Brian Sheron was born and raised on the north shore of Long Island and has fond memories of the Long Island Alco C420 diesels with their 1964 World's Fair paint schemes rolling past his high school in Greenlawn, New York. Like so many others raised in the New York metropolitan area, the imprint of Manhattan is a permanent part of his heritage.

Brian has, therefore, chosen to model the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), including its connection into Penn Station.  The impression, as you turn the corner into the first layout room, is an overwhelming sensation that you are approaching Manhattan. The more you examine the details of the urban canyons, the more you feel like you're in the city, right down to the Sabrett Hot Dog venders.

Brian's layout captures the mainline tracks from East Northport to the Hicksville Divide to Jamaica Station in Queens as the scenery gradually shifts from a suburban to an urban atmosphere. He has extensively illuminated the buildings in the towns of Huntington and East Northport, making for beautiful nighttime scenes. The model of New York City includes a unique cutaway of the LIRR's underground platforms in Penn Station and elevated subway tracks with two sets of circling trains.

Brian's layout was featured in the September 1997 issue of Railmodel Journal. The layout is DCC-powered by Digitrax. Brian hosts frequent operations using manually generated waybills.    Click here to view his 2008 layout tour.