Glyn’s been back in touch with his Marklin layout – a superb start to 2024 – Happy New Year to you all!
“Hello Al
Seasons greetings to you and many thanks for all you do to enhance our hobby.
As you may recall, I retired to Santa Fe full time 2 years ago after 40 years of surgical practice and commenced re-doing my Marklin layout that I had previously built in Peoria IL.
The layout is built in a 23’x13′ former wine cellar with an asymmetric U-shaped design.
The left hand limb is 16′ long due to the presence of a stairwell from the patio and features the Swiss German component.
Across the transverse limb at the far end of the room are upper and lower double mainline tracks over 2 sets of bridges spanning a deep river gorge.
These move into 2 sets of tunnels entering a large mountain which I have just built this past week.
The upper tracks pass through a small rural station before heading 23′ downhill toward a large loop circling what will be a 1920’s era American New England town.
I know this will drive the rivet counters crazy but I have about 6 US steam and diesel locomotives with rolling stock and a significant investment in Fine Scale Miniatures building kits which I need to build and display. The only way to achieve this with the space available was to combine the 2 different country systems into a large folded wishbone as I have done.
I know that the prototypical modelers will probably have a meltdown at such heresy but who cares – it’s my railroad and it’s all about having fun, not so?
From there the tracks pass into a concealed 6 lane staging yard before exiting through the lower tunnel to cross back over the lower bridges before passing underneath the main Swiss German town.
Completing a hidden loop beneath the town, the track passes up a long parade incline, circling behind the roundhouse complex to return to the mainline station (see layout overview).
I’m including images of the coaling station, diesel fuel depot, the bridges over the gorge and the multi-level tunnels.
A DB V200 diesel is shown at the head of a cargo consist and a KayBSt S2/6 passenger express is awaiting clearance to leave the station with the town and castle visible in the background.
Once I’ve figured out how to compress all my video footage adequately for email I’ll send these along so you can see the Marklin layout trains running with a CS2 digital control.
Best regards and Happy New Year to you all.
Glyn”
Marklin layout:
A huge big thank you to Gyn for sharing his Marklin layout update – stunning stuff!
There are lots more of pics of his layout in his first post: Marklin HO layout.
Here’s a pic taken from the first Marklin layout post too:
Lastly, Bill’s been in touch with a track plan question on the new forum.
He’s asked for a bit of advice – who can help? It’s right here.
Please do leave an answer if you can.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
Wow. Beautiful work. True artistry in motion.
i really like all of it. greAt layout.
Certainly looks all European, isn’t this amazing. Know of Marklin but not really taking hold in U.S. from what I’ve seen, high quality German manuf. I believe. Don’t like the Glock firearms originating from Austria at all, that’s me now.
The mountains have huge footprints and only tunnels make them accessible. Not the go around the outside of them, anthill status lmao.
And Again, Rich
Is “stunner” a strong enough word for this wonderful lay out? This is really marvelous, super duper, oh yeah.
Thank you, the details are just right, each and every scene it’s own microcosm of detail. That is just remarkable. Thanks for posting this.
Fantastic! Superb layout. Having a open mind sure makes model railroading, as well as life itself, an enjoyable way to pass the time. You have your own little “Epcot” center at your finger tips.
Love the industries, great attention to detail. Happy New Year
took a long time putting that together
Stunning , superb even . You mentioned you were a surgeon , it shows , the detail in the monastery and all the buildings is truly remarkable ,. A really nice layout indeed , congratulations .
An excellent layout. Thank you for posting your very creative work. And a Happy New Year to all.
Great layout. I need help, Rich please explain the Glock manufacturing, I am not getting it and I need some help.
TJK
One of the nicest layouts I’ve ever seen
Absolutely stunning work! Some of the finest modeling I’ve ever seen!
Glyn
Awesome work and artistry. What you do and get out of YOUR layout is all that matters. Your layout is superb and crafted like a pro. Would love to see your beauties roaring around in a video.
Thanks so much for your submission and hope to see more of your masterpiece.
Big Al
New Years Day morning, Java, Glyn’s masterpiece. I’d say that’s a good start.
A good year to all!
Marklin makes wonderful pieces to work with. Wish I had that kind of creativity.
Happy New Year to all.
Glyn , don’t ever listen to the critics about your train set. You enjoy yours, just like I do mine. Mine is all European from the south to the north of Europe. And that includes a very long BNSF coal train. Did someone ever looked at the Amtrak engine.
PS: leave the Glock out of this. This is model train enjoyment
Have to say. It’s great to see a Marklin layout as I’m a Marklin man myself. Wonderful layout, thanks for the pictures. FYI in America there’s the ETE group for European Train Enthusiasts, if anyone interested. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL
THANKS AGAIN AL
Thank you for all the kind comments- can you provide the link for the ETE group you mentioned Marklin Ed?
Increditable imagination and craftmanship!
Marvelous! Love the European structures. Beautiful.
Great job of planning, thinking it out and you are surely a master landscaper and trainman….Vunderbrau’ ….
Glyn, your attention to detail and artistry is amazing. I am new to modeling and open Al’s post with excitement every day, but your layout took my breath away! I am especially interested in seeing you post details about mountain landscaping as your rock work is the best I have seen.
Appreciate your comments about planning and am taking my time before jumping in. I only have space for a 7’ x 9’ layout. I did N scale about 40 years ago but am leaning toward HO. I plan to have an access in the middle to reach the entire layout because it will be against two walls. Envisioning a multi-level track and possibly a subway as well since I have limited area for the layout. Also plan on building base on wheels so I can pull it out from the wall when needed. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Amazing layout, beautifully detailed. SO many details in this layout.
Hi Alan and thank you. Al’s site has so much excellent information for beginners. I will be posting some fairly extensive videos on my old YouTube channel which Al will also provide links to, detailing how I built this layout as I learned a great deal from prior mistakes! Start with a solid framework as a base and I would recommend doing the backdrop first then work forward from that. Good access as you mentioned is critical to correct derailings and clean track etc. Insulate well the. Make sure track is well laid, level with good contact especially over turnouts. It’s often a good ideas to have everything running smoothly before attempting any landscaping so you can correct errors but I have to confess I do like to start at one on the layout and develop some good scenery to motivate me! Others would disagree. Woodland Scenics makes excellent materials for landscaping and have very good instructional videos but they are pricey. Their shaper sheet foul is wonderful but expensive. I use construction foam sheets 1-2” thick for mountains and shape it with a hot knife. Then plaster with either joint compound which is cheap but Golden fiber paste or coarse modeling paste available from art and hobby stores provide wonderful modeling opportunities. I’ll get going in editing my videos which are long overdue, but whatever you do, enjoy yourself and have fun. Just learn from our mistakes:)! Good luck.
Grrrrrrrrrreat layout !!! Something to be proud of.
Glyn , thanks for the response and suggestions, looking forward to your videos.
Wow I like it all, it would be so fun to visit your layout Glyn, I am especially drawn to the first photo, and the bridges over the gorge, but not to take anything away from the other photos. Such good work. Love it.
Happy New Year.
What an AWESOME layout Glyn, many awesome pictures of your layout. Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful layout with outstanding technique in all aspects; thanks for sharing. I have to ask might that be Reichenbach Falls?
Glyn,
A fantastic job. Living just 100 miles south of you in Belen, I would love to see video footage of your trains running! Of special note, I’m downloading the photos of your layout to serve as examples of how to create my own downtown area, details to the railyard, etc. for my own Märklin layout that must remain in the planning stages until I build the room that will serve exclusively for my trains. I’ll post a track plan update to Al soon and will welcome comments!
Happy New Year to all!
OMG- love the background!! A real piece of art- congratulations!
from the bridges over the mountains with the waterfall in the background, to the oil filling station & the coal loader & crane above the tracks, the whole layout is outstanding.
Thanks all. The falls is pure fiction in my part but I incorporated part of the Telluride mountains and valley as we had paid a visit to it a while ago and it’s always fun incorporating elements from your own life story to make the railroad unique. Any time you want to come up to Santa Fe to see the layout Jerry you would be most welcome.