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Great Model Railroads Allen Keller Vol 54 Gary Hoovers Santa Fe

Gary Hoover has built another masterpiece. With this layout he's gone back in time to Aug. 29, 1951 to model the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe with spectacular western scenery. This new HO railroad replaces his modern day Missouri Kansas & Quincy. Gary says building the new layout was the best thing he's ever done.

The Santa Fe runs from Chicago to San Bernardino, California. The scenes were built using photos to get the exact placement of mountain peaks, landmark structures and track alignments. About 95% of the structures are scratchbuilt, and many have interiors. As you might guess Gary tries to follow exact Santa Fe practices including signals, train consists and schedules. One particularly interesting element is the helper operation between San Bernardino and Summit.

In addition to the Santa Fe you'll see trains from the Union Pacific and some extra foreign road traffic at Dearborn station. The area around the station captures the look of Chicago in the 1950s. At San Bernardino you'll see the massive station, roundhouse and locomotive shops.

He strives to keep alive the craftsmanship that has always been part of this hobby. You can see this in everything from his weathering techniques to his highly detailed structures.

Gary will show you how to make a custom backdrop, add a switch panel, make Joshua trees, and build resistance wheelsets.

The Santa Fe was built as a railfan experience. It's a Great Model Railroad because Gary planned and executed it with great skill using the lessons learned from past layouts.