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: 07/03/10

BV number 24 rounds the high bridge over the peaceful lake near
Glen Oaks on my layout. This photo won 1st Place/Color Model
Photography at the NMRA 2006 Convention, and was selected for
both the "Scenery" section header in the 2007 Walthers catalog,
and for the 2007 NMRA calendar for the month of July.. You can
see a larger version of it here. I re-staged and re-shot this photo
for the 2008 issue of Great Model Railroads.

Master Model Railroader #346

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.)

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.

I now have a "Bona Vista Railroad" Facebook page... however, I'll tell you right now this website will probably be more up to date that that will.

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

What's new on the BVrr site (as of 07/03/10)

This shot of my layout made it to the cover of Railroad Model Craftsman in July. This is my third RMC cover. You can see a larger view of the cover, plus the first two pages of the article here. (07/03/10)

This is the 4th time I've had articles in both Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman in the same month!

Here's the opening spread of my 8-page scenery article, which appears in the July issue of Model Railroader magazine. The article is about the scenery on the remainder of the return loop that the town of Eureka* was built on, and which appeared in the January and February 2008 issue of* Model Railroader. You can see a larger version of this spread here, and see the two-part Eureka article here and here. (5/19/10)
In a total surprise to me, Kalmbach Publishing picked up my 2001 Model Railroader article, "Lily pads, cattails, and pond scum" and reprinted it in their "Scenery by the Seasons" book. This is the second time that article's been used in a Kalmbach scenery book. Click here to see a larger version of the opening spread from this new book, and click here to see the original article, along with some shots that didn't make it into publication. (5/19/10)

Two photos of mine made it into the 2010 Walthers catalog. You can see larger versions of these shots here. The right shot also made it into the 2010 NMRA Calendar as the lead shot for the month of April. (01/02/10)
I had a photograph published in the October 2009 issue of Model Railroader magazine, in the "Trackside Photos" section. You can see a much larger version of that photo here.* (08/25/09)*
An article of mine, "Larder up scenery supplies" appeared in the August 2009 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. You can see a larger version of this opening page here.* (08/25/09)*
I added a few more shots of me and some model railroading celebrities, taken at the 2009 NMRA Convention in Hartford, to my About Me* page. (08/01/09)*

Two of my photos won awards at the 2009 NMRA Convention at Hartford -- the shot on the left won 1st Place/Popular Vote, and the shot on the right won 2nd Place Color Model Prints. You can see larger versions of those shots here. (08/01/09)

"The Road to MMR" -- I've added a series of web pages that explain in depth each of the seven 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! (03/11/05)

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, October, 2008..
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.

Back to the main Leone page.

This link foils the Web crawlers. Don't pay any attention to it:
http://members.hostedscripts.com/antispam.html

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)

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