About me and my current layout

My experience with model railroading started as a child with the layout my parents built. Revell and Gilbert HO were the norm of the day, and finding an MRC ControlMaster V transistor throttle at a flea market was top notch! I got started with prototype modeling during high school and was attracted to the Great Northern. Great style combined with awesome scenery had me hooked. I still have my first Athearn U33C in the Big Sky Blue paint scheme on display, although it's too "new" for the era that I model and hasn't run in decades.

I still model the Great Northern and have designed a layout to fit my available space by "layout-bashing" some of my favorite designs that were published over the years. As I find time to complete sections, photos will appear here, along with some of the projects that others might find interesting. My technology background definitely comes into play as I was an early adopter of DCC (Digitrax), I run JMRI to catalog my equipment and program decoders, and I use LCC to control turnouts, lights, and signals.

Layout

We relocated in late 2021, and I finally have a dedicated space for my layout. I've secured a 16x30 foot area for the train room. I've allocated 6 feet for a crew lounge, which has built-in shelves and cabinets for storing my books, memorabilia, and boxes of cars and parts. There's a couch, TV, and coffee table, plus a small workbench for building kits and servicing rolling stock. I built display cases to hold engines not in active service. 

The plan evolved into an around the walls style with a center peninsula. The peninsula represents the East and West ends of the district, with a yard/terminal on each side of the peninsula. This provides a true point-to-point format. I've used my "modelers license #580417" to connect both terminals to a single shared engine facility at the end of the peninsula. This permits a larger facility rather than two smaller ones. The mainline makes two loops around the room between the terminals, and there's a cutoff that allows continuous running. There's also hidden staging for 6 medium-length trains and two "micro-layouts" representing SP&S and CP interchanges. These have their own engines and even a few industries, and the CP ends in a small fiddle yard in the crew lounge.

Learn more about the progress of the layout using the links on the left side!