March 2023 Modeling the San Juan Mountains in HO

Modeling the San Juan Mountains on the South Park Branch in HO Scale
Come take a tour of the South Park Branch, a freelanced branch line of the Denver & Rio Grande Western, in HO and HOn3. The layout is by Barry and Janice Dupler. You’ll love watching K-27s and C-19s work the rocky canyons of the San Juan Mountains and serve industries in the layout’s busy Colorado towns as of the late 1930s. This feature includes many photos of the layout and video of the trains at work.

Water Tanks as a Part of Operations
See nine steam-era examples of water tanks and how they’re incorporated into layouts to make operations more interesting or add a bit of a conversation piece. The examples are in various scales.

Building Benchwork for your Model Railroad
This project is intended for newer modelers who are ready to build a small layout or diorama. We show you how construct simple benchwork with step-by-step instructions.

Barry & Janice Dupler’s HO scale layout

Sam Furukawa’s S scale layout