Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway

        Chillicothe Subdivision

Garth Shiflett's - 'NEW' Kansas City Terminal Railway

Garth's old Union Pacific Marysville Subdivision, was just plain worn out! I designed this layout for Garth and

in a couple of weekends of tear out, we were ready to start framing the new Kansas City Terminal. It's loosely

based on the real KCT, but is tailored to fit our interchange system. The layout is about 22' square. The railroad

literally connects with every line in Kansas City and is a large double deck switching and interchange railroad.

All great railroads need the right DCC system and this the latest from CVP. Garth uses 5 radio RF1300 throttles.

The photo on the right is the upper staging yard "Big Blue Yard" is where all traffic enters and exits the railroad

Here's how all movements are handled on KCT. A block card is attached with Velcro to the front of the fascia near

the middle of each block. If you have the card in your possession, then your train has permission to occupy that

block. When finished, the card is stuck back on the fascia for the next train to use. Block limit signs mark beginning

and end of block

The KCT HELIX!

After framing the upper and lower levels, we laid out a circle for the inside of the roadbed to follow, in this case about 31.5".

This gave us a 34" radius for the track. I had 3/8" plywood ripped to 5" X 8'-0" for single track. The strips were cut into

segments about 8" long with 8 degree angles on each end. Wax paper was placed between each layer as we went.

The most valuable tool I ever bough, a 'good' chop saw. So far I've framed 6 layouts with and it's still going strong!

We cut 4 segments at a time. Once the first layer of 3/8" plywood was laid around circle, I coated the next layer of

segments with Elmer's glue, staggering joints as I went.

Garth and Chip followed behind my gluing with (4) 5/8" screws in each half segment. Here is several layers (5 in all) stacked

on top of each other. It is one continuous assembly with no gaps and splice plates. With no splice plate, we could use closer

clearances and reduce grade.

Once the glue was dry, we placed 1 X 4 stock at 3' intervals, this gave us 3.5" of clearance between each level. It was perfect for

laying track a few days later and plenty room for double stack cars!

We drilled 3/8" dia. holes every 18" for 1/4" dia. all-thread, through the entire stack (note: the holes were drilled

before the 3 1/2" spacers were installed). Nuts and washer were placed on each side of each layer of roadbed and tightened once

grade was leveled and adjusted. Here is the completed helix. Once all the nuts and were tightened there was no need to install an

inner row of all-thread.

The thing is ROCK SOLID!

More photos of Garth's new layout to come as we progress!

Chip Cole's CSX Plymouth Subdivision

Various shots of Chip's railroad. I designed this railroad to fit Chip's basement and in a few short months, it was

framed and ready for roadbed. A few years later, it has progressed to what you see in these photos.

Here are some the regular operators at our sessions, Allen DeLong, Matt Sherman, Mark Roselius and Chip Cole.

Where the heck did the I&O unit come from?                  Mark, performing switching duties at Brighton, a business auto complex.

Plymouth Diamond.

Computerized DTC Territory!

I designed a simple Excel spreadsheet to help issue and keep track of the dozens of DTC forms given out via radio during each

session. Tab #1 is the track diagram, Tab #2 is the crew assignment sheet and Tab #3 are all train divisional train symbols.

It works pretty good. Each train is represented by it's own specific tile and is duplicated as needed and placed in each block on

the track diagram, showing  occupation as issued in the DTC form. As trains give up DTC blocks, they are removed from the display,

showing un-occupied blocks. CTC will replace this some day!

Sandy River & Clear Lake Railroad - 2004 - 2005

First fire up of #10 with real coal, Jan. 2005! Jack Ozanich at the throttle.

            Doug Tagsold ready for the fire.                                                            Who is that guy with the big grin on his face?

                            Sandy River & Clear Lake Roundhouse - Nov. 18, 1925

Silly "Hat Tricks"!                                                                                    Don't worry Brian, we'll get you out of that buggy some how?!

                    End of a Beautiful Day on the Sandy.

Bad Day at Phelps Junction! - 2004

                An Ohhhhhhhh, Shit moment!                                                                        Ass chewing is imminent! This ain't good!

        Mike Burgett, pondering his future with SR&CLRR!              See who ended up helping with getting the damb thing back on the tracks!

Atlantic Great Eastern Railway - 2004

                            Jack, cutting orders.                                                   Me, attempting to be Yard Master at Rangeley River Junction.