Model Railway Layouts

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In this section you will find a few examples of Japanese outline model railways built by enthousiasts from all over the world.

From time to time new layouts will be added to this page. It's up to you if you would like to bookmark this page.

Layout nr.1 is built in Scotland by Davy Cormack.

The layout depicts no particular area or railway company. As usual for Japanese layouts the scale is Japanese N-scale, which is 1/150th scale. All Japanese 'N' scale models run on standard 'N' scale track. The rails are 9mm apart. You can find trains of JR, Kintetsu. Meitetsu and other Japanese railways. Trains running on 3'6" gauge and those running on 4' 8½" gauge are running on separate tracks which are not connected. The tracks representing 3'6" gauge are Peco code 80, the ones representing 4'8½" gauge are Fleischmann 'Profi Gleis'.

This layout is being rebuilt at the moment, I hope to report in the near future.

Enjoy the pictures!

Layout nr.2 is my personal project

This layout is named 'Hokuriku Honsen', or Hokuriku Mainline in English. The layout depicts the station of Tsuruga in western Japan and its surroundings. I took lots of license to adapt the existing station into what will be a nice model railway with lots of operational interests.

I put in the pictures to show you how the construction of the layout moves on. It can take years before it is finished!

Unfortunately this project is shelved for the time being, priority is given to the 'J-Module' project, more information at the bottom of this page.

Layout nr. 3 is a compact layout built in Japan by a British diplomat and brought back to Britain. It is called the "Yama-no-yu-sen" or in English "The hot spring in the mountains line".

The layout has the exact size of a traditional tatami mat, rooms in Japanese homes have the floor covered with tatami mats. The layout depicts a fictious branch line in rural Japan, the railway is not electrified and both diesel and steam trains can be found on it. When taking the photos it was intended to have a pleasant running session. Intead of running trains I spent an afternoon faultfinding and soldering!

Layout nr. 4 is a large layout that was to be seen on several model railway shows in England and once on the European Continent when it travelled to Dortmund, Germany in April 1997.

Layout nr. 5 is one of the first Japanese outline layouts built in Britain. It is the famous 'Seibu Shinjuku' layout by Tony Mc. Diarmid. Sadly, this wonderful large layout has been scrapped now. Only the terminus station survived.

Layout nr. 6 is a small layout built by fellow JRS-member Steve Waterfield. The layout depicts a shortline serving a port area, the whole thing is packed with industries and shunting action!

Layout nr. 7 is a 'table top' style of layout that is used by George Swainston for promotional purposes. The whole layout is made with ready-made viaduct sections and can be set up in a short time.

Layout nr.8 is built in the UK by Phil Hendry. It depicts a steam-era locomotive depot

Layout nr.9 is again built in the UK, this time by Norman Raven. It depicts a rural scene during winter. The snow is worth mentioning!

Mini layouts, little works of art!

Bonus layout. This layout is also built by Davy Cormack from Scotland, but this time in the garden layouts.

J-Module is a new project for a modular model railway to be built in Europe. On these pages there is some basic information on this new system. Modular railway modelling is great fun!

 Linked layouts,

Layouts built by other enthousiasts, represented on the Web.

Matthew Davis is building a Shinkansen layout, the layout is still under construction, the pages are already running!

Meanwhile, Matthew has moved and had to dismantle the Shinkansen layout, but luckily he found time and space to built this new layout

The Japan Rail Modelers from Washington D.C. have a portable layout for display on modelling shows and other events.

Claude and Eric Binamé from Belgium built their own small Japanese layout. Pages include trip reports and other railway interests. French, some Dutch, German and English language.

Will Vale from New Zealand is building a small layout with an Enoden theme. This is a nice layout that fits a limited space.

Bram Osborne is one of the few who model Japan's railways in 1/80 HO-scale on 16.5 mm gauge track. Bram has a weblog reporting the progress of his project.

T-Trak is a relatively new modular layout system, aimed at tram (streetcar) modellers. The idea originated in Japan, but was further developed in the USA. Modules are the size of a A4 sheet of paper, tracks are Kato Unitrack.

Martijn Meerts has set a site about the JR-Chiisai project. Both layout and website are under constant development.

Mr. Van der Burg from the Netherlands built a beautiful H0-scale tram layout. Control is by a Roco DCC sytem and a computer.

** Please take notice of this **

If you have a Japanese outline model railway and you would like to have it on this site or if you already have it on the Web, please e-mail me. Maybe it can be put on this site or I can put in a link to your site.

As usual with model railways, this page is continuously

I am sorry for any inconvience, I will put in as much as I can.

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