2-Rail Tinplate? Lessons From A Stunning On30 Railroad And Village

Somewhere in southern Ohio lies a modest farmhouse with a big surprise inside, the Squirrel Creek Railroad. Hello again, this is Mike with another episode of Toy Train Tips and Tricks, and we're taking a field trip today and visiting a unique model railroad, a family-built railway, that may inspire us with tips for our own layouts, the Squirrel Creek Railroad. Yes, that's how it's The railroad's primary owner, let's call him Chris, has been involved with railroads of all shapes and sizes for most of his life. After working his way up from a brakeman on a short line, then working for a regional railroad, today Chris works as an engineer on one of the largest railroads in North America. Chris has also served as a volunteer helping restore historic steam locomotives, operated 18-inch gauge live steam locomotives at an area amusement park, worked as a professional builder of G-gauge garden railways, and built an impressive HO-scale railway at his previous home. So naturally, he chose ON-30 gauge for his current railroad. What is ON-30 you say? ON-30, or sometimes called ON-2.5, the O means O-scale, 1 quarter inch to the foot, 1 48th scale, just like regular O-scale. The N means the rails represent a gauge narrower than standard gauge. The 30 means the actual gauge is 30 scale inches, or 2.5 scale feet, between the rails. One especially useful feature of ON-30 is that you can use HO-scale track, wheels, trucks, couplers, frames, bridges, and other items. Things that Chris had plenty of on hand from his previous large HO-scale layout. Prior to the American Civil War, American railroads used a dozen or more different gauges from 2 feet to 5 feet between the rails. The so-called standard gauge of 4 feet 8 and a half inches was the most common, but it was far from the standard. During the Civil War, the U.S. military adopted 4 feet 8 and a half inches as its standard gauge, and Congress further codified it as the standard gauge with the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. While there's an urban legend about standard gauge being the result of two horses behinds in Roman chariots, it was really the horses behinds in Washington, D.C. that provided us with our standard gauge today, so to speak. However, across the country, pockets of narrow gauge, usually 3 foot gauge, held out, generally in mountainous regions and walking railways because the narrow rails required smaller roadbeds and could accommodate tighter curbs. Examples today include the White Pass in Yukon, Cumbres and Toltec, Durango and Silverton, and the East Broad Top, and dozens of museums and amusement park railways. Over the years, Chris and his wife Squirrel became enamored with small-scale steam locomotive operations, such as on the Ohio Central, the Cass Scenic, and the East Broad Top. These railroads and their small steam locomotives seemed to grow organically out of their geography rather than dominating it. Rolling stock was often created out of whatever parts were on hand, providing a somewhat whimsical look. Likewise, the narrow rails, tight curbs, and seemingly oversized doors and windows give these railways a particular look. Call it whimsical, or cute, or whatever, but I believe it holds the same type of appeal as our three-rail toy trains. Meanwhile, Squirrel had embarked upon a hobby of her own, collecting houses, figures, and scenery to create an annual fall village in their home. These items could be found inexpensively at model railroad and tractor shows, and the collection grew quickly. When the family moved to a new home, the previously mentioned farmhouse, it suddenly made sense to combine Chris's model railroading with Squirrel's village, and a new family-oriented railroad was born. A tip for our layouts, get the family involved. The layout occupies a roughly 20-foot by 6-foot area in the family room of the couple's home. Much like the railroads that inspired it, the layout seems to exist organically, a natural part of the farmhouse along with the wood-burning stove and the The room and the layout complement one another perfectly. Like many O-Gage 10-plate layouts, operation on the Squirrel Creek is short on switching. You won't find any car cards on this layout. The focus is on whimsical but smooth-running trains looping through the colorful autumn scenery. And this scenery does not include massive hydrocal mountains or bucketfuls of woodland scenic foam. The primary scenic element is paint. The backdrop and nearly every vertical surface of the railroad features a mix of fall colors applied with inexpensive foam brushes. Up close, you can see the individual splotches of paint runs, but from a few feet away, the mind fools us into seeing rolling hillsides of fall scenery. A tip for our layouts, scenery does not need to be complex to be convincing. Most of the structures on the railroad are second-hand ceramic buildings or painted wood flats. The flats work well to add depth near the backdrop or other vertical surfaces. Many of the ceramic structures were originally Christmas-themed, but a little bit of craft paint turns those snowy roofs into colorful, leaf-covered surfaces and built-in wreaths can be changed from green to brown to represent the season. Chris notes that similarly detailed pre-built plastic or particle board structures can easily cost $100, while nearly all of the structures on this layout were acquired for $20 or less. Another tip for our layouts, always keep an eye out for non-traditional but useful items for the railroad. A few animated scenes add some whimsy to the layout. These are mostly from Lemax, but Menards and even Lionel items are visible. Again, these were mostly purchased second-hand. Squirrel also spends time searching the local Hobby Lobby and Dumper Tree stores for useful scenery items, such as haystacks and pumpkins. Oh, and if scale pumpkins are out of season, try apples and just paint them orange. Other than locomotives, the largest financial investment on the railroad is in trees. Chris doesn't like the look of goldenrod and other weeds for trees. Plus, there are cats in the train room, so organic material is not a great choice. Instead, Chris and Squirrel buy commercial trees and paint them into fall colors. They estimate that they have planted about 300 so far and expect their forests to slowly grow to 700 or more trees. It's amazing how a layout can suck up large numbers of trees and still look barren. As for the trains themselves, Bachmann is the largest manufacturer of ON-30 trains, but there are others, from Broadway Limited International Brass Locomotives to several makers of rolling stock, both ready to run and in kit form. Of course, regular ON-3 items are easily modified by swapping trucks. There are also plenty of opportunities for kitbashing, recreating how the real railroads would build rolling stock out of whatever parts they had on hand. Even some S-scale items can be converted to ON-30 use. A prime example is this Halloween train that Chris kitbashed. The original train was a cheap battery-operated set that he bought for a few bucks at a show. By installing an inexpensive HO-scale drive from a 70-ton switcher and swapping trucks and frames with HO cars he had on hand, he was able to create this neat holiday train for very little investment. Another key for our layouts, watch for toy items or those from another scale or gauge that may be candidates for conversion to inexpensive but unique items. Yes, like many O-gauge tinplate layouts, the Squirrel Creek Railroad has found balance between realism and whimsy, between the size of O-scale and the availability of HO-scale, between ready-to-run trains and kitbashing opportunities, between realistic looking structures and basic painted scenery, between a well-detailed layout and a modest budget, and the whole operation is the result of teamwork and family involvement. Yes, I'd say there's plenty for us three-railers to be inspired about by observing the Squirrel Creek Railroad. The track may be missing a rail, but this layout is not missing a thing. As always, I hope you enjoyed this video as much as I enjoyed making it, and if so, please like the video, share with your friends and neighbors, and leave a comment of thanks to Chris and Squirrel for sharing their wonderful layout with us. Keep the trains running, regardless of scale or gauge, and we'll be back next time with more toy train tips and tricks!