Vol. 45: Bob Lawson's Southern Railway
This HO scale railway in Kentucky is Bob’s vision of small town Appalachia. Bob is an architect, engineer and builder who is known for creating dioramas that tell stories of life in the 1940’s and early 50’s. As a child, Bob wrote fan letters to the Southern and finally wound up designing freight cars for the railroad and others. He is so dedicated that he even has a real southern caboose that he plans to restore.
The layout is full of eye catching scenes based on years of observation, notes, and photos. His scratch built structures are some of the best you’ll ever see. Trains run from Somerset to Danville, Kentucky, through scenes that Allen Keller touts can only be called artistic.
Allen Keller is with Bob to touch on the layout’s famous diorama-like construction. Allen Keller asks why he built the layout in the series of dioramas. For Bob, having all the intense detail work in dioramas that are portable and can be moved with him, they are ideal.
Bob’s railway has its own building, a former 3 car garage that is 24 by 30 feet. Most of the railroad is built on styrofoam. The track plan is complex due to the many loops that are used to gain running time. The trip begins and ends at Somerset, Kentucky.
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2:09In this video, Allen Keller will provide an overview of the Southern Railroad of Bob Lawson. This HO scale railway in Kentucky is Bob’s vision of small town Appalachia. Bob is an architect, engineer and builder who is known for creating dioramas that tell stories of life in the 1940’s and early 50’s. As a…
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1:34In this video, view the model railroad operations on Bob Lawson’s Southern model railroad with Allen Keller. Bob modeled the Southern railway in the steam to diesel transition period of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Allen Keller asks why he chose this specific railroad and period to model. From a child, Bob wanted to…
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14:47In this video, Allen Keller narrates a tour of Bob Lawson’s Southern Railroad of Kentucky. At Ferguson Yard, Train 55 passes the Somerset Coal Tower. On the point is an F3-A and B, an RS3 and another F3. Above one can see the town of Coddle Creek. The F guides its cars past North Tower…
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8:03Coal mining is the big industry in eastern Kentucky. Allen Keller asks modeler of the Southern Bob Lawson about the feeling he is trying to capture with his coal trains and coal mining towns. Since coal was the major product being hauled by the railroad, and Bob finds the coal mines interesting as they are…
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7:07In this video, Bob Lawson will demonstrate his model railroad weathering techniques on his Southern Railway. He has used oil stains for years for many instances from weathering buildings to cars. There are a variety of brands available in the colors burnt sienna, burnt umber, raw umber, black, white, and some oranges for rusty colors.…
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9:07In this video, modeler of the Southern Railway, Bob Lawson models scenery with foam and cloth. One of the things that Bob has found very helpful in his railroad is being able to go into areas he doesn’t want to leave unfinished and undecided and being able to test it out on model railroad benchwork…
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16:16Bob Lawson, modeler of the Southern Railway is famous for his dioramas that can fit into his Southern Railway layout. One of the most frequently asked questions people ask is how he goes about building a diorama with elevation changes. For diorama materials, he likes to begin his diorama with foam, mapping out what he…
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