List of model railways

A two acre outdoor model village with an extensive railway.[13] The sheer size of this was remarkable. The railway continues in operation to this day.[14]

Considered to be the first 'scenic model railway', Madder Valley and John Ahern's series of books was a major influence on railway modelling through the 1950s.[15] As well as its scenic aspects, this also represented an influential shift from compressed representations of main line stations to a smaller branch line, where the model could more closely represent the original.[16]

Ahern was also a naturally pragmatic 00 modeller, despite the compromises of its undersized gauge. He combined prototypes from smaller standard gauge locomotives with those of the 3 foot gauge Isle of Man Railway Beyer Peacocks. 'Most of my buildings are derived from something, but they are not exact copies.'[17]

The model survives today at the Pendon Museum.[18][19]

A feature of the later railway was 'The Automatic Crispin'. This was a very early example of model railway automation using a form of drum sequencer. It automatically generated signalbox bell codes, in much the way that Denny's son Crispin had previously done, when operating the railway.

Denny died at the end of 2009[26] but portions of the layout are still exhibited.[27] Its current owner, Tony Gee, continues to write about it for the model railway press.[25][28]

Pendon began slowly in the 1930s and 1940s as a museum-grade attempt to record the changing scenery of rural Wiltshire by modelling.[33] When the main effort of the railway mainline began in 1954,[33] it adopted the early Finescale standard of EM gauge and the very highest standards in locomotive modelling, far beyond other work at this time.[34] Pendon has become best known for its 50 GWR and other locomotives, modelled by Guy Williams.[35] Pendon still attracts many visitors to this day.[18]

He also innovated the technique of modelling realistic trees, using trunks of twisted wire bundles that thinned progressively up the trunk, bound in gummed paper tape and plaster to smooth them.[39] Trees now developed from 'bottle brushes' into recognisable models of particular species.

In later years his own modelling moved outdoors, and to the larger scale of Gauge 1.[40]

Another long-lived narrow gauge layout, the compact gauge and length of operation allowing the development of an extensive scenic context and backstory around the railway.[44]

The Aire Valley formed a series of articles in Railway Modeller through the early 1970s.[45][46][47][48][49][50]

This was an important early example of P4 work, before the standards were fully established. The desire to model a local broad gauge prototype, without commercial model support, meant that scratchbuilding was necessary anyway and so the adoption of P4 was less of a change than was seen by British standard gauge modellers.[51]

A successor to his 1971 Milk Wood Railway. Now curated by the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway.

Small layout housed in wooden railway carriages at Bo'ness railway station (heritage site) adjacent to the Scottish Railway Museum; its design is based on Gleneagles railway station.[79][80]

A major part of this operation involved coupling and uncoupling. This relied on a reliable coupling that could be disengaged easily, either by hand or with ten remote uncouplers placed at defined locations on the layout. Allen's own choice was his 'Baker' coupler, uncoupled manually with a 'spoon' tool.[94]

Timesaver was described in Model Railroader in Allen's last article for them, shortly before his death.[95] It was described more fully some years later.[96] The baseboard of the original H0 Timesaver was 68 inches (1,700 mm) by 9.25 inches (235 mm).[96] It was also arranged to fold inwards for storage. Two Timesavers could be coupled back-to-back to pass trains between them for a team competition.

Non-identical derivatives of the original Timesaver have been described as 'Tymesavers' and catalogued by layout galleries such as Carl Arendt's.[97][98]

The original layout is still preserved at the NMRA museum in Chattanooga.[99]

This layout is one of the finest O scale layouts in North America, modelling Southern Ontario in the 1950s. People can enjoy seeing a model of the Southern Ontario countryside, as well as late steam locomotives and first-generation diesel locomotives pulling trains down the line.[100] It is currently owned by Waterloo County Heritage Preservation Inc.

With over two kilometers of track and 45 trains there is much to check out. It is known for its mini scenes alongside the track, as well as interactive displays. (for example, a button that causes a group of hens to peck at the ground.)