Lionel Lines

COMMERCIAL O-GAUGE SITES

LINKS TO O-GAUGE HOBBYIST & LAYOUT WEBSITES

INFORMATIONAL SITES
These sites include magazines and on-line forums for the O-Gauge hobby as well as informational sites on post-war Lionel Trains and the hobby in general:

CLASSIC TOY TRAINS - CTT offers the most coverage of the post-war Lionel Train hobby.

MODEL TRAIN JOURNAL - An on-line forum with a broad range of three rail train topics. MTJ is an independent forum not tied to a magazine and is run by a really fine post-war enthusiast.

O-GAUGE RAILROADING - OGR includes coverage of the the three rail O-Gauge hobby with an accent on "hi-rail" layouts and layout building.

O SCALE TRAINS - Billed as "Celebrating the Art of 1:48 Modeling", O Scale Trains features coverage of primarily two rail layouts and layout building, with an occasional three rail feature. This is an exceptional magazine and past issues are available in pdf form on their website.

O-GAUGE WATCH - An informational site compiling current news in the O-Gauge hobby.

HORIZONTAL RULES - A really neat site with lots of Lionel graphics, screen savers and resources for reference books and videos.

SCENERY AND STRUCTURES
If you are looking for something in O-Gauge, from a particularly styled building kit, to ground covers, figures and details, you will probably find it here. The majority of the links included here are products I have used, or recommend, as opposed to a wholesale list of links. Products I have not yet used have been recommended to me:

BRENNAN'S MODEL RAILROADING - Dennis Brennan has a number of great scenery products for O-Gauge layouts, including Brennan's Better Ballast. Dennis also has ground covers, fence kits and hydrocal structure kits available on his website.

DOWNTOWN DECO - Downtown Deco designs and manufactures hydrocal kits, many of which have a great run-down, or seedy look about them. Kits are produced in limited quantities and are always in demand.

ARTTISTA - The finest scale figures you can find for your railroad. Arttista provides a range of high-quality, unique figures which make your layout scenes extraordinary.

DM&M RAILROAD COMPANY - A full line of realistic telephone poles, transformers and building hook-ups.

MILLER ENGINEERING - The neatest lighting animations - billboards, neon and other lighting effects. Great service as they helped me over the phone with hook up. Highly Recommended.

WOODLAND SCENICS - A wide range of scenic materials - including trees, ground covers, water effects and the like. Also available are O-scale figures.

MODEL TECH STUDIOS - Outstanding scene building details and backdrops as well as building kits. You can locate hard to find scene building details at this site.

KORBER MODELS - Korber makes a variety of structure kits, particularly industrial kits.

SODDERS ENTERPRISES - O-scale detail parts for scene building.

DESIGN PRESERVATION MODELS - DPM makes kits, as well as a modular wall system. These provide a great deal of design flexibility.

CHOOCH ENTERPRISES - I have not yet used these structures, but expect to in the future. These appear to be highly detailed building and building flats.

GRANDT LINE - Architectural details for scratch built structures, including windows and doors.

SCHOMBERG SCALE MODELS - Excellent building kits and trackside details.

RUSTY STUMPS - Detail parts and building kits.

PLASTRUCT - Plastic scale modeling parts, strips and sheets for scratchbuilding.

CEDARHILL DESIGNS - I cannot wait until I get to the next phase of my layout to include at least one of these incredible rural building kits. These are scene stealers.

BAR MILLS - Another on my list of "must have at least one" for the next phase of my layout. A number of incredible rural kits.

SCENIC EXPRESS - A massive site with a huge assortment of scenery items. Look for their Preiser figures - they have a large selection.

AMERITOWNE - Building fronts and building kits. You can get these from distributors as well - this link is to the OGR site.

VALLEY MODEL TRAINS - This is the link to their O-Scale main page - bring lunch!

SCALE UNIVERSITY - Structures and scenic effects. Also a full line of Preiser figures.

HOBBYIST SITES - These sites include layouts of folks, some of whom I have "met" in the on-line train community. This collection of sites represents layouts and trains of interest to my area of the hobby, or are the sites of hobbyists whose helpful personalities I admire and appreciate. If you would like your layout site included here (or removed) please send me an email. These are in the order they came to mind. Out of respect for the privacy of these individuals, I haven't included anyone's full name except those with known commercial sites.

CSX AL - CSX AL, or Al Z, is an incredibly talented modeler and professional photographer building a large basement layout in Niagara Falls. Al has helped me greatly with my layout.

PERRY1060 - This is one of my favorite layouts. Perry has built an extraordinary southwestern themed layout in a relatively small space using tubular track. His photography is always top notch.

MARTYE - Marty E is a post-war fan and has built an impressive layout on tubular track. Marty sometimes runs his trains F-A-S-T and has great videos of high-ballin' trains on his website.

RAYMANSSR - When I first saw photos of Ray's layout, I changed my thinking about the type of layout I wanted to build. Ray is a really good fellow who has encouraged me greatly.

DENNIS BRENNAN - Dennis is a photographer and an extraordinary modeler. He has helped me tremendously with advice and has an exceptional line of ballast and scenery products.

JASPER'S ROCK - The fine work of "Ralph M", this is one of those sites I visit and always manage to steal an idea or six. Lots of great photos and videos of a great layout and excellent equipment.

LIONELLINES.COM - Brady beat me to the good name and his site is loaded with post-war Lionel info, including a very detailed rundown of Lionel Dealer Displays from the post-war era.

CHEREL VALLEY RAILROAD - Probably one of the most well-known, highly regarded layouts in O-Gauge. I cannot imagine the amount of effort that has gone into building this finely detailed layout.

TREVINO CIRCLE - If you are a railroad layout enthusiast looking for ideas, and have six or eight hours to kill, visit this site. Every page of this HO layout site is a "how to" on building scenic detail.

GRAZ - Another one of my favorite layouts. This finely detailed masterpiece is only 6' x 10' and features two main lines with a couple of expertly detailed sidings. A superb small space layout.

PENNSYLVANIA & WESTERN RAILROAD - This is a magnificent 28' x 52' layout. The site hasn't been updated in a while, but it is an incredible layout with abundant scenery and a horseshoe curve.

EREHWON & SAGUARO RAILROAD - Another finely detailed layout. This layout spans nearly 450 square feet and features a midwest setting. The time frame is generally the 1950's.

NJHIRAILERS.COM - This is the club site of the New Jersey Hi-Railers. A massive 185' x 30' (that's 5,500 sq. ft.) layout in Paterson, NJ. Check out their incredible videos on the site.

WOODSHIRE RAILROAD - This magnificent layout is an outdoor three rail O-Gauge layout located in the Pugent Sound area. Visit this site and be sure to view the awesome video files.

ROBERT'S LIONEL TRAINS - A Lionel post-war layout built in the traditional mold. Robert has a amassed an admirable collection of post-war and pre-war material. A really helpful gentleman as well.

BLACK DIAMOND RAILWAY - Another eye-popping example of three rail excellence. This fully sceniced and meticulously detailed layout spans 12' x 32' and the website photos are incredible.

MIDDLE DIVISION OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD - This site has not been updated for quite some time. The layout area measure 28' x 45' - an impressive 1400 sq. ft.

WILLIAMSPORT TO CLEARFIELD BRANCH LINE - More stunning three rail modeling in a 25' x 26' layout. Generally set in the 1950's, and according to the builder, was started in 1974.

THE BURLINGTON ROUTE - Another site that has not been updated in quite some time, but was the beginnings of an impressive layout. Much work was done on this 1600 sq. ft. layout.

THE JL/ATSF RAILROAD - Another finely detailed hi-rail layout. This finished layout measures 15' x 26' and is set in the time period from the 1930's through the 1950's.

LIONEL RAY - A great collection of post-war Lionel trains is the centerpiece of this website. The site also features a layout replicating the 1959 Lionel Factory layout with Super O track..

CENTRAL OPERATING LINES - A massive club layout in Ronkonkoma, NY, these folks have had to move four times. I saw video of this layout on "The Train Show" and it is impressive.

NEW YORK CENTRAL - The layout building work of Jim TT. Jim is modeling the New York Central near the Hudson River, set in a timeframe around the 50's. Lot's of excellent NY Central equipment.

NEW YORK CITY MODEL TRANSIT SYSTEM - Amazing site, which is very large and has outgrowth through links to the incredible work of Joe Frank, whose work I admire greatly.