Linn Westcott

Who was Linn Westcott?

Linn Hanson Westcott was an American model railroader, best known as the influential editor of Model Railroader magazine. Born in Los Angeles, California, Westcott attended Carleton College in Minnesota.

Starting with publication of his contest-winning track plan in 1934, Westcott enjoyed 46 years of association with Model Railroader, serving 16 years as Editor, and following that as Editor Emeritus. He wrote more than 100 feature articles and nearly 200 editorials during the course of his career with the magazine, along with eight books and two booklets on model railroading which had combined to sell more than 2 million copies by 1980.

Westcott made many innovative contributions to nearly every aspect of the hobby, and was creative and forward thinking in layout planning, modeling of equipment, scenery techniques, and electronics and control systems. Among the most well-known of his concepts, the"L-girder" technique for building strong and lightweight benchwork to support layouts is still popular today, largely because of its flexibility and economy, as is his "hardshell" method of building landscapes.