6. Home Layouts Wed AM

Jim Hoeppner’s Colorado and Great Western is a multilevel freelanced HO layout based on the DRGW railroad set in the 1970s era. All place names on the layout are actual stations on the DRGW but there is no attempt to accurately model any of the locations. The layout fills a 22 by 33 foot basement with the upper level going over the entrance door to avoid any duckunders. The scenery is 100% complete and has many well detailed scenes to see. There is fully functional CTC signaling system installed controlled by CMRI hardware and JMRI.

Gary Petersen’s Salt Lake Southern is a freelanced HO layout representing a bridge route between the Chicago Northwestern and the Western Pacific over Wyoming’s South Pass in 1995. The multilevel layout fills a 26 by 40 foot basement with no duckunders so you can easily follow your train over the whole route. The station names are actual places in Wyoming but no attempt is made to accurately model the locations. The scenery is 100% complete with many nicely detailed scenes to see. There is a fully functional CTC system controlled by CMRI hardware and JMRI.

Drinks and photos will be allowed as long as you don’t take one of Brian. 

Bob and Karin Gerald’s Milwaukee Road is a multilevel N scale layout recreating the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad’s mainline through Northern Idaho in 1955. All the locations on the layout are actual stations on the line, but only St. Maries and Avery are reasonable recreations of the locations with some selective compression. All the other locations have had many industries added to enhance the play value during operating sessions. The layout occupies two rooms, the main room is 17 by 12 feet and the other is 11 by 12. The scenery is 75% complete with over 2 thousand homemade pine trees filling the mountain sides. There is a fully functional ABS signal system controlled by BOD-8 detectors and a homemade signal driver board.

Doug Jolley’s Denver and Rio Grande Western 3^rdDivision is a multilevel Sn3 layout recreating the Rio Grande’s line from Gunnison to Ridgeway including the large dual gauge yard of Montrose in 1955. While the line was abandoned by 1950, the model assumes that it was kept in service due to a couple of freelanced connections that add extra operating potential. The layout occupies an 18 by 42 foot room and contains many scratchbuilt structures, several of which have full interior detail. All track work is handlaid including the switches. Many of his smooth running steam engines have sound decoders installed.