The Bona Vista Railroad


*Construction shots:*	Benchwork \| Scenery \| Finished Scenes
*Layout:*	Trackplan & Specs
*Misc:*	The Road to MMR \| Articles I've written Durango & Silverton RR Shots \|About Me

Updated: 4/23/13

Master Model Railroader #346

The Creator, as seen from the alleys of Westcott. (It's a joke... A JOKE!)

The Bona Vista Railroad is an HO-scale model railroad owned, operated, and built by me (Gerry Leone MMR). The railroad itself is a freelanced design that's operated prototypically, and set in the Upper Midwest of 1953.

Because I really enjoy seeing construction shots and behind-the-scenes shots of other model railroads, I've included a ton of those shots here. (Ok, a "ton" isn't quite accurate. There are more than that.)

I'm also Vice President-Special Projects for the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA... visit www.nmra.org!).

If you want to contact me by email, you can do so at: gerryleone at earthlink dot net .Please put "BV" in the subject somewhere.

Thanks to all who continue to return to this site! I really do appreciate it.

What's new on the BVrr site (as of 4/23/13)

IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD! Well, at least it will be for the residents of the towns on the Bona Vista Railroad. We're moving! In early June we'll be out of this house and off to a new one. Which means the layout you see here on these pages will only exist on these pages. I'll take the structures, the trees, the details, the cars and engines... but everything else will become dust in the wind...or dumpster, as the case may be. Demolition begins on Sunday, April 28, and if I remember, I'll take some shots and post them. But I expect the basement to be empty within a week or two. (Guess I got on to the cover of Model Railroader in the nick of time, eh?) The BVrr celebrates its anniversary on April 24, so the layout will have existed for just a few days over 13 years.. It's a bittersweet moment. This was my 3rd layout, and the first one I ever built to completion (as much as it ever can be), and I'll miss it. But the new house has a basement and a basement always cries out for a layout. So, with any luck, there'll be a whole new BVrr popping up on these pages soon. In the meantime, thanks for visiting, and enjoy the memories of the BV v3 you see here on this site!
I've had photos on the cover of Railroad Model Craftsman and NMRA Magazine, but never Model Railroader. So here it is...my very first Model Railroader cover! This was the March, 2013 issue featuring my town of Westcott. Inside, there were 14 pages of articles by yours truly. (Could be a new MR record!) You can see a larger version of this cover, plus the first pages of each of the 3 articles here. (3/17/13)
For the 9th year in a row I've been honored to have a photograph published in the NMRA Calendar. You can see that shot here. (12/3/12)
FINALLY, I've updated the "aerial view" of my layout, which now has 100% scenery on it. (It's been 5 years since I updated that shot!) To see that, go here. (11/01/12)
Tony Koester's "How to Kitbash Structures" book has been released. Not only is one of my photos (and structures) on the cover, but there are 8 other shots of mine in the book! It's my first book cover, and quite an honor! Click here* to see the other pages my photos are on. Better yet, buy the book here! (10/24/12)*
I had two articles published in the October, 2012 issue of NMRA Magazine. One is about bringing my Sunset Valley boxcar to Bruce Chubb's layout, running the car on the SV, and having Bruce autograph my car. The second article is about learning timetable and train order operation at the NMRA Convention clinic in Grand Rapids. You can see a larger version of the opening page of the Chubb article here.
	My article about removable power lines appeared in the August 2012 issue of Model Railroader magazine. You can see a larger version of the article here. In addition, my 3-part series on building the town of Westcott will begin in the March, 2013 issue of Model Railroader. (04/03/12)
The GrandRails 2012 convention in Grand Rapids, MI is over and that can only mean one thing: more photos of me and "Luminaries of the Hobby." See my About Me page. (8/17/12) .
It's official: The Bona Vista Railroad layout is finished, as of 3/6/12. Ok, so no layout is really finished, and I've got a ton of stuff I want to add, change, move, and clean up, but as of March 6th, I had zero plywood showing, and 100% presentable scenery. The layout was officially begun on March 30, 2000, so it's taken me almost 12 years to the day to get this far. I'm really excited about it! To commemorate this monumental occasion, I swapped-out and added new "industry" photos to each of the pages for the five switchable towns here on the website. I hope to update photos and facts in the coming months now that I'll have just a little more time to putter around!
I was interviewed by Trevor Marshall for an upcoming installment of their popular podcast, "The Model Railway Show." I'm told the segment will appear on the February 15 show. Visit their website to find out how to listen to the podcasts, and while you're there, listen to some of the older shows -- they're really great, short, and to-the-point. No idle chatter or long-winded banter, just rock-solid interviews. And I'm proud to say I'm now one of them! (1/22/12)
I've completely redone the "Finished Scenes" page AGAIN. I made the pictures MUCH bigger this time. Plus, no more ancient pictures, no more captions. Just a bazillion photos leftover from articles, outtakes, contest shots, and all kinds of photographic things. You can see that here. (01/21/12) I also reformatted my "Road to MMR"* pages so they're a little easier to read, and contain more updated info. (1/21/12)*
The downtown Westcott area of the layout is significantly finished. (THAT'S what I've been doing for the past two years!) I've chronicled its building in three articles which will be published in Model Railroader in early 2013. But you can see a few of the shots here. (9/05/11)
"The Road to MMR" -- I have a series of web pages that explain in depth each of the eight certificates I earned to become an MMR, and what I did to earn them. If you're curious about the NMRA's Achievement Program, take a look!

This site was named "Webmaster's Choice" for the month of December 2001 by the NMRA. Almost 4500 visitors stopped by in 30 days.

A general overview of the train room.
On the right wall are a few of my framed model railroad articles. Froton is on
the right side of the peninsula, LaPointe is on the left. The Lake area is
in the center of the layout (above and left of the center of this shot) and
you can see the brown roundhouse down at the far wall on the left. The
award-winning town of Eureka is barely visible on the right side of the return loop
on the left side of this photo. Hanging on the peninsula front and center is a copy of the
BV trackplan, as seen in Great Model Railroads 2008.

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people have stopped by. Thanks!

100,000th visitor on 3/11/08!

January, 2001: 4055 (4055 visitors)
January, 2002: 14,601 ( 10,546 visitors)
January, 2003: 28,736 (14,135 visitors)
January, 2004: 41811 (13,075 visitors)
January, 2005: 55913 (14,102 visitors)
January, 2006: 68,986 (13,009 visitors)
January, 2007: 83050 (14,086 visitors)
January, 2008: 96972 (13,922 visitors)
January, 2009: 113,828 (16,856 visitors)
January, 2010: 132,652 (18,804 visitors)
January, 2011: 147,567 (14,915 visitors)
January, 2012: 158,701 (11,134 visitors)
January, 2013: 167,254 (8,553 visitors)

(it's my backup counter, from another source)