If you’re not already following the Liberty Village Layout build by my friend Stephen Gardiner, you really should.
Stephen’s HO scale layout is modest in size: it occupies a spare bedroom which also does duty as a home office, workshop, and display area for various model-building projects (including many that are not rail related). But his layout is also challenging in scope – more challenging than many modellers would feel comfortable undertaking.
Stephen is modelling a few blocks of Liberty Village – an industrial area in the west end of downtown Toronto – as it appeared in the late 1950s. It’s a place of urban canyons, with large industrial buildings rendered in a variety of materials bracketing a network of streets and alleys. Plus, of course, trains: switch crews from both the CNR and CPR served this area over shared trackage.
Not content to fill his space with commercial kits that look nothing like the prototype, Stephen is scratch-building most of his structures to represent specific buildings. There are a lot of structures, and he’s doing a masterful job.
Stephen will likely be embarrassed by this, but here goes: he’s one of the most talented modellers I know. He’s also a damn fine photographer. And he’s great at sharing what he does. If you’re not following his blog, you really should.
The Model Railway Show 