James River Branch: Modeling Background

Modeling Background

Although I'm a longtime N scale modeler, I've been involved with Z scale on and off since its introduction. At the time Z scale was launched by Märklin, I was working at a hobby shop, and as the products trickled in, I found the urge to give the scale a try irresistible. Eventually I built a little layout that wound up as a window display for the shop.

That nameless little railroad was an exercise in pure fantasy, partly because initially only European models were available. An article on its construction appeared in the October 1975 issue of Model Railroader magazine, so folks with that back copy can see a few photos of my first Z scale layout.

Although it wasn't long before American models started appearing in Z scale, there simply was never enough of them to inspire me to switch scales. I did, however, start accumulating a number of items, which I'd intended to use as forced-perspective background models in N scale.

Readers of my N scale website, The White River and Northern, know that I've moved quite a lot, the consequence being that I've never had a permanent layout for very long. I do like to keep modeling, however, and in between permanent layouts I'd often dabble in Z scale. Such was the case in 1991 when I'd just moved into a new condo. By then there was enough American-based merchandise for me to make a realistic little shelf layout.

Fast-forward to 2006, and it's déjà vu all over again: I'm living in a new condo with no opportunity to build a permanent N scale layout. By this time I'd been without a layout for almost six years, and the urge to model once more brought me to the point of building something in Z scale.