The layout has slowly expanded into four areas in its 4th home. I run a double track mainline that has a lower and upper level, plus a short middle section, for a total length of some 300 feet. A full lower and upper loop run takes about 7 minutes. The main room is 12.5 x 28. From there it goes through a wall on one end of the room to an area about 5'x5' at the bottom of the stairs, perfect for a harbor scene. Going through the wall on the other side of the harbor brings you to one of two helixes. The north 6'x6' helix hosts a ski slope. At the other end of the main room the layout also goes through the wall to access a staging yard, a coal mine, and a second helix (8'x4') which hosts a limestone quarry that I just began building this summer.
Scale / Gauge
HO
Size of Layout
24x28
Prototype
Boston & Maine
Location Modeled
Eastern Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and Maine
Era
mid-1950's
Style of Track Plan
Linear along the basement walls
Length of Main Line
300'
Layout Height
Lower 37, Mid 42, Upper 53"
Benchwork
L girder
Roadbed Material
Cork
Track Manufacturer
Walthers
Turnouts
Atlas
Minimum Main Line Radius
18"
Maximum Grade
3 %
Scenery Techniques
1/2" pink Styrofoam on top of 1/2" plywood; Hydrocal impregnated gauze over cardboard grid. Ground cover NE dirt, ground foam, weeds, shrubs, etc.
% Scenery Complete
80 %
Backdrop
painted walls progressively darker blue sky with clouds
Control System
DCC - Digitrax
Car Forwarding System
Car Cards
Operating Group
Intown group
Direction Comment
Enter through the garage, left through laundry room, downstairs into basement.
