Modelling the Wild West

[david_heath899]

The April 2018 edition of Model Railroader magazine features the Sierra Pintada & Western RR, a fascinating HO scale layout set in 1880s Arizona. It’s the brainchild of Willem Van der Hoeven, a former Swedish government economist who lives near Stockholm. Apparently, Willem’s Wild West-themed layout was inspired by his love for Western movies!

The 1880s strike me as an interesting period to model but I worry about the availability of ready-to-run locomotives. According to MR, Willem’s loco roster includes “both brass and plastic models…The best running of [his] 4-4-0 engines is a rebuilt Bachmann Jupiter.” Just for a laugh, I typed ‘Wild West model railroads’ (or some such string) into google and was directed to an old forum discussion on the MR website. Someone building a Western-themed layout bemoaned that “the availability of help with rolling stock, scenery, structures and layout plans is just not there for the taking.” He received a few positive replies along with, “I see you have discovered that the mainstream model manufacturers think that trains were invented in the 1920's or 1930's.” Harsh but true?!!!

So, has anyone else built a Wild West-themed layout – or knows of one?

[david_heath899]

Someone's just pointed out that a few years back Carstens published a book called, 'Modeling the Wild West.' Apparently, it includes step-by-step instructions for modelling old railroad buildings and gold mines etc!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MODELING-THE ... SwKfVXL6~2

Not that easy to obtain in the UK by the looks of it, though.

[800824]

Easy to obtain in the UK from Linda Tinker Railway Books.

New copies available....http://www.lindatinkerrailwaybooks.co.uk/. Look in the White River/Carstens/RR Press section, or search using the word "wild".

Happy to help!

Linda