One could make a convincing argument that this model railroad may be the best one ever built. One just sits back and marvels at each scene. If model railroading is all about capturing the prototype and the world trains run in, this layout has done it the best. Great job.....
Thanks for the kind words, but I can think of several dozen layouts, specifically prototypical layouts that are far superior to mind, but do serve as inspiration for my own work.
I absolutely love this layout. It captures my imagination in a way that no other layout on YT does. Such a great era for railfanning in VT. Outstanding modeling and videography. 👏
The degree of realism in the sights and sounds of this layout and trains is RIDICULOUS! I'm quite envious and can only aspire to achieve this level one day.
After 55-years of modeling and running at some of the finest clubs in the country, this is my favorite layout of all-time. Really captures the overall feel of the region.
As someone who lived in the region you are modeling in the 1970s and 80s, watching you videos is about as close as I'm going to come to time travel. You've done a fantastic job. I know it's a lot to ask, but perhaps you could model St. Johnsbury at some point in the future. Well do I remember those winter mornings when the temperature seemed stuck at 20 below zero, and the nightly activity in the yard was just starting to wind down. Those were the days. I did a number of articles on the region for Trains magazine but I can't remember the dates. Again, fantastic job with your layout! BEN BACHMAN, Seattle, WA
Thank you Ben. Many of the scenes on the layout were inspired by your articles on Vermont back in the 1970's and 1980's including the round barn scene at Barnet. I always felt that your photography captured the essence of Vermont railroads and I strived to recreate that on the layout. I actually mentioned you among several photographers in an upcoming article on the layout in September issue of Railroad Model Craftsman, hopefully you'll be able to get a copy. Regarding St. Johnsbury, I had considered modeling it, but with the challenge of building structures and incorporating the LVRC and MEC interchanges, it wouldn't fit in the allocated space in the basement. I believe Mike McNamara has done a great job recreating St. J on his layout. Thanks again for the compliments. -Neil Schofield
Excellent, very watchable railfanning of an excellent layout and its operations. I got two good ideas on how to improve my own videography, two ideas of things I can do to improve my own layout, and some ideas I wish I could implement but can't due to the way my layout is constructed and configured. Cheers, Ted
I’ve seen a lot of great model railroad videos on YT, but yours are the best. The detail and realism of the power and rolling stock; the scenery, both on the layout and the scenic backdrops; the realistic operations; and the presentation, both videography and the “storyline;” all brilliant. I become immersed in them as if I were watching real thing. Thank you!
Neil, at some point when I have the time and room, I plan to model some portion of GT/CV/CP/CN/MEC/B&M. Your fantastic railroad (calling it a layout is an insult!) and Mike McNamara's will be key inspirations for me. Orleans looks incredible. My cousins used to own the hardware stores in St J, Lyndonville, and Orleans. The Ethan Allen plant is spot on! The era for my empire would be late 80's so perhaps I'll interchange with you and Mike! In the meantime, I watch quite a few videos including your series and especially nhrrman's series. It's quite helpful for building a prototypical fleet of rolling stock. I've got some CP and CV locomotives on order and have a project brewing to model CV GP-9's 4442, 4445, and 4447. Gotta get my painting and decal skills at a higher level first, so I'm painting a bunch of MEC boxcars along with some Berlin Mills units... I don't know if you watch railfan video's, but I love Distant Signal (Danny Harmon). His broadcast background makes his videography and commentary second to none. I even sent him a link to one of your videos, telling him that his commentary over your video would be excellent. I don't know if you would ever consider it or whether Danny has the time (and perhaps generosity?) to do something like that, though! I have heard his voice on other commercial videos, so I don't know if he would do it for free. But it would take your well done videos to an even higher level and would bring the viewer closer to "the action". Thanks for sharing your masterpiece with us.
Thanks for the kind words and glad to hear of another New England modeler. Great recommendation on the Distant Signal videos, there's some nice CSX/NS action in many of them. At some point I plan on doing a more professional layout tour video, perhaps through Trainmasters TV so it has professional quality. I'd prefer to have it narrated by someone with a good Boston accent just for laughs, but for now I just put together the railfan videos with my cell phone and some not so great video editing software, but even then making and uploading a 20 minute video takes a good 8 hours or so for me which is why I'm not as frequent as many others. Thanks again for the compliments and good luck on building up the fleet of CV locos, feel free to share photos, it's always good to see others modeling!
It might be a bit before I have pictures worth sharing but I will do so eventually! One other question. How did you obtain the CV PSC-style caboose? Is it a brass model, kitbash, or something else?
@@NRS8400 Neil, sorry to keep spamming you with comments, but I am also intrigued at the Berlin Mills boxcar in one of your other videos. It appears to be a spot-on correct PC&F 5317 Cu Ft Boxcar, complete with flat roof. As far as I knew, that car is not available in HO. When researching that car, I found that ExactRail had it on their "289" list of planned projects, but that appeared to be truly a "dream" list. I had settled on Atlas' FMC 5347 model as a stand-in, although it has one less panel on each side of the door along with a peaked roof. I have stripped the paint off a few models and am about to start painting. Did you kitbash that model? I could have a similar discussion with your Harvest Yellow Maine Central boxcars...!
@@tgrockhead The PC&F car was built by a friend of mine about 15 years ago starting with a roundhouse car and replacing all the ribs and flattening the roof. He did a great job. I know someone that had 3D printed a body, but not sure if they've done anymore work to it. It would be nice to have both B&M and Berlin Mills cars, but unless someone makes a good model, that will probably be it for me. Too many structures to build in the next few years. Thanks, Neil
@@NRS8400 Wow. It certainly is a job worthy of an RPM meet. I think that in the spirit of Allen McClellan, I will settle for "good enough" so I can continue to build a fleet. Curious; what can you tell me about the MEC boxcars and that CV PSC caboose? Oh, and I look forward to your next video. ;)
I just love how you made this layout ... in my top 10 list ! Like an artist who painted a painting. not cluttered , everything has purpose and the fine details on buildings and roofs , streak lines for the mowed grass, The roads the way they show where tires run and dirt pattern from gravel roads blended with different colors .Great detail in weathering of freight cars and locos like the details on the trucks bearing caps , and slack adjusters . There is a small shack on the other side of the river at 20:20 looks like light flicker from inside but it also looks to be part of the back drop , just curious as to what the structure is to be ? ,Anyway love you vid's and your RR .
Thanks for the kind words Wayne. Interesting observation regarding the backdrop, its just a structure in the photo. Ill have to go back and look closely at it now, but nothing special about it.
You got a very nice layout, I used to watch the trains from my parents on bay street a number of years ago. Used to go down to south bay and watch them do the switching.
Glad to see the "Round Barn" scene in. While we are always told to "model the typical", the Barnet barn is such an icon of the area you model. A striking, signature scene well done! See link for a comparison view of the prototype and judge for yourself! www.flickr.com/photos/vprnet/3500165455/
Thanks, I still have lots of work to weather up the barn and bring out the details. Photos like the one you shared definitely show that. I'll post some more videos down the road, I wasn't happy with the photo angle in this video, but it's good enough for now.
Finally another great video from your superb layout. Nice to see sections on the remaining parts of you layout. Are alle sections completed according to the plan ?
I'd like to see a layout tour showing all of the layout and layout room in a video here. That being said, the crew on #80 is either a rookie crew or they need to be taught how to switch an industry. If they held on to the 2 inbound cars to make the pick up they could have saved themselves two moves and a lot of climbing around to tie on and knock off hand brakes.
A very realistic layout... but...if you switched those lumber cars like that in real life you would NOT be popular to work with. You would stop the nose of the lead unit at the frog, hang on to the 2 loads and double to the spur. Kick the 2 mt's onto the train and spot. Your done! The more moves you make the longer it'll take plus a greater chance of injury or worse. The Hogger and the Conductor would be down your neck PDQ. By the way, those units were CRAP to work with. All the GM's were much, much better in every way. Put some SD-40's on your layout!
One could make a convincing argument that this model railroad may be the best one ever built. One just sits back and marvels at each scene. If model railroading is all about capturing the prototype and the world trains run in, this layout has done it the best. Great job.....
Thanks for the kind words, but I can think of several dozen layouts, specifically prototypical layouts that are far superior to mind, but do serve as inspiration for my own work.
It blows me away each time I watch your videos. Superb to say the least. Even the weeds between the sidewalk and street. I catch it all! Enjoy! 👽
This has to be the best model railroad I've seen!!!
I absolutely love this layout. It captures my imagination in a way that no other layout on YT does. Such a great era for railfanning in VT. Outstanding modeling and videography. 👏
I can't get over how much this looks like I'm watching an actual train and not just a model. The details and the scenery are stunning.
I'm from Brazil and I like your model
SO PROUD OF MY FATHER
so cool, eve the gas prices are period correct...nice details. makes we wanna start my layout again
Hearing those CP Montreal units chug away... Awesome!!!!!!
All we need is their smoke!
Fantastic!
Thanks for sharing!!
Beautiful model railroad. I really enjoyed watching this video.
ringReally great job, scenic, and the weathering on the power is super. Thank you for sharing
Very nice layout, I can see our house on the lake when the train crosses the trestle bridge over South Bay.
Amazing layout & awesome video . Thanks for sharing
Always great being taken to another time and place while watching!
The degree of realism in the sights and sounds of this layout and trains is RIDICULOUS! I'm quite envious and can only aspire to achieve this level one day.
Thanks - the signals all work courtesy of Logicrail as well, so thank you!
Beautiful operation Neil!
Nice layout reminds me of cp rail mactier subdivision in the 80s
Well done. The details are spot on!!! This layout reminds me of a summer version of the Allagash Railroad. Beautiful job.
Nice film!
After 55-years of modeling and running at some of the finest clubs in the country, this is my favorite layout of all-time. Really captures the overall feel of the region.
Thanks, it's a fun little time machine;-)
As soon as I saw this said this must be Neil Schofield’s work. Very very good artist.
Simply awesome
Just incredible!
Very nice Neil, I really am liking the new scenes.
Love this layout it’s so realistic
superb modeling and presentation. great foliage, structures. great loco sounds.
Outstanding video and the scenery is very realistic. Nice detail.
As someone who lived in the region you are modeling in the 1970s and 80s, watching you videos is about as close as I'm going to come to time travel. You've done a fantastic job. I know it's a lot to ask, but perhaps you could model St. Johnsbury at some point in the future. Well do I remember those winter mornings when the temperature seemed stuck at 20 below zero, and the nightly activity in the yard was just starting to wind down. Those were the days. I did a number of articles on the region for Trains magazine but I can't remember the dates. Again, fantastic job with your layout! BEN BACHMAN, Seattle, WA
Thank you Ben. Many of the scenes on the layout were inspired by your articles on Vermont back in the 1970's and 1980's including the round barn scene at Barnet. I always felt that your photography captured the essence of Vermont railroads and I strived to recreate that on the layout. I actually mentioned you among several photographers in an upcoming article on the layout in September issue of Railroad Model Craftsman, hopefully you'll be able to get a copy. Regarding St. Johnsbury, I had considered modeling it, but with the challenge of building structures and incorporating the LVRC and MEC interchanges, it wouldn't fit in the allocated space in the basement. I believe Mike McNamara has done a great job recreating St. J on his layout. Thanks again for the compliments. -Neil Schofield
The details are amazing. I didn’t realize I was watching model railroad at first. Great job!
Excellent, very watchable railfanning of an excellent layout and its operations. I got two good ideas on how to improve my own videography, two ideas of things I can do to improve my own layout, and some ideas I wish I could implement but can't due to the way my layout is constructed and configured. Cheers, Ted
Awesome work Neil. Great to see some new scenes on your layout. Thanks for sharing! Tim
Thanks Tim
Amazing!
Your stuff is always a treat to watch. Thank you again for sharing with the world.
I’ve seen a lot of great model railroad videos on YT, but yours are the best. The detail and realism of the power and rolling stock; the scenery, both on the layout and the scenic backdrops; the realistic operations; and the presentation, both videography and the “storyline;” all brilliant. I become immersed in them as if I were watching real thing. Thank you!
Thanks - glad you enjoyed it.
Great work Neil! Thoroughly enjoyed the day of rail fanning. -grant
WOW! Just amazing!
Excellent work!!! First few minutes, I thought it was real.👍👍👍💖
Oh good I wasn’t the only one! Lol. The sound, the details, and the camera work fooled me.
Another enjoyable video, Neil. Thanks for sharing. Your scenery is so vibrant and second to none.
Thanks!
Beautiful realistic layout! You are enjoying it as I can see... 😜
Absolutely fantastic post as always. It is such a pleasure to see ops done the way they should be on an enceditable layout as yours. Thank you.
that be a fun day full of running trains. very nice
Neil, at some point when I have the time and room, I plan to model some portion of GT/CV/CP/CN/MEC/B&M. Your fantastic railroad (calling it a layout is an insult!) and Mike McNamara's will be key inspirations for me. Orleans looks incredible. My cousins used to own the hardware stores in St J, Lyndonville, and Orleans. The Ethan Allen plant is spot on!
The era for my empire would be late 80's so perhaps I'll interchange with you and Mike! In the meantime, I watch quite a few videos including your series and especially nhrrman's series. It's quite helpful for building a prototypical fleet of rolling stock. I've got some CP and CV locomotives on order and have a project brewing to model CV GP-9's 4442, 4445, and 4447. Gotta get my painting and decal skills at a higher level first, so I'm painting a bunch of MEC boxcars along with some Berlin Mills units...
I don't know if you watch railfan video's, but I love Distant Signal (Danny Harmon). His broadcast background makes his videography and commentary second to none. I even sent him a link to one of your videos, telling him that his commentary over your video would be excellent. I don't know if you would ever consider it or whether Danny has the time (and perhaps generosity?) to do something like that, though! I have heard his voice on other commercial videos, so I don't know if he would do it for free. But it would take your well done videos to an even higher level and would bring the viewer closer to "the action".
Thanks for sharing your masterpiece with us.
Thanks for the kind words and glad to hear of another New England modeler. Great recommendation on the Distant Signal videos, there's some nice CSX/NS action in many of them. At some point I plan on doing a more professional layout tour video, perhaps through Trainmasters TV so it has professional quality. I'd prefer to have it narrated by someone with a good Boston accent just for laughs, but for now I just put together the railfan videos with my cell phone and some not so great video editing software, but even then making and uploading a 20 minute video takes a good 8 hours or so for me which is why I'm not as frequent as many others. Thanks again for the compliments and good luck on building up the fleet of CV locos, feel free to share photos, it's always good to see others modeling!
It might be a bit before I have pictures worth sharing but I will do so eventually! One other question. How did you obtain the CV PSC-style caboose? Is it a brass model, kitbash, or something else?
@@NRS8400 Neil, sorry to keep spamming you with comments, but I am also intrigued at the Berlin Mills boxcar in one of your other videos. It appears to be a spot-on correct PC&F 5317 Cu Ft Boxcar, complete with flat roof. As far as I knew, that car is not available in HO. When researching that car, I found that ExactRail had it on their "289" list of planned projects, but that appeared to be truly a "dream" list. I had settled on Atlas' FMC 5347 model as a stand-in, although it has one less panel on each side of the door along with a peaked roof. I have stripped the paint off a few models and am about to start painting. Did you kitbash that model?
I could have a similar discussion with your Harvest Yellow Maine Central boxcars...!
@@tgrockhead The PC&F car was built by a friend of mine about 15 years ago starting with a roundhouse car and replacing all the ribs and flattening the roof. He did a great job. I know someone that had 3D printed a body, but not sure if they've done anymore work to it. It would be nice to have both B&M and Berlin Mills cars, but unless someone makes a good model, that will probably be it for me. Too many structures to build in the next few years. Thanks, Neil
@@NRS8400 Wow. It certainly is a job worthy of an RPM meet. I think that in the spirit of Allen McClellan, I will settle for "good enough" so I can continue to build a fleet. Curious; what can you tell me about the MEC boxcars and that CV PSC caboose?
Oh, and I look forward to your next video. ;)
Great stuff as usual! Two thumbs up.
I just love how you made this layout ... in my top 10 list !
Like an artist who painted a painting. not cluttered , everything has purpose and the fine details on buildings and roofs , streak lines for the mowed grass, The roads the way they show where tires run and dirt pattern from gravel roads blended with different colors .Great detail in weathering of freight cars and locos like the details on the trucks bearing caps , and slack adjusters .
There is a small shack on the other side of the river at 20:20 looks like light flicker from inside but it also looks to be part of the back drop , just curious as to what the structure is to be ? ,Anyway love you vid's and your RR .
Thanks for the kind words Wayne. Interesting observation regarding the backdrop, its just a structure in the photo. Ill have to go back and look closely at it now, but nothing special about it.
You got a very nice layout, I used to watch the trains from my parents on bay street a number of years ago. Used to go down to south bay and watch them do the switching.
Excellent video, Neil. Everything looks so realistic and this layout is just a 5 star production! Thanks for sharing. Mike
Amazing ! Your scenery work and weathering is fantastic.
Absolutely amazing work! I felt like I was watching an old Pentrex film - but in color from the 1980s (and diesel 😏) Beautiful!
Thanks Chris - keep up the progress on the Valley Line! Love the latest structures!
Also the havelock sub once in a while I still see the way freight which traverses the line
Glad to see the "Round Barn" scene in. While we are always told to "model the typical", the Barnet barn is such an icon of the area you model. A striking, signature scene well done! See link for a comparison view of the prototype and judge for yourself! www.flickr.com/photos/vprnet/3500165455/
Thanks, I still have lots of work to weather up the barn and bring out the details. Photos like the one you shared definitely show that. I'll post some more videos down the road, I wasn't happy with the photo angle in this video, but it's good enough for now.
Looks great. Nice to see the new GP18 out on the road!
Thanks Mike....now if I can just get the horn sound right....:-)
Outstanding modeling! In the first train there is a boxcar BAR 6655. What model boxcar is that and who is the manufacturer?
Thanks Gary, the BAR car is a Kadee with a Downeast Scale models plug door installed with Highball Graphics decals.
@@NRS8400 Thanks. It looks so real!
This is crazy real! How do you keep engines running so smooth? Just amazing sound and weathering. Thought it was real at first.
Great layout
Finally another great video from your superb layout. Nice to see sections on the remaining parts of you layout. Are alle sections completed according to the plan ?
Thanks - long way to go to finish scenery.
Let me know when one of your neighbors move out. Then I can bug you all the time till you sell me your layout! Yea it’s that GREAT ! Enjoy ! 👽
Simply a beautiful layout. Do you have an overall diagram of your layout? Would be nice to see the entire layout on a tour
Thanks, the track plan was featured in the 2018 Model Railroad Planning
Look at those gas prices!!
I'd like to see a layout tour showing all of the layout and layout room in a video here. That being said, the crew on #80 is either a rookie crew or they need to be taught how to switch an industry. If they held on to the 2 inbound cars to make the pick up they could have saved themselves two moves and a lot of climbing around to tie on and knock off hand brakes.
Thanks for watching Kevin
Can you be contracted out for private layouts?
No thanks.
A very realistic layout... but...if you switched those lumber cars like that in real life you would NOT be popular to work with. You would stop the nose of the lead unit at the frog, hang on to the 2 loads and double to the spur. Kick the 2 mt's onto the train and spot. Your done! The more moves you make the longer it'll take plus a greater chance of injury or worse. The Hogger and the Conductor would be down your neck PDQ. By the way, those units were CRAP to work with. All the GM's were much, much better in every way. Put some SD-40's on your layout!
Thanks for the prototype comments....but pretty sure, in fact positive SD40s never made it on the Newport Sub in 1980.