he downloadable PDF templates on this website are particularly popular with railroading enthusiasts. Apart from being considerably cheaper than plastic kits (that can cost over $100 each), the printable paper models are already colored with incredibly photo-realistic weathered textures such as wood, concrete, brickwork, tiles, iron, stucco etc. The designs even feature authentic looking cracks, water stains, rust, peeling paintwork etc., that would be common on most real life-sized architecture. Each of the templates can be downloaded once and then printed out multiple times if desired. The only restriction is that they can only be used for personal private use and not on-sold commercially.

What qualifies as a structure in the railroading world can be many and varied. Architecture could be model buildings, a bridge, truss, railroad crossing, or even streetlights. Basically anything that is not natural scenery can be considered as objects to build. For the railroading enthusiast, designing and constructing other scenery features can also be a lot of fun. Scenic features such as hills, mountains, fields and streams can further enhance to realism of making printable paper houses, industries, and shops out of corflute or cardstock. Add to this people, animals, and vehicles and the scenery suddenly comes to life.

There are thousands of plastic kits available on the market today. How do you know which ones to choose? This is an important decision in respect to how realistic and impressive your miniature train setup will be when you are finished. Many people only use scratch built objects that they make themselves, while others are comfortable with the more expensive plastic kits.

Regardless of which way you choose to do it, remember that your train trackside structures are the heart of your layout. Your houses, shops, walls, bridges, and factories tell the story that your scenery laid the groundwork for. Your structures are representative of who you are and what matters to you in your miniature railroad scene.

All of your scale model buildings need to come from the same time era. A modern day street light in a 1960’s era setting will destroy the effect you are attempting to create. A grain elevator in a 2019 city will be just as out of place. You will need to consider doing a little research in respect to the time era your trains will operate in to ensure every aspect of the train layout is historically and geographically correct.

It does not matter if you like city scenes or rolling hills or fields of grain. Whatever your vision is for your train universe you can create it with the right miniature scale buildings. You can paint your objects and architecture to be realistic in an historical sense, or you can paint them to your own whimsical fantasy. It does not matter as long as it fits together to make the world you are imagining… and as long as you are enjoying the journey in your hobby.

Another thing you have to consider in choosing your model buildings is the scale of your train layout. Are your trains HO scale, N scale, or possibly OO gauge? Do you have a lot of space for a large train layout or do you have a very small space? Do you have a lot of track or just enough for a small railway layout? The answers to all of these questions will impact how you choose the elements, objects, trains, and accessories used in your setup. For instance, the size of your train layout should dictate whether you have more than one railroad station.

What is important is that your structures be to scale and be as authentic to your vision as possible. If this means making them yourself that is fine. If you want to buy plastic kits and use them as is or modify them that is fine. There is certainly much to choose from in the off-the-shelf plastic kits, but some of them can be really expensive and they still need to be painted and weathered if you want them to look genuinely authentic. By comparison, the downloadable printable model buildings on this website already include photo realistic textures that have fine detailing and weathering already done for you. And, if you want to build an extra building you just print out the PDF plan a second or third time. This is particularly handy if you want to extend a backdrop scene.

Before you begin you need to decide not only if you are replicating a city, town or countryside, but also what kind of buildings do you want in your scene. Will there be a main street with small stores or a residential area with many houses? Will there be farms or silos and grain elevators? Will you recreate an old wild western or mining town?Decide how much detail you want and are capable of adding. Do you have the experience to do detail work such as lights inside your model railroad buildings? Make sure you either choose weathered houses, warehouses, stations etc., or you can create the weathered look yourself as it is an important aspect of any realistic looking train layout that your structures do not look brand new (unless that is what you want).

If you just follow some basic guidelines and you will choose the best model buildings for you and your HO scale, OO gauge, or N scale train layout. This website is an excellent starting point with such a variety of high quality, highly detailed railroad buildings to download and construct. Enjoy your railway hobby or diorama projects, and remember to download the FREE catalog showing the current range of printable plans in the wide range available on this website.