Linn Hanson Westcott was born July 13, 1913 in Los Angeles, California to Linnaeus Hunt and Regina (Hanson) Westcott. His father died when Linn was 5 years old.

He attended Carleton College in Minnesota and married Harriet Kron in 1939 and had three children, Paul Arthur, Russell Linn and Jane Westcott.

For over 46 years, Linn Westcott contributed to the hobby of model railroading. He began in 1934 and contributed over 100 feature articles, many track plans and drawings, photographs and nearly 200 editorials. Many of these were during his tenure of 16 years as editor of the magazine, "Model Railroading."

The eight booklets that he published sold nearly 2 million copies:

1. 1943 - Train map of Colorado Railroads 1/16" to the mile.
2. 1950 - How to Wire Your Model Railroad
3. 1954 - Small Railroads You Can Build
4. 1956 - Track Plans for Sectional Track
5. 1958 - HO Railroad That Grows
6. 1962 - HO Primer - Model Railroading For All
7. 1979 - How to Build Model RR Benchwork
8. 1981 - Model Railroading With John Allen

Also, in 1941 he published a small 5"X8" booklet which sold for 10 cents called "Model Railroading for You", and in 1952 he published a 5"X8" booklet titled "Introduction to Scale Model Railroading" which sold for 25 cents.

In 1996 Linn H. Westcott was given the honor of being elected to the "Pioneers of Model Railroading".

Source: Betty W. Acker, Historian, 2000