Work of Art: Stunning N Scale Model Railway Layout by Yehui Deng from China (German-Style Diorama)

Published on July 12, 2026

There are wonderful model railway layouts all over the world. Unfortunately, Pilentum Television cannot film every single one. That is why Pilentum Television offers owners of model train layouts the opportunity to submit videos to have a free video presentation created. This video presentation is published on Pilentum Television’s YouTube channel so that the international audience can also enjoy these private model railway layouts. Having already featured model railroad layouts from Hungary, Chile, Italy and many other countries, this video depicts a German miniature world built by Yehui Deng from Shanghai in China.

Yehui Deng first got into model trains in 2012, when his parents gave him the very first model locomotive as a birthday gift. It was a Bachmann ND2 diesel loco. That little locomotive sparked his deep interest in model trains. At first, Yehui Deng was more focused on static scale models, such as tanks and aircraft from Tamiya. Therefore, he spent a long time in building dioramas. However, his understanding of rail transport modeling grew, so that he began experimenting with train-themed dioramas. In 2016, Yehui Deng met an older friend who is now 80 years old. He has been collecting model trains for over 40 years. This 80 year old friend was the one who introduced him into the world of railway modelling and landscaping.

Among all types of trains, Yehui Deng is especially fascinated by steam locomotives. Initially, he focused on Chinese steam locomotives, but over time he became drawn to steam locomotives from Germany. The collection of model trains kept growing. Today, his collection consists of HO scale brass models from high-end brands such as Micro Metakit, Lemaco and Fulgurex. What was missing, was a model railway layout so that the locomotives and trains could be seen in motion.

Due to limited space at home, building HO scale dioramas became quite challenging. As a result, Yehui Deng switched from HO scale to N scale. In 2018, Yehui Deng set up his own studio and began building various model train dioramas for clients in China. To date, he has built more than a dozen small dioramas and larger model railroad layouts.

His final masterpiece, which we see in this video, has a size of 350 cm x 75 cm. To create a greater sense of depth within the limited space, he designed two loops of tracks as two independent layers running separately. The outer loop is on the lower level and is used for running larger locomotives; the inner loop is on the upper level and runs smaller locomotives. The bridges in the diorama were hand-cut and carved by a good friend to fit the specific radius and curvature of the model train layout.

This miniature world depicts a German landscape, though not strictly. He added many interesting details to the scenery and he also repainted and weathered all the buildings to give the models richer, more realistic colors. The trees in the diorama are wire-framed pine trees produced by a factory, which add excellent texture and depth to such a large diorama. For the bushes, he chose materials from Woodland Scenics. In addition, he designed a playful lighting system for this diorama, which gives it a completely different atmosphere during nighttime operation.

Pilentum Television was surprised when Yehui Deng contacted him by email. Asking in detail about the model railway market in China, this is what Yehui Deng replied: China is now the world’s largest production base for model trains and also has many distributors for European model trains. He usually purchases his European models through these distributors. In addition, during his year of study in the UK, he bought quite a few European-style buildings and model trains and brought them back to China. The buildings in this model railroad layout were partly purchased in Europe and partly from Chinese distributors.

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i5W7tZIghE

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