,” Art noted. “I enjoy drawing and scratchbuilding structures based on WAG prototypes. My preferred building materials are wood siding sheets and scale lumber from Micro-Mark and windows and doors from Tichy Train Group.
“One of my favorite scratchbuilt structures is the WAG headquarters,” Art wrote. “I measured the prototype building and scaled it down to fit the available space.
“Similar to other layouts shown in the hobby press, the HO scale Buffalo & Susquehanna to Wellsville, Addison & Galeton will never be done,” Art concluded. “There’s always another detail or structure to add and another smile to put on someone’s face when they come to visit. That’s what gives me the greatest pleasure of all.”
In the early 2000s my parents moved to a home along the old WAG r-o-w near Sabinsville. I walked several miles along the abandoned line, imagining what it was like when the trains still ran up to Westfield and beyond. I found a whistle marker in the woods, still maintaining it’s sentinel for trains never to come again. In fact, the shed next to their house was a board and batten design, literally next to the old roadbed. Often wondered if this would have been built to house a track speeder for a right of way maintainer. I have several videos about the last years of the WAG.
Thank you and I cannot wait to see and read the article. My grandfather and his brothers worked for the B&S in Galeton in the 1910s. As a child, I visited relatives in Cowanesque Valley (Tioga County, PA), and spent many summers watching the WAG at the tanneries in Westfield and Elkland.
Kudos to Mr. Kear and his artistic license to capture the essence the region and pay homage to both railroads. The WAGs cream and orange paint scheme is iconic and seeing it used on cars and buildings brought back many memories. I had to do a double take, the first glance at picture 7 (page 39) I thought I saw WAG 1700, the last surviving G.E. 132-ton center cab locomotive parked near the roundhouse. After a second look, I believe it’s a 44-tonner. The 1700 is currently located at Lake Shore Railway Museum and about 20 miles from where it was built in Erie PA.
I applaud the F7As pulling a string of cars with helper service on the Wellsville line.
I enjoyed the tribute to the logging industry that occurred in the area during the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. For many years, my paternal family had a camp on state lands near Germania. I recall trips to Cherry Springs for the annual woodsmen’s field day.
It was my maternal grandfather that worked for the B&S in the 1910s. At the same time, my paternal grandfather worked in the lumber trade in the Galeton area.
With great appreciation and a big THANK YOU!
Gary S Swimeley