O Scale Toy Rail

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I call the 800 square foot Golden Prairie Railroad "O Scale Toy Rail" here because it is, well, idiosyncratic. I like running the trains with electronics (DCS, Legacy for those familiar with the types). Here are a few photos of an engine (one of many, many, way too many), some rolling stock with a pun on my over-education, and a tribute to the end of local "fallen flag" railroad.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I do like painting and weathering buildings. But I do not enjoy gloppy scenery stuff (although I do help others with it). So the GPRR is all on table-flat painted scenery (colors thanks to my daughter-in-law). Then I combine store-bought buildings and kits I build myself, weathering some, not others. Here's an odd bit: I have built some paper buildings for the GPRR. That is yet another type of fun.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

All around the railroad, I create "scenarios" just as I fancy. Many focus on the main theme of the railroad: farming. Here's a fellow window shopping for a new 1960 John Deere tractor:

About a decade later, this fellow is talking with a salesman about a fancy new J.I. Case tractor with a special demonstrator paint job:

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Although the Milwaukee Road's unique octagonal crossing towers were obsolete, replaced by automatic electrical signals, an historic tower still stands on the GPRR. There's even a famous 1950s calendar down below the stairs in the shed, the one with Marilyn Monroe. Of course, it's too durn small to see that she's Marilyn, or even a she, which just goes to show you how small a 1/48 calendar is!

There are no fewer than five grain towers on the GPRR. The first was weathered, but the owner though the blue so beautiful that he hired the appropriately-named Klutz Brothers Company to repaint it.

[Jimster]

I love it! I’ve always wanted to try paper buildings. Many look way better than total board on board scratch built.
It’s ironic I just came up from basement looking at all my layout projects and then I log on and see this. Beautiful trains and scenes!

[maxmekker]

Oh wow

Hows the fella' in the ladder doing

[Xiaoshan_Sailor]

Very nice!!

[43rdRecceReg]

I can easily imagine spending happy hours with those wee treasures. Trouble is, I don't have physical room for any more indulgences- unless they happen to be spirit-based

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Thanks for checkin' in on this, gentlemen! It is fun, but so many, many model railroaders are much more talented about scenery than am I.

Having room for such a big train layout is just plain lucky. My luck came about 16 years ago. My late wife and I had always wanted to build a better garage, because the one we had below our twelve-sided house is pie-shaped, enough for one small car. So when we paid off the house, we had the "Garagemahal" built (and a bleep-load of house repairs). Instead of "do-it-yourself" as was our home originally ( ), we started with an architect, who said, "since your garage has to be on a hillside, the foundation will have to go down at least eight feet on the back and sides. You could inexpensively add a lower level!"



You can guess what I did with the "lower level."

[EAO]

Very, very,nice our Good Herr Dr.,

Well planned with the "basement addition" takeover! One must stay busy and engaged in the long, long, long Winter day's on the "Frozen Tundra" so as not to turn into an Ed Gein or a Jeffery Dahmer! You do know it was the cold that pushed both of them over the edge?!? It's odd but my days of drinking ended just before we moved out of Wisconsin...pretty sure there's a connection there somewhere?!
Just saying.

By the way, it always seems that you model RR fellows always have a leg up on this model RCing!

Cheers,
Eric.