These are Layouts I’m working to build together with my clients.
Project Layout: Anchor Bay, 1948
(Ongoing construction since 2021.)
Follow along with the Anchor Bay video series on YouTube!
A 19×17′ layout inside its own custom railroad depot outbuilding capturing the beautiful “Redwood Empire” north of San Francisco Bay in the late 1940s. Heavily inspired by the Northwestern Pacific (NWP), California Western, Petaluma & Santa Rosa, and other California shortlines, the Anchor Bay Railway connects a sparkling harbor town with the SP in the Central Valley.
The layout uses custom plywood construction, insulation foam and features striking hand-painted backdrops done from photographic reference. The route is a very obscured folded figure eight designed to look like a single track mainline from the valley to the coast. It also has a long branch that connects with the Sacramento Northern railway, serving wineries and a large mill at the end of the branch.
My client’s favorite activity in the hobby is kitbashing and scratchbuilding buildings & rolling stock, so they wanted a reliable, beautiful, and easily maintained layout upon which they’ll run their custom rolling stock beside their custom structures.
The key was paying very close attention to the types of flora, fauna, and rock formations unique to the region. I carefully researched many real-world locations in person, gathering photographic reference and inspiration to make the Anchor Bay truly a trip back in time and place to coastal northern California in 1948 as easy as walking out to their train room.
Project Layout: San Juan Central II, 1939
(Ongoing construction since 2022)
A 5×9′ modular layout set in the fictional world of Malcom Furlow’s beautiful San Juan Central. Dramatic scenery is the hallmark of this layout, with spectacular Colorado scenes spread over 4 seasons, one on each module.
This HOn3 layout was an experiment on how to build a modular narrow gauge layout that could be taken to shows. The modules are based on the “Mudhens” modular standard, with some changes. All electricity between modules is streamlined by using guitar aux jacks, which works incredibly well.
The scenery is directly inspired by places in Colorado, and then designed to fit each module. A dramatic river canyon with a waterfall flows past a massive stamp mill in late winter “mud season” in one module, while another captures a 30″ gauge logging operation in fall. Both spring and summer are captured on the center modules, one of which is a junction town, the other is a logging mill.
One of the goals of these modules is to constantly refine, improve, iterate to polish them to a truly engrossing narrow gauge vibe. One of the priorities is operation, so there are multiple industries to switch in addition to passenger service. This is reinforced by smooth running sound equipped Blackstone engines and eventually structure lighting. Sit back and enjoy a taste of the narrow gauge in prewar Colorado!
Project Layout: Northwestern Pacific, 1965
(2018-2021, on hiatus, returning spring of 2025) Follow along on YouTube!
This MASSIVE 14×42′ empire fits into a tandem two-car garage in a 1940’s row home. It captures a freelance take on the Northwestern Pacific railroad in the redwood forests of Northern California in the 60’s.
The SP and NWP is a major influence in capturing this evocative region, except this mainline is double tracked for fun operations. Like the NWP, it clings to cliffsides and charges over gorges on dramatic bridges the client built himself. It also runs along the coast of a bay for a bit at the base of some dramatic bluffs. A large town similar to Eureka is at the other end of the layout, which will have a functional interurban running to a Brewery module under wire.
An extensive dual gauge logging railroad interchanges with the NWP and runs across the layout on its own route to multiple locations from its large mill in one of the peninsulas to the other end of the garage with a logging camp. Eventually a branchline will go to a limited second deck above the large main yard.
This layout is designed for my client who lives with physical limitations, and therefore the layout is designed for accessibility. Arm reach was a major factor as was aisle width and accessibility. His specialty is deep enjoyment of craftsman kits and building dramatic bridges, so having that all as part of the layout was key.
He had to remodel his kitchen beginning in 2021, and it’s taken…a while, so now that’s nearly complete, we’ll go in and finish the layout off spring of 2025!
Southern Pacific Niles Subdivision, 1995
(2020-2021) Check out the intermodal terminal construction on YouTube!
The evocative 1996 Union Pacific merger changed California railroading forever, almost overnight. The gritty look of the final era of SP power combined with the rise of graffiti showing up on rolling stock makes for an exciting time to model. He continues this into the mid-2010’s, when the last gasp of unpatched SP power finally disappeared behind Armour Yellow paint.
The layout captures vignettes from Livermore into Oakland and north to Richmond. The centerpiece is the massive West Oakland yard, which he modeled in detail, featuring a sea of freight cars I’d weathered over a decade in batches.
He had his double car garage layout designed by Byron Henderson, who filled it to the brim with as much hidden track as there was track above the layout. My goal was to rationalize that amount of track and balance it out with beautiful scenery familiar to most bay area railfans.
I began working in West Oakland, building an impressive intermodal facility very similar to the Howard terminal back when it was rail served. I also painted a massive, accurate backdrop of the Oakland hills matched precisely with the prototype.
Then I kitbashed some beautiful structures that really existed in West Oakland, notably Pacific Coast Logistics, a cold storage transfer facility that gets a healthy amount of reefer traffic, even today. I was working on a plethora of structures for him and was about to paint the entire SF skyline on the other wall when I learned he’d passed away very unexpectedly from heath issues.
One of my first ever clients, who hired me to weather well over 300 freight cars and a couple of dozen locomotives beginning when I was a teen is directly responsible for me still being in this industry today. I will always miss you Mike, may you rest in peace.
Interurban Era 