Using AI for layout planning ... | July 2026 WHATS NEAT

on the July 2026 what's neat. >> We asked AI, could you please take this nighttime tank car shot that I did and put some refinery stuff in the background. And you know what? It did it on the first time. But we're going to talk more about that on this show because that is going to be the subject matter of this month's show is planning your layout and using AI to help you get there. The What's Neat Show is sponsored by Lombard Hobbies, your value hobby shop for over 40 years of modelers helping modelers. Big inventory, value pricing, fast shipping, and great service. And by Broadway Limited Imports, the cutting edge leader in model trains. Check out their website at broadway-limited.com. And by Bachmann Trains. Now that's the way to run a railroad. Check out their website at bachmantrains.com. and thank you for helping us support the best hobby in the world. This is What's Neat for July 2026. I'm your host, Ken Patterson. America, happy 250th. I am out here doing a morning photo shoot because temperatures around town here every day this week have been almost 100° and I'm shooting some ROA tank cars. These are those new spiral tank cars and I'm going to feature these on the podcast and I wanted to take some interesting shots of them while I'm waiting for prototype photos of the real ones and just just we're going to do an expose on those cars at some point on the podcast show and I'm looking forward to that. To follow up on on the AI that is coming in this month's episode, I will tell you that I shot these cars inside uh last night. And instead of using Photoshop and going ahead and putting merging two photographs together, I actually asked AI, could you please take this nighttime tank shot that I did and put some refinery stuff in the background? And you know what? it did it on the first time. But we're going to talk more about that on this show because that is going to be the subject matter of this month's show is planning your layout and using AI to help you get there. It's an absolutely amazing technology that I encourage you to embrace as another tool to add to your arsenal of tools to make this the best hobby in the world even work smoother for us. So, I want to talk about this steam locomotive I've got right here. I shot this outside while it was about 100° this week. And this is the brand new early Challenger locomotives from Broadway Limited Imports. This is a CSA2 number 3822. Uh this is post 1947 arrangement. I did shoot it outside. You're seeing the beautiful photographs of it. And I also ran this inside on the layout. Come to find out it was DCC ready. So I set my throttle up for zero and ran it. and it ran really smooth on the layout. A very interesting locomotive. Just all the detail and all the beautiful lighting and effects that you expect from Broadway Limited. Also, I've got some absolutely amazing models from Bachman Industries that I want to talk about. And these are the US Savings Bond Freight cars that they've come out with. These are all prototypically accurate, including the roofwalk detail. Of the five that I have here, only the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and PTOAC model has got a roof walk on it. And as you open the doors and look inside, you'll see that they all have wood interior to replicate the wood floors of the car. I'm going to start with the Louisville Nashville cuz I really like this one. I did shoot it outside. I love the blue side frames on the trucks on this car. And again, these are prototypes. So Bachmann matched all the prototype prototype graphics that were on these cars. I've got the next one, which is Northern Pacific Sharing the Freedom. I love this red, white, and blue uh freight car. The next one I've got is a reading, and that's the one where I've got the door open here. Buy US savings bonds. Again, prototype cars. The last two I've got is Conrail. Buy and hold US savings bonds. Car number 269198. And the last one I've got here is the RFMP, the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and PTOIC. Say that three times fast. In blue again with a silver door and the roof walk on that car. Now, at the end of the show, we are going to find out who won the Drifus Hudson in the photo entry where we had people submit photos of their Bachmann products of their products on their layouts. And I think we got over 110 entries. So, at the end of the show, I'm going to tell you who won that because as of this morning's recording, I don't even know yet. And this show's got to be out today. So, they're going to do the drawing today here, the uh actual 1st of July, and we're going to find out who the winner is of that wonderful Drifus Hudson Streamline locomotive. And so, with that, we're going to continue on with the rest of this month's show. We're going to talk about AI. I do want to say, be sure to watch the What's Neat This Week video podcast that we shoot down here every Saturday night, keeping you updated on what's new in the hobby. Our schedule has been kind of mixed because I'm really hopping on one foot as I'm trying to create all the video that's required and still deal with uh this rebuilding of the studio. As you can see, all the beautiful train shelves that were always the background of the podcast. They're still outside because I'm not going to reuse these. I'm going to go with a different color wood and redesign them to the shape of how I think they should be and still be able to put lots of beautiful trains up in the background of the shows. So, with that, let's continue on with the rest of this August. No, I'm sorry. July 2026. What's neat for this segment of What's Neat? I've been working a lot of nights down here. uh rebuilding things still and doing a lot of video editing and just lots of quiet time down here just doing my job the way I'm supposed to do it. But one of the most interesting things on my computer there was this icon and I think it might have been the Google AI just a cute little icon and I clicked on it out of curiosity. I wouldn't say boredom but I clicked on it just to see what is it uh that this thing would do. What is it? What What's this AI in my computer that I didn't even put there? So, it said, "Hey, Ken, what do you want to do today?" And that's when I thought about some of the pictures I've been seeing on Facebook of people experimenting with this AI stuff. And I thought, "Okay, do this for me." And I'm going to show this to you in a segment. I said, "Take this city that I've got in mind of building that I'm still in the planning stages on and still need to move it 2 feet away from the wall and completely rebuild it. Can you please take this? And I've got the camera right where I set up my 35mm camera. I said, "Can you take this image right here and show me what this might look like finished 1980s? Make it clean, make it dirty, your choice." And it gave me choices. And so that's what this segment's about. I'm going to walk you through the process live of what I've learned just in the last few weeks of messing around with this. I created some beautiful Broadway Limited images already and Bachmann images. And so what we do is we pick it up right when I started recording and filming this segment, not quite knowing how anything would turn out. So we're both going to learn live as we do this. And you will also see how that image over there came out of what this layout's going to look like finished. It's pretty amazing. So we're going to pick it up at the American Freedom Train right where I left off. Uh actually just picked it up. I literally turned on a video camera, not even knowing if I was going to use this material, and I started doing photos. And so you'll be be able to watch what I did. Okay. I've got a photograph that I shot of the American Freedom Train from Bachman Industries here. And in fact, I shot it on the module that two feet of it burned right over the window. It's a brand new diarama. So getting great use for it outside. Now, this is the train set DC version train, but this is in fact the train that came to St. Louis and was parked on the edge of the Mississippi River on the Levy Road and the arch grounds went up the hill and then the levy would go down here to the river. So, I shot the photo intentionally like this with all the crazy background and stuff. Obviously, not a photo contest composition, but here's my thought on this photo. I want AI to recreate the arch grounds for me and put a whole bunch of people around this train. I'm going to try both of these images briefly. This shouldn't take long at all. Now, here's this icon. Look at that. What do you want to do today? Well, I want to insert a photograph into this. So, I'm going to add the image that I shot, which I should be able to easily find. And I'm going to start with the images I photoshopped to lighten up the colors. That would be this. I'm opening it. And now AI's got the photo. Here's what I want it to do. This is the This is the American Freedom Train in 1976. This is a model. Make the scene around the model of the St. Louis Riverfront. The train is parked on Warf Street. The arch grounds are in the background. Show lots of people standing around the train. Have the top of the locomotive venting steam around the valves along with a little smoke out the stack. Light the headlight. Now, let's see what it does. And now it's building the photograph right before our eyes. We don't know what we're going to get at all. This may take a minute or two. Okay, it's a neat photo. Um, the train is obviously on the east side of the river and not in front of the arch. So AI in this case didn't get it, but I love the people around the train. So I could still use a photograph and create something. I'm going to try another image now. I'm going to add the other photograph. We're just going to start over again. So, I'm going to put the same words in exactly, but change the background part, I believe. Maybe not. Let me see this. This might still fit the second photograph. So, I'm going to copy the text and I'm going to put the text down here where it says add a message. Nice. He says model. Okay. Make sure the uh scene around the model is the same as river front. Correct. The arch grounds are in the background. I wouldn't change a thing if this understands the position of the train at the time. Let's see what this does next. In my mind's eye, I know how this should look because I was actually there in 1976. If this doesn't work, I would just include this video as a fail. It still might make a striking image, though, but I just don't know. Hopefully, it's not combining the two images. It did. Um, the arch is in the wrong position. It's not where it belongs. But that is a great shot of the American Freedom Train along the Mississippi River. Um, it say it's asking me questions. It says to me, "Your St. Louis Riverfront model scene is complete. The American Freedom Train sits proudly on Warf Street with the Gateway Arch rising behind it." This is actually the first photograph. It's still using the first photograph. The crowds in the 70s attire. Oh my gosh, the clothing, the cameras, all of it. So, let's do this. Let's tell it to remove the arch. It says, "Would would I like to have the arch eliminated?" No, I would like you to remove the arch. And I'm going to have to put the picture into my message. I know this because I've done this before once or twice with the layout design that I showed on the podcast. Remove the arch. Boom. I don't see a photograph. So, I'm going to ask it to show me the photograph. Show me the finished photo. That didn't work. I'm going to put the shot in here and hit. And now it's adjusting the background and removing the arch. So, this does work. This is a learning curve for me. And this is a simple program. It just popped up on my computer. If this removes the arch, this could be a very cool photograph in general. which I will gladly share with uh the folks at Bachman Industries because the river is in the right position and Warw Street looks pretty good and this train has recreated those window cars that Bachman has made for this const. This is a winner hands down. Let me download this one. This is a good shot. It's a roundabout way to show you how to do this one photograph, but it did in fact do an image here. Um, it looks like it lit I'm going to point the mouse at it. There's a couple mistakes. It lit the horn. It's mistaken the horn for a headlight. An adjustment that could be made. The steam looks decent. Um, the people in 1970s dress and the fact that the computer programmed knew to recreate all of the window cars that were in the concept is kind of neat. I still see a peak of the arch in the background, but all in all, this photograph, you get the general idea on this one. You could spend hours tweaking it and working with it and probably get the effect that you would like to have. Okay, so let's try another photograph. In fact, let's put the photograph of that beautiful Bachmann New York Central Streamline locomotive that um Bachmann Industries was giving away uh to one modeler that sent photographs in of their Bachmann product on their layout. So, let me find that image. We shot that, as you'll recall, outside on one of the modules of my layout with all the passenger cars behind it. I can show you that image on the computer screen art right here as I do an edit for you to show you that image. But I've now loaded that image into this uh amazing program. And I'm going to ask it to make this photograph, make this New York Central Steam locomotive running through a beautiful New York landscape as it should be. So, let me type that in and I'll read it off to you. Okay, I've typed this is a new and I spelled the word new wrong, a New York Central Steam locomotive from the late 40s. Make the scene around the train the New York area in the late 40s. Light the headlight of the locomotive with the correct era bulb and also add a little smoke along the top of the locomotive trailing over the cars. So now with the image loaded into the program, I'll hit the arrow here and this thing should come up with an idea to enhance the photograph that I've shot on a completely green diarama rolling across a bridge. And I mean this should be amazing. And there's our image. Your updated New York Central scene is ready. Kenneth, the locomotive now sits inside of a late 40s New York environment, complete with air correct streets, signage, and skyline. The headlight is lit with a proper warm tungsten glow used on New York Central Steam Power in the mid40s. I added a light ribbon of smoke drifting along the top of the boiler of the trailing truck. Just like the prototype, if you want the city to feel busier, grittier with more industrial, if you want specific for area landmarks place this scene, tell me and I'll tune it. Well, I think this is an absolutely fabulous photo just the way it is. I can show it to you here enlarged on the screen. It's still got the Bachman coupler. It has not modified the model in any way. Um, and I'll tell you what, it looks credible. Even the vehicles in the background, the lights, the buildings. I mean, to take a photograph that you shot of your own layout and to be able to run it through a program like this and create an image that you could literally frame in your layout room or have printed on a coffee cup. I mean, how cool is that? Let's ask it to do what it is suggested. Do you want the city to feel busier and grittier? Let's go ahead and copy that. I'm going to paste it. Oh, wait a minute. Yeah, I want to paste it in the message box. Hold on. Copy. Paste. Yes. I want the city to feel busier. I'm going to type yes to this. And I'm also going to put the photograph back into this so I don't have a problem with it. Not. And let's just hit the go button and see what happens. And again, I'm not seeing the image like we didn't on one of the last tries that we did. So, I'm going to say tell it to show me the photograph. show me the new image and it is not showing me the new image. So, here's again to try to put the same picture back in. I'm going to copy and paste. It's copy. I'm pasting. It didn't get that, did it? So, I'm going to type in here. Yes, I want the city to feel busier, grittier, and more industrial. Or yes. I want specific 194. Okay, go. And it's creating an image making it feeling busier, grittier, and more industrial using the same locomotive hopefully without weathering the locomotive. I mean, just you could do so many different things with this. And I'm going to show you some images here in a minute that I have done after this last experiment is over here because this exact photograph that I'm doing for you right now, I did this shot just a few weeks earlier. I know this is creating two pictures for us. Let's see what it's going to do. The screen capture, you can see this clearly what it's doing. It's created one image up here with a bunch of cars right next to the track. That doesn't look right. I can tell you that now. And the second image that's coming up is probably one of them that we requested to begin with. I've seen us do this. Let's look at it up close. Um it's not believable. It's completely things. The program isn't perfect, but if you work with it and play with it like you've just seen me do here, let me go into the library of photos that I've done in the past. And I'm going to walk you through this. And I'm going to also do editing on this video as I walk you through this process. The library keeps everything we've just done, the arch photos that you saw me do moments ago with the uh freedom train, the image we just created that didn't quite come out the way we wanted it to. I'm going to start at the beginning. The photograph that we just entered in the computer, the same New York Central photograph. I asked it to do the same thing a few days ago. And it gave me this image. Look at the screen capture. I'm showing it to you. This is how it put the train on a girder bridge. I didn't even ask it to do that. Same coupler, same train, headlights not lit. But that in itself looks like a postcard. I then tweaked it a little. I told it to add smoke. It looked a little much on the smoke side. Didn't like it. I told it to change a smoke and light the headlight, which it did, but it made for a much darker image. I didn't like the darkness of it. I had it lighten it up, but then it put a sun ray on top of the building, a reflection, right? Not quite what I wanted, but the grittiness is there. If you look at the cars, though, there's a 1980s green car in there somewhere. It doesn't belong there. So, I tweaked it further, improved the smoke, made some changes as you can see here, asked it to try to conform the automobiles a little bit more realistically for the arrow. And as I kept asking it to do these things, the photo did change. Now, I don't want to skip that far ahead. I did end up with a decent shot, and I did submit this shot to the folks at Bachmann. um easy enough to take this car out. But again, I didn't have to build this girder bridge. And in fact, you if you'll remember, I shot this photograph on a green hill. So amazing that AI did this and really looks great. Now, I did the same thing. I'm going to show you a photograph of the layout room, and I talked about this on the podcast. I'm building a city over in the corner of the layout uh behind the camera right here. And it's going to be a long city. It's going to be 20 ft long. So, what I did was I set up a camera and I shot a picture of the city from just under the steps looking into the corner and I fed this photograph into AI and I asked it with words like you've seen me do here, show me a picture of what my layout is going to look like finished. And what it did was it showed me a picture, but it filled up the aisle way. There was no benchwork anymore. It literally was like I took the whole area, covered it with a couple sheets of 4x8 sheets of plywood and built the girder bridge on it and roads on it. Note, it kept the Bachmann building here and it kept the crane. Further asking it to give me an aisle now. Um, here's another photo I actually did. I wasn't prepared to talk about it, but again, the girder bridge is there. It's a little too high, but it gives me an idea of what I could do with that corner. Now this is what it looks like when I asked it to give me my benchwork back. Show me and stay within the parameters of the layout. It kept the Bachman building. It kept the crane. It painted a beautiful backdrop. Kept my track lights. And this is a 1980s scene and it's relatively clean. Here's another try at it. Same type of thing where I asked it to maybe clean it up a little bit. It changed the signage. It got rid of the crane. It sure likes that Malber sign. This is what its idea of gritty is. Now the subway is graffitied. The girder bridge is rusted. The crane is back. The Bachmann building still in the same place. And it kind of looks like almost a nighttime shot here, but I didn't ask it to do night in this photo. I did ask it to put a UP train on the tracks, and this is its best effort at that. It actually put a Union Pacific train on there. Same thing, but the UP engines don't look right. Um, very interesting though that it's following my benchwork. Next shot is I asked it to put an Amtrak train on there. Then I asked it to show me what it would look like at night. This is pretty amazing. Bachmann building's still there. The crane is there. It follows my bench work. And this is exactly probably the way I would build it if I when I do build it. Now I'm going to pull it away from the wall two feet, make a walkway in the background. And I asked the program to do that and it was unable to create an image like that for me. So that was a fail. But I am so impressed with what AI can do quite simply for showing you what your layout could potentially look like. Here's the way it would look like uh again with the regular lighting in the room. I love how it gives me an idea of how to paint the backdrops on the wall. I mean, if nothing else, this is an educational tool. Just magic. I would call it magic. Here's a further back shot of the overall scene. I did load a different photograph to create this shot shot shot further back, but again, the potentials are amazing. The last image I'm going to show you, this is a Broadway limited steam locomotive. I'm going to show you the original image. I shot it outside on the desert scene. You've seen me use the scene in so many different videos and still photo shoots. So, I already had it started with regards to the color of ballast and the track and the engine sitting on the track. Well, this is the image that it spit out at me when I asked for something that looked like Sherman Hill. Uh, it knew Union Pacific, so it gave me the correct type of scenery for that area. Although, it did put a light mast out in the middle of nowhere. That was a little weird. You can see that here in the image. I'm pointing with the mouse. I asked it to remove the sign and it did, but it made the number board bigger on the engine. So now I'm trying to reverse that. I I also asked it to light the headlight, which it did do, but down here around the coupler, there's a light that doesn't belong there. So after multiple tweaks and changes as I run you through these photographs, the two engines double-headed, it didn't modify at all the locomotives. It did add smoke and the light steam to the valves just like I asked it to do. And the the sign is gone. The mast is gone. But look how it enlarged the number boards here on this photograph number 15 of the 39 that I'm showing you here. So I I asked it to kind of stop with the number board issues and it just got worse. As you can see, 3514, the number's correct. The uh the mast is gone. This is an acceptable photograph except for it added another headlight right between the number boards. I might have spent three hours doing this, typing and typing, asking it to tweak things and change things. Here, it added another set of tracks off to the side that I would It's not what I wanted. Um, here it actually took the second locomotive away and curved the tracks in the background. The headlights are just right. Everything's starting to look decent in the rest of the shot. This might have been the final image that I was very happy with. This is the one I sent to the folks at Broadway. It's 10 of 39 here on the screen, so I can match up the photos exactly, but I'm doing screen capture. This is amazing. This again would be an acceptable photo to hang up in my layout room and I didn't have to model all the sage brush. It did that for me. I gave it the serving suggestion from the original image. Um I'm moving forward now to another shot that I'm not prepared to talk about. That last one I showed you was the winner. Here it's curved the back of the train and it's still showing the train double-headed. I didn't do that. It did that by itself. Another great shot. This is just I mean there's no words for what you can do with this program. This is a winner. 3514. Look at that shot. A little steam here. I mean it doesn't get any better than that. It would have taken me hours in Photoshop to accomplish this. We used to do this. Let me show you an image we shot for Athen. This is the shot that I showed you in a What's Neat video where we put this beautiful articulated locomotive on a bridge in the snow with icicles and then Chris Palamire's added the smoke in Photoshop and his work was amazing. It took hours to create that image whereas now I'm back here on the screen. This was done in 2 minutes for each one of these image that I had it try to do. I mean that is in itself a testament to what you could do with AI. Whether it's layout planning, room planning, kitchen design, the sky is the limit because I've only been messing around with this for about 10 days. We talked about it briefly on podcast 347 without talking about, you know, what it is that we're doing here and screen capturing everything like I've done for you now. So check it out. have some fun with it. Um, I just it's it's amazing technology. And in fact, you see here that the finished shot that is my favorite screen saver on the computer. So, with that said, um, that's the end of this segment of what's neat using AI to plan your layout to improve your layout photos for so many amazing things at this point. And as we learn more and as I learn more, I'll share it with the viewers of the What's Need Show. So with that, that's the end of this segment for July 2026, What's Need? I don't know what to say about that segment. It's an amazingly creative way to take your layout and make beautiful art of your models to hang up in your own room or just to plan a space. I mean, imagine what you could do with planning your backyard. Hey, I want a pool with fountains and big rocks. AI showed me what my backyard would look like. So, don't rule it out as just being another great tool to use and have some fun with. I did do some more pictures after shooting that video and I want to talk to you about them. We did try to do a shot with the American train, the American Freedom Train from Bachna. And what I did was I found a photograph that my father had shot of the riverfront and I actually told AI to take this model which I shot at the same exact angle as best I could as what was down on the riverfront that my father had shot. So I was feeding AI perspectively the angle of what I wanted. And you know what? Other than changing the passenger cars, adding a fourth window to each car, it actually looked kind of neat. Um, again, the prototype photo versus the model photo, I could show them to you side by side. Another interesting thing, and I took many times again to get that photo to work. Another shot I did just last night, I took this um, ROA spiral tank car, and I wanted to create an industrial setting for it. And I didn't want to do it outdoors. I wanted I was in a night schedule. So I shot it indoors on the layout on that new layout section that we built two years ago on the show with all the pretty little lights on it. And then I fed the picture into AI and I said simply create the atmosphere of a refinery in the background. And I'll tell you what, AI nailed it in the very first time. So I was very happy. The detail of the car, all the spiral welds really show up in this photograph. I love the effect. So, rock and roll with that. Now, we're going to come to the point of the show, and this is kind of cool. As you'll recall, in May, we talked about giving this to a lucky modeler as long as they would send in a photograph of their Bachmann product on their layout. And so, you will get the free streamline beautiful Hudson locomotive here. And so they had over 100 entries uh of photographs of Blackman products on their layout. I've got them on the screen here and I'm going to hit screen capture because I want to share these with you in their entirety and all the names of the folks are in this as I scroll down. That's really cute. Bill Culker. I love that one. Um, look at all these beautiful pictures. And so what I'm going to do at the end of the show is I'm going to go ahead and let all these photos run because they're all cut off in these little images. You can't see the entire image. Um, well, Jack Lynch, I see that name right there. He used to work for Bachmann. And there's also a video here from the guys at Bachmann because what they did was they had the drawing and they wanted to make sure it was fair. So again, this is not a contest. Look at all these beautiful photographs I'm showing on this screen capture. So, there's almost a hundred of them here. I'm going to run all these pictures at the end of the show after we tell you who the winner is. And I don't know who won, but I'm going to learn as you do because there's a video here, too. This is amazing. Um, did I just see Jennifer Kirk's name? Oh, look. This is Jenny Kirk. She's got the uh podcast in England. Jennifer Kirk. Hey, Jenny. You've got a picture here of a Bachmann, one of those lo little locomotives that runs on Nscale track. It's HS scale, but runs on Nscale track. That's kind of cool. All right, so let's play this video. I'm doing screen capture. You should be able to hear this sound. >> Hi Ken, and what's viewers? Matt and Tyler here from Bachmann and uh we're going to get this get this going, right? We're going to choose the winner. We've got the names of everybody who submitted a photo. Uh thank you to everybody who submitted. You all did a great job. We are going to uh in the interest of fairness. Uh so it's not a uh talent competition, we're going to randomly choose a name out of those who entered uh to pick our winner. Give it a little shake here. All right. You want to go for it? Here we go. And the winner is Dominic Little. >> Congratulations, Dominic. You have won yourself this Draker's Hustling. Enjoy. >> Okay, that's cool. Dominic Little. I just wrote it down. Dominic Little. Dominic Little. He sent in the picture of the Bachman J and Hro scale and Bachman easy track shot outside in grass. How cool is that? I mean, really. I mean, that's neat. That's that. Let me You know what? Let's just show all the pictures. Now, one last announcement I want to make. I know this video is coming out July 15th. The RPM meet is next week. As every year rolls around, I always have a big celebration here on that Saturday night of the show and we shoot a show down here. Maybe have 10 or 14 manufacturers down here in the basement. We're not going to do it that way this year. Um, last minute changes. There's no way the studio is going to be done. And it's going to take me a year to get all of this done. And realistically, to keep up with production, I'm a one-man band. I got this. Fact is, we're going to do the podcast, the actual podcast that we normally shoot here on Saturday night at the RPM meet evening. We're going to do it at the show Saturday around 1:00. I think that's the busiest time. And just set up a table for microphones, bring in a lot of uh manufacturers, guests, whatever we can come up with on the fly. It'll be similarly to what we did when we went up to Wisconsin and did Trainfest back in 2019. That was a fun fun show to do. So, we're going to figure that out. It's going to be on the fly. I already let the folks know just yesterday at the RPM meet. I let Lonnie know. So, with that, um let's look at all the beautiful photos from uh the people submitted of their Bachmann products. And then after that, we'll close out the show. Heat. Heat. N. All of the products seen on this episode of What's Neat are available from Lombard Hobbies in Lombard, Illinois, or order online at lombardhobby.com. Broadway Limited Imports, the cutting edge leader in model trains. Check out their website at broadway-limited.com. Bachmann Trains. Now that's the way to run a railroad. Check out their website at bachmantrains.com.