WORLD WAR II TRAIN LAYOUT

I have been interested in WWII since I was a young boy. I played with toy soldiers and trains like so many young boys. As I became older I built a lot of plastic models, over time this envolved into scratch building and conversions of all types.

I started building my own train cars out of plastic, soon after that I graduated to making all my train cars out of wood.

Every box car, tanker car, flat car, every railroad car you see in these photos are made out of wood with the exception of the engines, they have a shell over them to bring them closer to the correct scale. I understand they are off a little bit but that is something I can live with (for now).

The boats in the harbor are made out of wood, again I tried to base them on actual boats and barges I had seen in photos.

All the railroad cars are based on actual train cars that existed during WWII.

All the buildings you see with the exception of a couple are scratch built from foam board and trimmed with wood (window frames, door frames, etc.) I tried to base them on actual buildings I have seen in photos in books, magazines and mostly the internet.

The buildings that are black are buildings that I am still working on. The Jeeps are all made by Gate. Gate Company no longer makes these Jeeps but I find them on ebay now and then, to me they are the perfect scale.

The hedgerows are all Conte (repainted by me). The figures you see are mostly Conte and Britains, with some Figarti, King and Country, Marx, Del Prada, and a lot of misc.

I scratch built a couple of British Airborne trailers for a couple of the jeeps and have done a few converstions on them.

The layout represents a little of each of the following battles, overlord, market garden, and the push to the Rhine.

The vehicles you see are mostly 21st Century Toys. I like these the best because I can do multiple conversions on them, they are no longer in business but you can still find them.

I also have a couple of Forces of Valor, and a couple of Monogram scout car model kits.

The bridge on the layout is the Remagan Bridge. I know it is not long enough, but I am working in a limited space. The layout has a couple of smaller bridges.

A future project I am planning is a V1 or a V2 rocket on a flat car with a fuel car and an observation car.

I thank you for taking the time to look at my WWII layout. I also want to remind you that if you have any comments or suggestions of any kind please email me at bgrain@gmail.com.