Vol. 34: Gary Hoover's Missouri, Kansas & Quincy
In our latest backstage tour, Allen Keller joins master modeler Gary Hoover to view his layout of the Missouri, Kansas and Quincy. Hoover is a longtime railfan, so he wanted to build an HO scale model railroad that’s as fun to operate and photograph as it is to view in full size.
Hoover’s dream to create the ultimate railfanning experience has made the Missouri, Kansas and Quincy one of the most photogenic layouts Allen has ever seen. It’s clear that Hoover’s skills have continued to improve since he first started his layout in 1985. This modern HO railroad runs from the Chicago area to California, consisting of the Northern and Central divisions. This vast span covers an array of scenes, including standalone modules. Motive power from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which has taken over the MK&Q, plus Rio Grande and a few Southern Pacific units can be seen on the layout.
Hoover’s layout takes up almost every inch of his 24x64 foot basement. Its minimum radius is 30 inches. The track is code 100. All visible turnouts are manually operated, and the layout has staging yards hidden under Sedalia and Castle Gate. We’ll begin our operations outside of Chicago at Oak Grove.
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2:15Allen Keller is with owner Gary Hoover to introduce his Missouri, Kansas and Quincy Model Railroad. Hoover designed the layout as a railfan, he wanted to create a model railroad that was just as much fun to operate and photograph in HO size as it was to view in the full size. Hoover’s desire to
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5:57The westbound train on Gary Hoover’s Missouri, Kansas and Quincy begins at Oak Grove, Illinois. Amtrak Number 302 departs from the depot. The private car Silver Crescent offers a nice view. On the point is a GE Genesis Number 824. In the foreground you can see typical Illinois black prairie dirt. Oak Grove is also
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11:42Operations on Gary Hoover’s Missouri, Kansas and Quincy begin in Sedalia, Colorado. As the night becomes dawn a glimpse is caught of the new BNSF power for Extra 986. The two GE-9 widebodies leave the engine service rack. Sedalia is a medium sized city with the Johnson brickyard off to the left. Engine 986 is
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5:41Gary Hoover has a very different approach to designing a layout. The Missouri, Kansas and Quincy runs from Chicago to California, but his model only shows parts of the journey using selected scenes. Hoover really liked to build scenery, so when he was designing the layout in 1985, he couldn’t really decide which type of
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3:55Gary Hoover uses spackling paste or drywall mud to create plowed fields on model railroad layouts. To begin, he takes the drywall paste and the serrated furrow tool that can be purchased in the hardware store. A simple spatula is also needed to spread the spackling and compound down. The first step is to apply
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20:29Gary Hoover has many structures set in the Southwest part of the United States, so he needed to come up with a way of making stucco walls for his model railroad. The stucco must be applied to a braced structure or else the spackling will warp the wood. A couple of quarter inch square braces
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5:52In this video, Gary Hoover demonstrates how to take a photograph of the Oak Grove, Illinois area of his Missouri, Kansas and Quincy model railroad layout. The scene features a CSX engine. There is a typical B&O type singal there. The first step in taking a photograph is to set up the lights where they
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3:30Gary Hoover likes to use semaphore signals on his Missouri, Kansas and Quincy model railroad. However, one problem with the semaphores is that they can be difficult to adjust. To fix this issue, he has come up with a device to adjust them easily and accurately. It is run by a switchmaster slow motion switch
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