Layout Name: Sheridan and Everywhere West

City: Argyle

Scale: HO

Size: 40' x 15'

Jobs: Billings Footboard Yardmaster
Billings Assistant Yardmaster
Billings Switch Crew 1
Billings Switch Crew 2
Sugar Factory Local
Laurel Yardmaster
Laurel Yard Engine 1
Laurel Yard Engine 2
Laurel Yard Engine 3
Laurel Local
Huntley Turn
Transfer Engineer
Road Engineer

Car Forwarding: Car cards and Waybills

Operations: Digitrax UT4D and TCS WiFi throttles. Switches thrown via JMRI and tablets mounted on fascia. All jobs are switching jobs.

Description:

The layout is set in northern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. The top level is the Burlington Route from Sheridan, WY to the connection with the Northern Pacific mainline on the Yellowstone River at Huntley, MT and is mostly rural, open spaces. The lower level is where the Burlington has trackage rights over the Northern Pacific from Huntley to the city of Billings the large yard at Laurel.

Major industries served by the railroads in 1967 are coal mines, sugar beet factories, oil refineries, a meat packing plant, steel fabrication, flour mills, grain elevators and agriculture.

Construction began in January 2015 and about 2/3 of the track has been laid. The layout is housed in a 85' x 15' 1895 Texas and Pacific section house moved down the tracks from Roanoke. This is the second layout to be built in the section house.



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Layout Name: The Chinook Lines

City: Cleburne

Scale: HO

Size: 32 x 10 ft


Car Forwarding: Switch Lists

Operations: Track Warrant/ABS on former Milwaukee. Track Warrant/Dark Territory with CTC islands on BNSF shared trackage.

Description:

Chinook Lines is a freelance railroad built upon the demise of Milwaukee Road's Lines West abandonment in 1980. The property in Washington was turned over to the state. Washington wished to keep the railroad industry competitive and vied for an operator.

Chinook Lines was born through former employees, local business and banking and won the bid, operating the former Milwaukee lines from Seattle to Spokane, Portland and British Columbia.

Growth further presented itself through acquisitions of other shortlines within Washington's borders and a merger with BC Hydro in British Columbia, opening a direct line of interchange with BC Rail. Further negotiations also developed with Union Pacific allowing trackage right trains of UP and CP.

While the Milwaukee always claimed Lines West was a loosing enterprise, Chinook Lines has grown it to be a prosperous super regional railroad by focusing on it's employees and business relationships.

The layout is a representation of the former Milwaukee mainline from Cle Elum, WA to Ellensburg, WA. In our version of history, the city of Ellensburg was able to reclaim the land the mainline occupied for spirit of growth and expansion of the local university. This was facilitated by Washington DOT building a cutoff to join the BNSF's paralleling Stampede Pass at what is now Woldale Junction. Chinook now occupies the former Northern Pacific yard in Ellensburg, yet, still contending with BNSF traffic. The line splits off again south of town, at Holmes Junction before turning back east and joining the former Milwaukee mainline towards the small farming town of Kittitas, WA.

(Layout is located in the Burleson/Alvarado area, south of Fort Worth. Roughly 2 miles from I-35W)



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Layout Name: Wichita Falls Division Ft Worth & Denver Railway

City: Corinth

Scale: HO

Size: 19' x 23'

Jobs: Wichita Falls Yard Master, Bowie switcher, and 4 road operators

Car Forwarding: Railop

Operations: Easy DCC, both tethered and radio control throttles. Dispatch is with verbal track warrants.

This layout was built, and is maintained with one thing in mind: Having fun operating a model railroad.




Description:

The WF Div FW&D is a point to point layout representing the FW&D between Ft Worth and Wichita Falls. All towns between these points a represented on the layout, albeit some are represented by name only. The layout has 11 switching locations with a total of 51 industries. 6 operators stay busy performing the duties of: Wichita Falls Yard Master, Bowie switcher, and 4 road operators. The layout is 98% sceniced. 



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Layout Name: Sierra Lines

City: Celina

Scale: HO

Size: 20' X 40'

Jobs: Yardmaster and 5 district operators.

Car Forwarding: Car Cards and Waybills

Operations: For businesses in Sacramento, Dr. Arthur Smith, owner of the Sierra Lines, has divided the town into 6 switching districts, with responsibilities in each area as follows:
Downtown – SP – 18 businesses – serviced daily by 22 car train
Old Town – WP – 16 businesses – serviced daily by 22 car train
Industrial Park – SC – 11 businesses – serviced daily by 14 car train
North Sacramento – LSI – 15 businesses – serviced daily by 20 car train
Yard and Docks – Sierra Lines Management – 11 businesses, 9 yard tracks with 200 cars capacity - serviced daily by 12 car train
East Sacramento – SP – 13 businesses – serviced daily by 18 car train and nightly by 9 car train

Description:

The Sierra Lines is an amalgamation of the Sierra Division of the Southern Pacific Lines (SP), the Virginia and Truckee River Railroad (V&T), and the Lodestone, Sierra, and Incline Village Railroad (LSI), the Western Pacific Railroad (WP), and the Sierra Central Railroad (SC), all put together and operated under the auspices of the infamous Dr. Arthur Smith, as you all know. The Texas version of The Sierra Lines all takes place within the city limits of Sacramento, modeled to represent exactly as it would have been on April 1, 1954, given that the long expected “big one” (earthquake) and two eruptions of the Toiyabe volcano had previously occurred. Rebuilding of much infrastructure of parts of the city is still in process, and many areas have no traffic lights, no sewer systems, and no water lines.



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Layout Name: Texas Northern Model Railroad Club

City: Dallas

Scale: HO

Size: 55 x 32 ft


Car Forwarding: JMRI Operations

Operations: For operations, we typically run 8 trains with one yardmaster. Each train may be run with a one or two man crew. Club members bring their own DCC power, but club locomotives will be available for scheduled non-member events. However, feel free to bring you favorite locomotives. We use either smartphones as throttles: Engine Driver, WIThrottle, or the TCS 50 or 100. The club does not provide throttles. Non-members will need to bring their own throttle or smartphone.

Description:

With a 30 year history, TNMRC is the largest DFW area permanent layout. The club is located in a business park at 11999 Plano Road, #154, Dallas TX 75243. It contains a 1760 SqFt HO layout running both DC and DCC, and a smaller DCC N scale layout. Thursdays evenings are popular for members to run trains and socialize. Tuesday evenings the club has TNMRC-RAILOPS sessions for prototype industry switching. And of course the club is available 24/7 for all members.

TNMRC has over 80 members making it one of the largest model train clubs in Texas. The club is known for exceptional track work, maintenance, operations, and has 100% complete scenery.
The layout allows extremely long trains (over 200 cars) which is a favorite site for visitors of our many open houses. We are accepting new members and have a reduced dues option for folks living over 100 miles away who have frequent trips to the area.
 

ACCESS NOTE: We are not currently ADA accessible, as there is a 6 inch step up at the door (no ramp yet).
Some Jobs require duck-under (using optional stools to make it much easier), typically by the conductor.



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Layout Name: Potomac Valley Lines

City: Richardson

Scale: HO

Size: 26' x 22'

Jobs: 1 Dispatcher, 2 Road jobs, 1 Branchline switcher, 1 Yard Master

Car Forwarding: Car cards and Waybills

Operations: 1 x Dispatcher, 2 x Road Freight jobs (one for B&O one for PRR, floating operator for WMRR. Both road jobs will operate some road freights, some thru trains and do switching), 1 x Branchline switching job in Berkeley Springs, 1 x Yard operator at CUMBO yard.

Description:

Potomac Valley lines is based on the prototype of the railroads along the banks of the Potomac River in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Railroads represented are the Baltimore and Ohio, the Western Maryland and the Pennsylvania RR. The railroad is set in the 1959 steam to diesel transition era prior to the Chessie system merger. The Eastern end of the Railroad is the Staging yard in Brunswick, Maryland. Trains bound for Baltimore, MD or Washington, D.C. end up here. The Western end of the railroad is the staging yard in Cumberland, Md. where B&O trains can be headed for Pittsburg, PA or any points west. There is a large yard at CUMBO, WV where many cars are interchanged between the B&O and PRR. There is also an interchange at Cherry Run, W.Va. with the WMRR. The branch line to the famous old resort town of Berkeley Springs, WV is modeled and has industry switching, the sand mine for Pa. Glass & Sand is also modeled. The PRR interchanges with CUMBO yard and switches most industries in Martinsburg, WV.

Towns modeled:
B&O RR: Brunswick, MD (East Staging), Martinsburg, WV, CUMBO, WV, Greenspring, WV, Hancock, MD, Berkeley Springs, WV, Paw Paw, WV, Cherry Run, WV, Cumberland, MD (West Staging)
WMRR: Cherry Run, WV, Big Pool, MD, Williamsport, MD
PRR: (Hagerstown, MD (staging), CUMBO yard, Martinsburg, WV

Specs: Benchwork: L-beam, Style: Folded dogbone, Roadbed: ½" plywood with cork, Track: Peco code 100 track, 26"r min, Turnouts: Peco Medium min. ,Grade: 2.25 max. Height: 45" to 53", Mainline run: 152'

Layout Status: Main line is finished, Branch line and sand plant at Berkeley Springs are finished, interchange to WMRR is finished but WMRR industries are under construction. CUMBO yard is finished. PRR interchange is finished and industries on the PRR is under construction and about ½ done. No ballast has been applied, only a few structures are in place and no scenery has been done. Turnout control for staging ladders is electric and automatic, but all other turnout are still manual.

 



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Layout Name: Oregon Joint Line

City: Decatur

Scale: N

Size: 25' x 28'

Jobs: Dispatcher, 2 NP Yard crews, 1 GN Yard crew, 1 O&NE crew, 1 local/helper crew, 3 road crews

Car Forwarding: Tab on car

Operations: The layout is operated with radio controlled with NCE DCC. Car forwarding is currently done with car tabs and dispatching is Track Warrants.

Description:

The Oregon Joint Line is a joint NP/GN mainline through the mountains and canyons of eastern Oregon connecting the Pacific Northwest with California. The layout, which is set in 1969 just prior to the BN merger, has plenty of pool power from the connecting California roads (WP, SP, and ATSF). Most heavy trains (freights are typically 22-28 cars long) receive helpers for the shove up the 2.2% grade to the summit at Snowline. A forest products shortline, the "Oregon & Northeastern", switches the Hines Lumber pulp/plywood complex and makes log runs out to Canyon Reload. The major terminal area has three yards (NP, GN, and the O&NE) with plenty of transfer/interchange activity and industrial switching.



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Layout Name: Erie, Buffalo Subdivision

City: Burleson

Scale: HO

Size: 12' x 22'

Jobs: Yardmaster, local service, road engineer, shortline switcher and steel mill.

Car Forwarding: Railop

Operations: DCC with sound operations

Description:

The layout depicts the Erie, Buffalo Subdivision, from Buffalo (NY) to Salamanca (NY). The original Erie went from Dunkirk (south of Buffalo) on Lake Erie to Port Jarvis (NY) with a B&O interchange in Salamanca and an interchange with the Buffalo Pittsburg Line in Dayton (NY). After acquiring the B&P, Dayton still served as an Erie/Erie interchange and also the only tunnel on the Erie. The railroad represents heavy coal hauling to the steel mills of Lackawanna (NY) which were served by the South Buffalo RR and general freight and light passenger service for interchange with the primary east/west route of the Erie at Salamanca (staging). There is also a short line private RR (Conception and Viridity meaning beginning and always green) that interchanges to provide hardwood and limestone out of the Appalachian foothills of southern New York. 5 Operators: Yardmaster, Hostler/local service Engineer, road Engineer, Switcher/Short line operator and steel mill operations.



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Layout Name: Iroquois River Railroad

City: Denton

Scale: N

Size: 20 ft x 20 ft

Jobs: The railroad is N scale, and is DCC controlled with NCE components. WiFi is used for wireless control
using TCS throttles, as well as normal tethered throttles. The entire railroad is built with more than 20
sections ranging in size from 2 feet by 2 feet, to 4 feet by 6 feet, most having NCE circuit breakers. The
roster includes over 700 cars and 100 locomotives. Most of the rolling stock have metal wheels and are
weathered.


Operations: Operations on the IRR is in full swing, as the interchange yard at Mohawk is operational and four towns
are ready for local work. Eventually, trains will arrive and depart through Mohawk via the NYC providing
true interchange work. Ferry boat traffic is also part of the operations. Car cards/waybills are used for car
forwarding, and car numbers on the top of cars facilitate easy identification for switching.

Description:

The railroad is a double track mainline (NYC) with a freelanced branch line (IRR) for local switching.
Construction began in February 2020 in a two car carage. Today (August 2024) the bench work is
complete and the branch line is operational. Scenery is complete on about 1/3 of the branch line.


The double track mainline is laid. There is a 14 track staging yard and DeWitt yard, a 14 track
classification yard handling east-west traffic from Selkirk Yard, near Albany, NY, to Frontier Yard in
Buffalo, NY. There will be an industrial area supporting a large car parts manufacturing plant, and heavy
automobile traffic will be seen between Detroit and eastern markets.
NOTE: DeWitt yard, located just east of Syracuse, NY, was the largest freight yard in the NYC system.
Today it is part of CSX.

 



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Layout Name: MKT Central Texas Subdivision

City: Garland

Scale: HO

Size: 23 ft x 12 ft

Jobs: 3 road engineers with switching

Car Forwarding: JMRI Switch Lists

Operations: All engineers will use a Proto Throttle.

Description:

Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) layout set in and around Waco, TX in the spring of 1987. Layout is a double deck with helix, fully signaled with ABS, and operates with JMRI. Layout is approximately 12x23 feet with a peninsula and 2 levels.

 



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Layout Name: The Rocky Mountain Central And the Colorado Pacific

City: Melissa

Scale: HO

Size: 25' x 25'

Jobs: Grand Junction yard master, Durango yard master, two Salida operators and four road engineers.

Car Forwarding: Car cards and Waybills

Operations: Digitrax DCC; Dispatcher controlled signals control train movement on the RMC while the CP is dark territory requiring Train Orders.

Description:

The Rocky Mountain Central (HO) and the Colorado Pacific (HOn3) are based on the D&RGW and the Colorado Southern in the mid 50s. Steam is still the primary motive power (most with sound). The layout features two large yards, a dual gauge interchange, logging operations, mountains that extend to the floor, laser etched control panels, and a unique benchwork design that allows easy access to under layout work.



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Layout Name: Chicago and North Western Iowa Division

City: Dallas

Scale: HO

Size: 15' x 35'

Jobs: 1 Yard Master and 3 road engineers.

Car Forwarding: Car cards and Waybills

Operations: Wireless throttles using Rail Command. Toggle switches for turnouts. Train instructions and Car Cards for car movements.

Four railroads are involved in this operation which involves three interchanges. One operator will run the Crandic Interurban which involves switching Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and the Milw. Road interchange at Wausau. A Wausau yard operator who my also run the M&StL interchange and switching in New Ulm. Belle Plaine will require a yard man to work the set outs and pickups on the main as will as switch the industries. The fourth operator will run the Milw. Road branch out of Wausau to Plymouth which includes a turn with the Northwoods Hiawatha. A New Ulm turn will be run out of Belle Plaine by who ever is available. This session will involve a lot of switching using car cards and will consume approximately 3 hours.

Description:

The Chicago and North Western Iowa division in the Belle Plain area is the focus of this 15' x 35' foot railroad. Branch lines of the Milwaukee road and the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are also represented.

Layout is a John Armstrong design heavily modified by adding more towns and switching and was featured in Model Railroad Planning. Many structures are still in the mockup stage. A great deal of recent effort has gone into making the railroad ready for operation.

Control is RailCommand with car routing by car cards and waybills.

Lloyd is a consummate craftsman well known for his detailed models and articles in the hobby press. He is also a C&NW authority and has authored four Volumes for Morning Sun Books on the Chicago and North Western in color as well as over 30 magazine articles.

Jobs include the Cedar Rapids and Iowa city yard and road Engineer; Wausau yard plus Plymouth Patrol; New Ulm turn out of Belle Plaine Engineer; Columbus Engineer out of Belle Plaine; and the Belle Plaine Yardmaster building and breaking down the above trains for main line set out and pickup at Belle Plaine industries.

Layout is upstairs in the house, located in a cul-de-sac, enter at the front door. Park anywhere on the street, without blocking a fire hydrant!



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Layout Name: Milwaukee Road Lynden Spur

City: Fort Worth

Scale: HO

Size: 2' X 19'

Jobs: The railroad operates just as the prototype did--one train comes into town from the mainline connection, switches the cars, and returns. A two-person crew, engineer and conductor, team up to work the job.

Car Forwarding: Switch Lists

Operations: The Lynden job is a side-trip for the regular Bellingham-Sumas round trip to deliver interchange to the Canadian border, beginning for the operating crew at Hampton, represented by the staging yard, where the crew is given a switch list; it's up to them to dig cars cars out of the staging and it is to their benefit to block their train in industry order, as the track arrangement and "on hand" cars present in Lynden can make operations congested.

Description:

My railroad depicts a little tiny part of the great big Milwaukee Road, during its last weeks in operation in the Pacific Northwest,  which I call the Lynden Spur, Milwaukee Road Washington Division, circa 1976-80.

It is an HO scale shelf railroad, approximately 2' X 19' with a small staging yard. Faithful in track plan to the prototype, and about 70% in scale size to the prototype, the railroad contains only six turnouts--as the prototype did. Nine customers are served, and there's two team tracks as well. Primary traffic is feed and fertilizer inbound, and frozen fruit (strawberries and raspberries) and powdered milk outbound.



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Layout Name: Texas and St. Louis

City: Fort Worth

Scale: HO

Size: 39' x 19'

Jobs: Tyler Yardmaster, Tyler Industrial Switcher, McCarthy Local, Fort Worth Local, Passenger Engineer, various transfer jobs

Car Forwarding: JMRI with switch lists

Operations: NCE DCC. The Tyler yardmaster is the busiest job on the railroad. Other jobs include the Tyler Industrial Switching crews, Fort Worth Switcher, McCarthy Local and various transfer jobs. Operational rules and certain restrictions make this a fun and challenging layout for any operator, regardless of skill level.

Description:

Historically, the St. Louis Southwestern (Cotton Belt) went into receivership in the late 1880's as the Texas and St. Louis (T&SL). When it emerged from bankruptcy, the company rebranded itself as the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad. At one time it was also the second longest narrow-gauge railroad in the United States and stretched from East St. Louis, Missouri to Gatesville, Texas, all narrow gauge. My railroad models the premise that the government would not allow the railroad to abandon service on some narrow-gauge routes, and therefore, narrow gauge steam could be found into the diesel transition era in mid America and East Texas. 

The T&SL is a 39' X 19' HO/HOn3 layout which models the Cotton Belt in East Texas in 1958. Motive power is primarily first-generation diesels with an occasional steam engine making an appearance. The layout currently allows for 4-6 operators with a dispatcher. All trains run extra with the exception of passenger service and the Blue Streak Merchandise. Construction on the layout began in March of 2019. Scenery is roughly 75% complete at this time. The pike uses JMRI for dispatching and car inventory. Currently the narrow gauge is not in service pending additional expansion which should be completed by the end of 2022. There is a 10-track staging yard that represents Texarkana and points north. Trains arrive and depart Tyler yard where they are broken down and reassembled for departure.



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Layout Name: Michigan Interstate Railroad

City: Keller

Scale: HO

Size: 13' x 12'

Jobs: 1 Yardmaster, 1 Dispatcher, 2-3 Road Operators


Operations: A normal session will see the layout hosting twelve trains per session. Dispatching is governed by (DTC) direct traffic control authority with (ABS) automatic block signal overlay. Capturing the flavor of a modern day regional, the job assignments range from plant switcher to manifest freight using sound equipped 2nd generation and modern power. WiThrottle app is utilized for sessions and highly encouraged to download on your smart phone.

Description:

The MCIS St. Clair Subdivision is a 13'x12' double deck shelf style HO scale layout. Representing the eastern end of this modern Michigan regional, the "Clair" sees a variety of daily trains including manifest, local, and unit.  Constructed in 2011 the layout is now 60% sceniced and fully operational. Utilizing two staging yards, a 3.5 turn helix, and on-layout classification yard the layout hosts a lot of railroading in a small space that will keep crews busy around the clock. 



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Layout Name: Pennsylvania Railroad

City: Sherman

Scale: O

Size: 30' x 40'

Jobs: Four

Car Forwarding: Car cards and Waybills

Operations: The RR is operated by Train Orders with car cards and color coded waybills. A six station phone system allows operators to communicate with the Dispatcher.

Please no food, beverages or smoking in the Depot. Bottled water is OK. Rest room available.

Description:

The PRR Laurel Valley Secondary (2 rail O scale, ¼ inch / ft.) represents the 45 miles from Pitcairn Yard in East Pittsburgh to Moss Lake and Bowest Yard at Connellsville, PA in October 1957. This heavy industrial RR has 31 industries in four industrial districts. The PRR Snow Hill branch line serves the town of Laurel Springs and the large 3 track Penna. Coal and Coke Co. mine #42 at Snow Hill. Industrial districts, Moss Lake, Earlton, East Pittsburgh and Post Oak have 63 car spots.

On display: My 20 car military train with 17 flatcars with 28 vehicles, my 18 car reconditioned RBB&B circus train built circa 1960’s, a 3 track icing facility servicing 21 reefer cars and an award winning double track deck truss bridge. Authentic Pennsylvania RR station sign, PRR interlocking tower signs, a Truc-Train trailer logo disc, PRR wood box phone, RR lanterns, prints and stuff.



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Layout Name: Dakota Northern

City: Ft. Worth

Scale: N

Size: 12' x 13.5'

Jobs: 4, Two crews of an Engineer and Conductor each

Car Forwarding: Switch lists

Operations: Walk-around MRC Prodigy Advanced 2 DCC throttles and printed train orders and switch lists are used to operate the trains. Two mainline freights deliver cars to Devils Lake and Lakota Yard for the Devils Lake switch, the Warwick Local and the Valley Turn. Devils Lake has a local switch job and Lakota Yard has a switch job to makeup the locals and switch the industries there. We also run a Soo Line freight that interchanges cars with the Dakota Northern and delivers coal for the power plant at Devils Lake. In addition to this we run a loaded unit grain train and an empty unit grain train when time permits.

Description:

The Dakota Northern is a Burlington Northern subsidiary inspired by the Great Northern line between Grand Forks and Minot, North Dakota. Focus of the layout is Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. In addition to the BN, The Soo Line also has operating rights in the area. Local switchers contend with heavy movements of agricultural traffic on the main line, particularly grain moving to Duluth and the Twin Cities. Era is 1975. Built for operation, the Dakota Northern is 12 x 13.5 feet. Scratch built structures are a favorite part of the hobby to Olaf and many structures in and around his hometown of Devil’s Lake are represented.

12' x 13.5' with an 2' x 8' extension



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Layout Name: TxNamib

City: Murphy

Scale: N

Size: 20' x 20'

Jobs: Four: 2 road engineers to become the yard switchers and 2 yard switchers to become road engineers.

Car Forwarding: Switch lists (until the camera system takes over)

Operations: NCE DCC, wired; Turnouts controlled with tablets; Access to the main line is acquired with the phonetically correct pronunciation of your next destination! Dispatcher is likely to be in Scotland, so please install Zello (Push to Talk) on your smart phone and bring a headset.

Description:

Welcome to another country and also another continent! Namibia is situated between South Africa, Botswana and Angola (touching a bit of Zambia) and the Atlantic ocean to the west. The TransNamib is the semi state railroad company, and we model it in N scale as the TxNamib. All modern equipment, modeling yesterday with only room for the western and northern parts of the railroad from Walvisbaai, the port city; Windhoek, the capital (with continued service to South Africa into staging); and Otavi, Grootfontein and eventually Tsumeb in the north. 9 mm is "narrow" enough and like in any 2nd world country, we use any equipment we can get our hands on that works!

Come have fun in this sparsely populated country, moving rail cars from the ocean to the city or north and all the way back on another day! Scenery is scarce, just like water in Namibia. You are welcome to take photos, but publishing them on the internet is not allowed.

 


Website:

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Layout Name: Fox River Branch

City: Plano

Scale: HO

Size: 24'x60'

Jobs: 8 operators

Car Forwarding: Car Cards and Waybills

Operations: This layout is all switching. Car forwarding with Car Cards. Motive control with EasyDCC.

Description:

Based on the CB&Q Fox River branch from the Eola yard (staging) in Aurora, Illinois to Streator, Illinois. The layout is set in October of 1954 and is based on prototypical operations. The other railroads that the CB&Q crosses are active and modeled including the CRI&P, Wabash, GM&O, Illinois Midland, and ATSF. Silica Sand is the primary commodity and reason for the railroads existence. Two large glass factories and a large fertilizer factory keep traffic moving along with the usual granger road commodities of corn/soybeans/coal/oil/lumber. This layout is all switching with eight jobs.



Layout Name: St. Louis, Atlantic & Pacific

City: Southlake

Scale: HO

Size: 26' x 40'

Jobs: Four

Car Forwarding: Railop

Operations: EasyDCC form CVP Products.

Description:

It is in the 1950's and the U.S. economy is booming.  Railroads are working hard to move freight across the country. Passengers are continuing to travel by train as in the World War II period.  Due to the heavy rail traffic, the railroads have had to supplement new diesel power with steam locomotives. Coal is cheap and so is oil, thus both types of energy are fueling steam. 

The weather in the central part of the country has made rail traffic congested. The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers are over flood stage.  The Mississippi can only be crossed at St. Louis and, thus, all east west movement is through the St. Louis Gateway, whether from Chicago or south to New Orleans. 

The Missouri River at Kansas City is the only crossing in Missouri and so northern and southern movements west of St. Louis must route through Kansas City.



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Layout Name: Red Valley Express

City: Denton

Scale: HO

Size: 20x20

Jobs: The jobs are 2 yard masters/operator for two yards and one main yard master for the main interchange yard, and a hostler job who gets the power units ready for each job. The operators work their yards and then make up a train for a run to the main interchange yard. The hostler job gets to operate one local turn that requires some unique switching moves and involves a wye turn around.

Car Forwarding: Wheel reports




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Layout Name: Utah Belt - Northeast Sub

City: McKinney

Scale: HO

Size: 10' x 19'

Jobs: Operations and Details: Built for detailed, operation-driven sessions for 4 operators. The layout utilizes JMRI manifests for all operations which include local switching and building outbound manifests in one of four towns, each requiring a trip through the challenging Incline Run! With 25 industries, operating sessions are immersive, typically lasting up to 2.5 hours. Operations are not a race; the emphasis is on safety (of the model railroad!) and prototypical procedures. For those eager to keep moving, additional local moves are always available.

Car Forwarding: Switch lists

Operations: The layout is DCC-operated and BYOT (bring your own throttle), though engines and rolling stock are provided. WiFi supports apps like WiThrottle, and other WiFi based throttles, enhancing operational flexibility. The control system is Digitrax, with block isolation, detection, and signaling managed through JMRI and mqTrains modules.
Locomotives are equipped with realistic momentum and brake settings. Mainline turnouts are remotely operated using throttles, with most industry spurs manually controlled for a hands-on experience.

Description:

A completely fictional HO scale layout inspired by years of living near railroads, with creative influence from model railroading experiences, including insights from Eric…

Spanning a modest 10’x19’ space, the layout features a variety of industries, many reflecting my professional background in food and heavy manufacturing. It is fully CTC signaled and includes three towns and one city, complete with street running. The layout’s signature challenge is a steep 3% grade known as Incline Run, which requires speed-matched DPU’s on the rear of all ascending trains. A spacious 6-foot-wide main aisle adds to the fun, offering ample room for movement and camaraderie.

Era and Equipment: Set in the late 20th century, the layout operates EMD units, including GP and SD locomotives. All non-revenue equipment, such as engines and cabooses, are custom-painted in the distinctive Utah Belt livery with sound and full lighting packages. The revenue fleet consists of a diverse mix of cars from various railroads and lease companies, providing operational flexibility and enhanced service options for the industries served.

Mission: My goal is to inspire more professional modelers to dive into this rewarding hobby. While I am looking to expand the layout in a new space soon, its current size demonstrates that realistic, operationfocused modeling is achievable for anyone, even my friend Mark!!!



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