Blood Sweat & Tears Railroad http://www.bstrailroad.com The Modeling Talents of Gary Courtemanche Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:38:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.2 en Rochester Model Rails http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=56 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=56#comments Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:35:37 +0000 Administrator News http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=56 From time to time its fun to look over statistics and search online to see who’s visiting bstrailroad.com.  I was reminded that a few years ago an online magazine – Rochester Model Rails – featured a photograph of the BST on the cover of their May 2004 issue.  A quick search revealed that RMR is still going strong and has ALL of their issues available for download on their website – dating back to 2002!  I spent a few hours looking over their issues and they are tremendous!  With clinics, Q&A pages, construction articles and a host of photos, the magazine is a welcome addition to current model railroad resources.  I encourage anyone who is interested to visit their website and ‘pick-up’ a copy of RMR.

http://www.trainweb.org/rmr/

]]> http://www.bstrailroad.com/?feed=rss2&p=56 Minatur Wunderland http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=53 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=53#comments Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:55:21 +0000 Administrator News http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=53 Minatur Wunderland, located in Hamburg Germany, is one of the worlds largest model railway installations.  With over 1,000 trains and 15,000 pieces of rolling stock, 150,000 trees, 150,000 figures, 5,000 cars, 30,000 feet of track, 5,000 houses and countless bridges, Minatur Wunderland is a visual feast for the most seasoned modeller.  With thematically based rooms, spanning several continents and seasons, the railway is an animatronic marvel with hundreds of moving cars, fully lit structures and small vignettes - all captured in the light of the day which cycles from dawn to dusk every 30 minutes.

The keepers of the Minatur Wunderland are constantly improving their website, which now has extensive galleries of images, showcasing finished scenes as well as construction photos.  Granted, the site is a bit buggy at times, and the English translations are not yet complete, but the galleries in the German portion are outstanding.

Minatur Wunderland:
www.miniatur-wunderland.de

Galleries:
www.miniatur-wunderland.de/anlage/multimedia/foto/galerie/uebersicht/

]]> http://www.bstrailroad.com/?feed=rss2&p=53 Gilbert Gribi’s www.gilbert-gribi.ch - The passion of model making and the narrow gauge railway http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=52 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=52#comments Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:42:08 +0000 Administrator News http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=52 narrowgage.jpg I happened upon this site a while ago and was immediately impressed with the modeling talents. In truth, Gribi’s narrow-gage efforts are likely some of the finest I’ve ever seen. With extensive galleries, and beautiful photography, Mr. Gribi takes super-detailing to a new level. Every item on each of his dioramas and layouts is detailed and weathered – the George Sellios of narrow gage!

As Mr. Gribi’s site is in French, I’ve linked to it via Google’s translator. It strikes me that in my hours of trolling the web for modeling gems, I’ve never spent any time searching for model railroads from other countries – specifically non-English speaking countries. A wealth of modeling information awaits!

www.gilbert-gribi.ch (original)

www.gilbert-gribi.ch (Google translate)

]]> http://www.bstrailroad.com/?feed=rss2&p=52 Texas Northern Model Railway Club http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=51 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=51#comments Sun, 10 Jun 2007 11:37:34 +0000 Administrator News http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=51 I noticed that some of the Blood Sweat & Tears website traffic was originating from the TNMRC, so I decided to visit the site – and was pleased that I did!  The TNMRC offers an immense number of quality photos (smartly arranged in thematic galleries), and showcases some outstanding modeling efforts.  One of the unique aspects of he TNMRC is the inclusion on animated vignettes.  The layout has a number of these ‘value-added’ scenes that create a wonderful counterpoint to the trains, and offer inspiration for those visitors struggling with the neutral spaces on their own layouts.  I enjoyed the grassfire scene, which like many other of the animations, is accompanied by an online video.  A fantastic site featuring fantastic modeling.

http://trainweb.org/tnmrr/
]]> http://www.bstrailroad.com/?feed=rss2&p=51 Gerry Leone’s Bona Vista Railroad http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=50 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=50#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2007 13:14:12 +0000 Administrator News http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=50

The Bona Vista Railroad is the HO-scale masterpiece of Gerry Leone; Master Model Railroader #346. A prolific author (with a number of articles written for major model railroad publications) the BV website offers a fantastic overview of Gerry's past writings, while including a number of articles written for the site. Outstanding modeling combined with exceptional photography make this site a venerable addition to anyone's bookmark list. One of the nice aspects of this site is Gerry's commitment to documenting the progress of work, just not finished work. As a result, you can learn everything from how Gerry finished his layout room, to how he models a cattail. He even documents the building of his house! (Presumably designed for the layout…)

http://home.earthlink.net/~gerryleone/dsngrr.htm

]]> http://www.bstrailroad.com/?feed=rss2&p=50 Bob Grech’s Western Pacific Railroad http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=49 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=49#comments Sat, 10 Mar 2007 16:28:55 +0000 Administrator News http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=49 The WPR was recently featured in the November 2006  issue of Model Railroader, and was awarded 3rd place in the Magazine’s Small Layout Contest.  The defining features of Bob Grech’s design are the outstanding level of detail and realism achieved in a relatively modest space while using already published track plan.  The track plan is based on that of the Jerome & Southwestern, as designed by John Olson.  The WPR is composed of 2 4’x8’ tables bridged by a small module, and features outstanding scenery, structures and rolling stock.  The website itself is very simple, but had a great gallery of about 100 LARGE images.

http://americanaceracing.com/ModelRailroad
]]> http://www.bstrailroad.com/?feed=rss2&p=49 Utah Colorado Western http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=48 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=48#comments Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:03:52 +0000 Administrator News http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=48 ucw.jpgThe Utah Colorado Western features the outstanding modeling work of Lee Nicholas.  No stranger to reviews, The Utah Colorado Western has been featured in countless model railroad publications, including Model Railroader’s 2006 Great Model Railroads.  The UCW site features a great compliment of photos, as well as useful overviews on the layouts basic construction, lighting, staging, and the development and upgrade of the layout’s Centralized Traffic Control (CTC).  

Having read about the UCW in the ’99 issue of Model Railroader, as well as the 2006 Great Model Railroads supplement, it was nice to see some candid photos if the layout and its crew, as well as read some of the tips and techniques.

http://www.ucwrr.com/

]]> http://www.bstrailroad.com/?feed=rss2&p=48 Australian Narrow Gage Web-Exhibition Gallery http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=47 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=47#comments Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:40:39 +0000 Administrator News http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=47 aussienarrow.jpgThe Australian Narrow Gage Web-Exhibition Gallery is an older site featuring over 30 outstanding layouts.  Ranging from small to midsize, each of the layouts are expertly detailed and well photographed making for an outstanding modeling resource.  Although the navigation is a little cumbersome, the information is arranged well, so visitors can browse through an extensive collection of photos, including a great number detail shots.  Managed by John Dennis, the Australian Narrow Gage Web-Exhibition Gallery hasn’t been updated in over 3 years, but as galleries go, it has probably one if the finest collection of images I have found.  As well, I searched to see who had links to this site, and was surprised to find about 3 other sites linked to it.  I remember finding this site a few years ago, and I’m happy I rediscovered it.

http://members.optushome.com.au/jdennis/ng_webex.html 

<]]> http://www.bstrailroad.com/?feed=rss2&p=47 Tiny-Trains http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=46 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=46#comments Tue, 20 Feb 2007 05:07:22 +0000 Administrator News http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=46 1900_copy.jpgThe micro-layout has become a modeling staple as it satisfies one’s need to create a model railroad, while paying heed to space and financial limitations. Sites such as carndt.com (the virtual micro layout repository) hold hundreds of inspirational designs for the would be mirco-modeler. Typically, micro-layouts are built around standard scales, especially narrow gages, and pride themselves on fitting the biggest scenes into the smallest spaces. However, I did recently come across a set of micro layouts that gave me pause – modeled in 1:900 scale! These TY scale layouts are the creation of Tim Dillion, creator and proprietor of Tiny Trains – an online store for purchasing pre-fab TY-scale layouts. These operational layouts are driven by a acetate-belt system that runs the small 1:900 scale trains around a slotted track set into highly detailed scenery. No bigger then a deck of cards, these layouts have an incredible amount of detail for their size, and if nothing else, offer a clever solution for modelers who might want to add some animation effects for their standard gauge layouts. A small site with a big impact!

]]> http://www.bstrailroad.com/?feed=rss2&p=46 Masinky 2003 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=45 http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=45#comments Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:33:58 +0000 Administrator News http://www.bstrailroad.com/?p=45 mas.jpgFinding international/European websites on model railroading can be somewhat difficult if you don’t know what to search for and you can’t understand what’s written.  Hence, it was quite by accident that I stumbled across Masinky 2003.  Twenty-five percent of the visitors to this site are from places other then North America, so I went hunting to see if I could find links from European sites to this one.  With that I came across Masinky 2003, and I was immediately impressed.  The site is very simple and straightforward.  There are three gallery sections with over 150 excellent images, and other assorted writings and tips (that I can’t translate). The trackplan is small (roughly 5’x8’), and by current standards might be considered spaghetti-style, however the scenery blends the track-heavy design very naturally into the surroundings.  The modeling is outstanding, and the distinctly European flavour is a nice change of pace from what one typically sees.  It is encouraging to see a well-modeled, reasonably-sized railroad that others can aspire to build.

http://www.volny.cz/masinky2003/

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