A Review for The Cannonball published by the
Sunrise Trail Division of the NER, NMRA
Don't read Bill Denton's latest article in N
Scale Railroading unless you are prepared to catch the urban
modeling bug. If you have not yet discovered N Scale
Railroading you should get a subscription (1 year $26.00
from North American N Scale Publishing P.O. Box 77296, Seattle WA
98177-0296) whether or not you model in N scale.
In the latest issue, Bill Denton describes his Milwaukee
Road Kingbury Branch. All photographs (ten color photos in all)
are by the author. Bill was inspired to model these urban canyons by a
prototype article that appeared in the April 1975 Model
Railroader. Denton, Bill. In fact, Bill Denton's
modeling has previously appeared in Model Railroader
and served as one of the inspirations for my own modeling. Where my
modeling differs from his is that my prototype did not run in the street
as does Bill's. Bill uses Digitrax to run his shelf style N scale layout
set in the 1970s. Bill began building his Kingsbury Branch in the
Spring of 1994. Each of his two sections of benchwork measures six
feet long by 21 inches wide. The results are superb because of Bill's
attention to detail. He skillfully blends foreground into background,
among his many tricks. He even manages to squeeze a bit of the Chicago
River into one section of benchwork. None of Denton's structures
appear to be straight out of the box which adds to his layout's appeal.
"Adventures in Urban Model
Railroading." N Scale Railroading March/April 2003: 30-37.