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: 01/22/12

Master Model Railroader #346

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

The BV has been on the web for 10 years!

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 Communications Director for the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA... visit www.nmra.org!) and that's taking up a lot of my free time. That, couple with the fact that the layout is probably 80% finished, means construction photos here are getting fewer and farther between. The city of Westcott is what I'm currently working on, so those are the most recent shots.

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 01/22/12)

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 at the end of this year, or in early 2013. But you can see a few of the shots here. (9/05/11)
	I had another article published in NMRA Magazine in August 2011, about adding PVC pipes to your tripod to make it higher. You can see a larger version of the opening page of that 2-page article here.
I finished the Colfax area of the layout -- the "left" side as you walk into the room. This only leaves the city of Westcott with no scenery. I projected Westcott to be a two-year project, and I'm halfway through that timeframe right now. But that last four-foot section of Colfax had me in a brain bind for a long time. You can see pictures of the final structures here. (3/21/11)
	The March 2011 issue of Model Railroader has a "Trackside Photo" that I shot, called "#28 over the yard fence." This makes the 11th straight year I've had something published in MR. You can see a larger version of that shot here. (01/29/11)
	I'm on the cover of the February issue of NMRA Magazine! This shot goes along with an article I wrote about scratchbuilding a structure in Z scale (yes, you read that right), and then creating a diorama for it. You can see a larger version of the cover, the cover shot, and the diorama here. (01/29/11)
"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.

Back to the main Leone page.

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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)

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