One of the best custom-built HO scale model railroad layouts of Germany on just three square meters

Published on April 6, 2025

There are basically two ways of getting a superb model railroad layout. The first option is to build everything completely yourself; the second option is to have a model railway layout built by a professional, commercial manufacturer according to the customer’s specifications. In other words, model railroading or railway modelling is a very complex thing: On the one hand, there are highly skilled model builders who are able to create beautiful miniature worlds with their hands; on the other hand, there are model railroaders who take care of historically correct train sets, who do weathering on the rolling stock and who pay attention to the smallest details.

Finally, there are also those people who have nothing to do with model building at all. For example Rudolf, a good friend of Pilentum Television, who after many years has fulfilled his dream of a custom-built HO scale model railroad layout which was built by the German company called “Brima Modellanlagenbau”.

Rudolf is an older gentleman. He enjoys controlling his model trains and he feels like a happy child when he plays with his Märklin based model train layout. Planning, construction, track laying, wiring, landscaping, delivery and final assembly took more than a year. In the end, the custom-built HO scale model railroad layout has a size of 2.4 x 1.3 meters (7.8 feet x 4.2 feet).

Rudolf’s miniature world is based on a well thought-out track plan. There is a small train station in the center of the model rail layout. From there, the model trains run out to the left in a sweeping right-hand bend and pass a level crossing with a station keeper’s house. The track slopes downwards in this area and disappears behind the houses and the background wallpaper. At this point, trains enter a lower level where a fiddle yard is installed.

Depending on the digital train control setup, arriving trains can be parked and trains parked in that fiddle yard can be sent off. The trains on the lower level remain invisible to the spectator and return to daylight via a tunnel on the basic level. The trains climb the landscape in a sharp left-hand curve, run on a straight line to the right-hand end of the model railroad layout and rejoin one of the three tracks at the train station via a generous left-hand curve.

The landscape really deserves a lot of attention. The German company called “Brima Modellanlagenbau” has fulfilled all the wishes that Rudolf wanted to realize in HO scale on just 3.0 square meters of space (approximately 32 square feet). These wishes include a low mountain range landscape, a sawmill, a river, lush corn and potato fields, half-timbered houses, country lanes, cars, bridges, signals and figures. Rudolf also wanted many small, detailed stories of everyday life, such as the three little boys by the river building a raft.

Finally, the model railroad layout is a reflection of Rudolf’s childhood in the late 1950s. There are only steam locomotives, steam trains and a few diesel locomotives. There is an ingenious track plan that blends in perfectly with the natural surroundings. And, there is also a background that fits in perfectly with the model houses and model buildings located behind the station.

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv53Bmzh7nY

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