Bloomington, Indiana Layout Tour
April 22nd
Trevor Jones' Midland and Great Western Junction Railway - N scale
Trevor Jones' N scale Midland & Great Western Junction Railway is set in the County of Gloucester, England. The era is the late 1950's early 1960's period (the trains Trevor saw and loved as a boy). Two regions of British Railways operate autonomously: the Midland Region, a double track main line and the Western Region, a hilly cross country single track line, with the principle interchange at Newnham on Severn. Cheltenham St James is a large stub end station on the Midland with a sizable engine shed, both laid out to prototype plans. The Western taps the industries, mines and quarries of the Forest Of Dean as well as serving two river docks.
Robert Sharp's Gulf Mobile and Ohio Railway - HO scale
Robert Sharp's GM&O Railroad started out as an Atlas track plan "Berkshire Valley" project for his grandchildren. It evolved into a Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio pike, set in Meridian, Mississippi in the 1960s. Robert's pike includes DCC operations and the layout has a helix that leads to staging The layout now has full scenery.
Bob Case's Baltimore and Ohio Railroad - HO scale
The Baltimore & Ohio was the first railroad in the world to attempt to cross a mountain range. Fascinated by that effort, Bob Case chose to create the part of the crossing known as the "West End", including some of his favorite scenes between Cumberland, Maryland and Grafton, West Virginia. In order to make these scenes realistic, he has walked or ridden a mountain bicycle to take hundreds of photos. As shown below, it’s now spring in 1948 and you can watch B & O trains battle the mountains.
Marty Witkiewiczs' Erie Lackawanna Railway, Fairfax Division - HO scale
This is the Erie Lackawanna Fairfax Division, a prototype based freelance HO scale model railroad of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Scenes on the layout are representative of cities, industries and scenery found almost anywhere throughout the United States. The details, structures, engines and rolling stock are typical of what may have been found along the railroad between the year 1970 and 1975.
Bob Talbot's Freelanced Kentucky and West Virginia - HO scale
A freelanced layout set in the coal region of Kentucky and W. Va. The point to point mainline has a helix leading to a 30 foot staging yard, holding 16 trains. The railroad runs north to south from Newport Ky. to Dante Va. While not based on any prototype, the railroad borrows from scenes and names of locations visited on railfanning trips over the years.
Paul Lutz's Conrail Marion Branch - HO scale
The HO scale Conrail Marion Branch railroad is set in the mid-1990’s time frame. It is loosely based on an existing line running north and south from Elkhart (Goshen, IN) to Indianapolis (Avon, IN) with intermediate yards/switching points at south Anderson, Marion, Warsaw (Ft. Wayne) and Peru, IN. This is a double deck, point-to-point mainline with a third, lower staging level – all of which is connected by a helix. The mainline run is approximately 300 feet. The layout is comprised mainly of L-girder benchwork with code 83 track laid on either homasote or cork. Train control is via a Digitrax duplex system and Operations are controlled by a dispatcher who is in radio contact with the train crews. Car forwarding utilizes car cards and waybills
