How to Design Your Own Model Buildings

Research the period and geography. The best model railroads feature structures that are in keeping with the historical period of the line. For example, steam era lines must include Victorian building architecture. Keep geography in mind too. Buildings along the southwest corridor of an AT&Santa Fe line from the 1930s will be largely brick or adobe. Check out online histories and published records of the railroad, looking for photographs of structures in the background or references to mainline stops.

Learn about real-life building design and construction methods. Not all reference materials will show all four sides of a structure. You may have to "fill in the blanks" to achieve some degree of accuracy. It helps to know construction methods for buildings raised during the period depicted. Historical archives kept by local newspapers should be helpful. There are also numerous collections available online.

Make a practical "real estate development" plan. Buildings only occur next to tracks if the trains stop there for some purpose such as unloading freight or taking on raw materials. Buildings not engaged in rail activity, such as residences and schools, should not have a direct trackside location. Since all layouts are limited in available real estate, decide what structures would be most relevant and interesting for the train line first.

Determine the proper scale for your layout. In HO's 87:1 scale, for example, every inch of model equals 87 inches (7 feet 3 inches) of the real thing. If your trackside structure measures 10 by 15 inches, it represents a building about 72 by 109 feet in "real" dimensions. To determine building dimensions from a photo, measure a known height like a door, normally 80 inches, and scale from there. For on-site research, measure several large features and photograph them.

Scope the available views of the proposed structure. If you can walk all the way around your layout, you may need to detail four-sided views of buildings on the layout. If a limited "front view" is all that is available on your layout, you may be able to skip detailed work on the sides of the building facing away from the viewer.

Choose the level of building detail that reflects your model rail aesthetic. Some model railroaders establish super-detailing as their hallmark and create model structures in remarkable detail. Other modelers use lower standards and only suggest details like masonry work or roof shingles, leaving super-detail work to the actual rail lines. Decide which approach matches your budget and model-building skills.