Steve Strebel's New Lakeside Resort Town on his "On30" Model Railroad 

Steve has a real vision. I love his sense of made up really

Have you been following the rebuild of the layout?

Same here! Every time we visit, there are more changes and additions.

Indeed! And if it's broken.. Steve can fix it too! Amazing talent!!

I have been visiting Steve's railroad for 4 years.. And every time I look at it, I see something that I haven't seen before! Since My last visit, Steve saw something on his railroad that HE had not seen before!! Hello Dolly!! LOL!

My hat goes off in a convertible. Dang it!!

Yeah

Thank You, for your loyal viewership!! Visiting Steve's railroad always takes me to that happy place... Really.. a one of a kind railroad!

Me too. I've see every one like 500 times. And I still like looking at them. From time to time.

It really could be at Smithsonian! One amazing model railroad!!

Work of art!!!!

Thanks!!! Steve is at it again too. Bisby creek. Gezzzzxx

HI!! Steve has done it again!!! And the new section, while a bit smaller, is even funner!!!!

I'm afraid few will understand how inspired I am by all this work. This is just amazing. Thank you very much for sharing this with us.

Us too. AMAZING modeling

Hi. Shame he tore this out only months after building it. Well.. the new layout is great as well!!

What a layout!!!!! Soon people will not be able to get in the room, but the figures will have a great time.

A cat can wag it's tail... But the tail must never wag the cat!

And two weeks later he started dismantling the layout. Said it was done. Time to start over. Sigh.

I was thinking the same thing!!

Oh, yes!!! The ole Schmidt house!

Thanks Joe!!! We love doing it.

Thanks!!! What a railroad!!

It would have to be an O Scale drone... Anything larger would kick up a wind equivalent to Hurricane Katrina! Not sure where all the tiny people could hide!! ;) The railroad layout really is like a ship in a bottle!!

Now that Steve is retired he's really getting it done!!!!!!!

It really is!!

One of the best!!

Steve and Al just rocket!! IF they ever decide to put a man on Mars, look out Space X.

Shame he has dismantled it. But the new railroad is starting to come together!!!

Take a look at the play list on Steve's railroad. Go to the playlist tab. We have some old footage of just that. Need a lot more!!! Mostly in that show we were showing how we do that with a Go Pro.

I've seen that video and it's very well done. With the newer smaller Go-Pros it should be even easier. Something as simple as mounting a camera on a flat car and pushing it ahead of the locomotive should produce a pretty good "driver's eye view" and there are many POV videos already on RU-vid that do just that, just not on layouts that are as nicely finished as this one. I'd really like to get the feel of being inside this layout and for an extended run, perhaps one that traverses the many branches.

Thanks!!! Gee we loved that village. Called Steve and we were talking and he just blurted out “ knowair is gone. I tire it out. I’m taking apart the whole layout”. So we sat there a few minutes and said “a.... WHAT???? So it goes.

We have a small CP story coming up in a few weeks. Editing that now. The Royal Hudson in LA.

@@ToyManTelevision can't wait sadly the only running Hudson silkirk class dosnt come down to central and eastern Canada anymore. It stays in BC most of the time and sometimes wonders as far east as Calgary.

Yup. only 4, or 3 depending on how a person figures that still around and only one runs. But thank goodness for that. We are planning to ride it at some point. Bucket list is huge....

:-)! We are heading for the garden as well. Right now we are in the shop-garage (garagemahal) But the trains will next traverse the "kitchen", than a stopover in the WC, the out the back wall into the yard!! Need to figure out a proper outside door for the bathroom.

A wonderful adventure :) Garagemahal...Love it! :)

Need to try that. On my layout

@@ToyManTelevision I highly recommend it. Jim Wells is a great guy to work with!

Amazing right!!!??

No kidding!!

Really. Boggles the mind.....

You are absolutely correct here! Never boring!!

We hope to see us there too! The way that we have been coming and going lately.. I do believe we passed ourselves on the 215 Belt Loop!!

Did you find the playlist called one of Americas best model railroads? I’ve put all of Steve’s videos in one place! Just go over to the tab that says playlists and it’s right there

Aha! I didn't think of that. The cold must have numbed my brain ... Tally-ho, I shall it out. Thanks - Al

Have you ever seen the suspension bridge over the Royal gorge? That is a bridge to nowhere. I was just built as a tourist attraction and so it does that function really well. But if you cross it and get to the other side you’re literally in the middle of nowhere. And no real road out of there except to go back across the bridge.

Shame is after a few months he tore it down!!! Sunday’s show.

@@ToyManTelevision Wow.

Well.. Al just finished but died before getting it. Sigh. And Steve decided to move and tore out the railroad. Turned it into dioramas. And parts for other railroads. Never did move…

I feel the same way! Especially where all of the buildings and houses have a full interior and lights!!

Hi. Steve really does great work! An inspiration to us all.

Al scratch builds this stuff. And sadly sometimes he rebuilds it too. Had not noticed that! So far nothing has fallen from up there, but this very car has rolled down the hill by the mine. Several times...

There are a few people who just don't like us. We voted for the wrong people or they don't like our attitude about their gun or whatever. It happens.

Its SO SIMPLE. And looks SO GOOD. We should do a show on that... ANYWAY. He builds out of balsa. Thickish balsa. Then he burns the mortar lines with a "wood burning tool" (an old soldering iron) with a sharp tip (use a file to make it sharp) Once you have the deep lines in, round off the "stone" with the side of the iron. Little dents, angles, stone stuff. NOW lightly rub patching plaster over it. Not wall board mud, but the fast set patching stuff. (I like crawfords spackle) Use a damp cloth to remove any excess. The goal is to hide the wood grain. Now paint. Make every stone a bit different. Now back to the crawfords spackle. Really get it into the mortar spaces. And remove the rest with a damp cloth. And just keep adding dry brush paint, chalk, what ever you like to do stone finishes. AND sometimes I come back with another coat of crawfords spackle. Steve now trusts me to use his system on HIS LAYOUT!!! (I did most of the underground city and like half of the stone work at the port) On the retaining walls, I did cheat. I used an old wall casting from Chooch. Buy one in a shrink wrap. Carefully open the package, toss the casting in a box and use it somewhere else. Take the shrink wrap and lay it out flat, (unless you are doing a curved wall) and pour hydracal plaster in it. Do that a bunch of times until you have enough to make your wall. Cut and file and then I usually mount that ON a thick balsa wall, so I can burn sections if needed. That how i did the port wall. Same finish, crawfords spackle and paint.

Sheesh! That is ridiculously simple! Perhaps a bit tedious (coming from someone who adds interiors to HO scale...) but clearly the results are worth it. Thanks for sharing that and I can't wait to give it a try!

Al tells me the coat over the wood should not be plaster. They use some art product.....

Have they said which product?

I’ll ask Steve.

Steve says he has no interest. BUT I think soon he will call in the judges. We are pushing for that. AL is almost there.

Sounds like that will be the topic for another show! :D

THats cool!!!!! Where is it?

Toy Man Television what do you mean “where’s it at?” I guess you didn’t know I own a Kato UP#844, and now an Athearn Big Boy #4014 in N scale. Soon I will have Challenger #3985. And a Kato UP#844 will DCC and Sound. The one I have right now is DC only. It will work well with the re released SP#4449. But to do a doubleheader with 844 and 4014 I need an 844 with DCC and Sound. Kato has also released FEF#838 sister to 844 and being used as a spare parts engine for 844.

I mean what state and city. Love to see if ever....

Toy Man Television are you talking about we’re I live? Well Jacksonville Florida of course. An we all know the real UP steam engines are in Cheyenne WY.

I love Florida!! The great thing about living in Florida, is the lack of snow! Not so with Cheyenne Wyoming. There are times when the entire state is closed ( Interstate 80 ) due to blowing and drifting snow. We do plan on visiting Florida in the near future!!

Yup!!!!

Yes... If ya can't duck... DODGE???

Good Morning!!

Its his only exercise. Ours are spoon curls. And forks....

I'm sure he has one. However... It's close quarters in many spots. I have actually seen Steve work with a jewelers loop and microscopic tools. Steady handed for sure!!

And that's just on benchwork!!

.....maybe a sonic screwdriver?.......

eliese lane 😂 LOL!

Small problem with that. Well two. Really small 30 inch railroad and the bigger problem is Steve tore it out. Taking the layout apart. Starting over with a new layout

Toy Man Television Wow!