Participating Layouts

The railroad is based on a "what if?" scenario where the Alphabet Route railroads were allowed to combine into a system as an efficiency move during WW II. (This is similar to the Family Lines during the 1980s where several railroads painted equipment in the same scheme even though they were not legally one entity.) There is equipment of the combined Allegheny & Western system along with equipment of the member roads.

The modeled A&W mainline runs from the New Jersey waterfront of New York Harbor to Harrisburg, PA. There are two major subdivisions branching off from the main stem. One goes from Easton, PA to Maybrook, NY (A major gateway to New England). The other goes from Topton, PA to Scranton, PA and beyond to Buffalo, NY. The system hub and headquarters are in Allentown, PA, a midsize Pennsylvania city.

This is a large and diverse territory; Even though we have a substantial space, we could only model representative parts of it.

Major modeled locations from west to east are:

• Wilkes-Barre, PA - A rich source of traffic in anthracite. Builds area locals, works Huber breaker.
• Palmerton, PA - Home of the main NJ Zinc plant
• Hershey, PA - Home of Hershey Chocolate "The sweetest place on Earth"
• Reading, PA - Builds area locals, works industries and intermodal ramp.
• Fleetwood, PA - original location of the "Body by Fleetwood" plant
• Allentown, PA - Company offices, hub of the system, main yard (a modern rider hump). It is also the terminus for short-distance passenger service to New York.<./li>
• Bethlehem, PA - The main Bethlehem Steel works
• Plainfield, NJ - Suburban area with substantial local industry. Builds area locals, works industries.
• Bayonne, NJ - Refinery and chemicals
• Greenville in Jersey City, NJ - Busy waterfront car float operations

It takes a lot of people diligently working to keep a Class One railroad fluid. From the switcher slowly dragging hot metal cars at the steel mill to the dispatcher safely moving the traffic, there are a wide variety of jobs for everyone.

The Bacardi and Northern Railroad is a fictitious revival of what is currently known as the CSX Northern Industrial Track between North Bergen, New Jersey and Orangeburg, New York. Based in the late 90s, the line is an almost exact duplicate of each of the industries that existed along the line at the time, providing extensive switching operations that will prove both challenging and fun. Modeler's license adds to the mix with a variety of run through freights, local passenger service and additional industries. The line is operated with a mix of first and second generation Alco power and standard freight equipment. Nearly all prototypical structures and scenery are in place, fitting the layout to northern New Jersey where the actual line exists. The signal system is currently under construction.

Inspired by the 9 mile New York railroad "The Champagne Trail" connecting its two namesake towns and serving the famous Finger Lakes wine industry. A day begins departing Hammondsport working the industries while making its way to Bath to pick up the cars that the Erie's Rochester Branch trains set out for customers between Bath and Hammondsport. Returning to Hammondsport and working where the inbound cars need to be delivered. Bulk wine from California, sugar, cardboard, coal, lumber, grain, fertilizers, and other supplies are vital to support the vineyards growing season, harvest, and the furnishing of unique Finger Lakes wine. Carloads of bulk grapes, bulk wine, and kegged and bottled table wine get set out at the Bath interchange to reach the distributor network. This S scale around the room shelf layout gets inspiration from this particular short line and take creative liberties, but is inspired to give the feel of a small railroad with a "big barrel" of purpose. Construction of the layout began in 2021 and is slowly expanding through the basement, as any short line would. Scenery is minimal and industrial structures are coming on line when track gang is on hiatus.

The Chichester and Sweet Hollow RR is loosely based upon the Middletown to Willimantic segment of the New Haven RR. This 1:29 scale railroad is designed for true timetable and train order operations. You can't see the next siding from most locations, so you have to be sharp! A reservoir under construction near Barnesville is providing a small percentage of its spoils to assist the C & SH in converting an old trestle into a fill. Until the trestle over Sweet Hollow gorge is back in action, much freight traffic is being offloaded at Sweet Hollow Industrial Transfer Co. where trucks swarm around the loading platforms. (This model is some twelve feet long with its own sound system. ) Traffic is heavy here and demands much of the crews. The sounds of a busy transfer depot are heard throughout the valley. The year is 1958 and the important terminal grain elevator at Middletown is struggling to handle the burgeoning traffic. Local collection elevators fear giving up their forty-foot boxcars out of concern that they will not be replaced. Covered hoppers are being transloaded at a rapid pace, allowing the now more primitive boxcars to be returned to smaller local elevators. Grain is being sorted and transferred to brand new 100 ton hoppers, while grain doors are being removed from the forty footers that will soon be taken out of grain service. But it is the harvest and there are never enough cars to handle demand. This layout, now in its eighth year, has pioneered many new construction methods. It is 2000 feet long with new terminal facilities at Barnesville, our connection to the rest of the national rail network. In case of inclement weather, we will operate the Great Lakes & Iron Range indoor layout. Please see that description for details.

Conrail's Boston Line is an HO scale layout built in a 30' x 9' room. The layout runs from the NY/MA state line to Hinsdale, MA in the 1990s. It is double tracked and fully signaled; Control is via the NCE system. Ops jobs include run through, local switching, yard work, and transfer runs. Scenery is about 20% complete. Room for 4 to 6 operators.

The Great Lakes & Iron Range is a freelanced iron ore and coal hauler based on the Upper Midwest with some urban flair thrown in. A huge ore dock with giant lake boats alongside is one of the highlights of this layout. We are John Deere fans, so a plant is located online as well as many other substantial industries, including a busy urban waterfront. We use NCE DCC for train control and the scenery is 75% complete. There are three yards and ample staging to keep operators on this layout happily busy. The pandemic made for lots of time in the basement, so there is much new scenery and lighting effects.

My layout is a freelanced design with three separate, but connected, sections in different rooms.

The first section is loosely based on the Great Northern RR in Minnesota during the late 50s and 60s. The main yard is St. Cloud with additional towns of Clear Lake and Elk River modeled. Minneapolis and Fargo are staging locations. I use the standard car cards and 4 position waybills along with a train instruction card. A slight twist is that the car cards have photos of the car on them - which is very handy when trying to find cars. This section's operating session is laid back and consists of one local job from Minneapolis (staging) to St. Cloud and return to Minneapolis. Other jobs work priority freight, manifest, coal, and ore trains. Operations consist of local and yard switching. Dispatching is timetable and occasional train orders.

Jobs are:

• St Cloud yardmaster: Local pickup and delivery, interchange with BN in the other room, sort arrivals and build departures, and turn locos on turntable.
• A Crew: Mine branch turn, Reefer trains, Manifests, and Ore trains.
• B Crew: Coal turn, Road local turn - (local pickups and drops at two towns)

The second section is loosely based on the Burlington Northern in the same area, but ten years later. It also consists of a helix and three decks. The Superior, WI terminal on the lower deck interchanges with the GN yard in the other room. The terminal requires two crews to work the yard and the local industries (one of which is an eight car barge), plus interchanges with CN and Milwaukee Road. Another crew runs two local turns from Winnipeg thru 5 towns also using 4 step waybills and car cards with pictures. Scenery is now completed on this section of the layout.

The third section is loosely based on the Milwaukee Road in the same area. The third section is still under construction and will not be running this year.

ICRR has an urban setting during the steam to diesel transition era. Most switching is performed by diesel road switchers. Operating session jobs include main line , coal hauling, yard operations, and limited branch line runs. The ICRR is freelanced and 100% scenicked. The layout is NCE DCC equipped. The ICRR was featured in the May 2012 edition of Model Railroader. A track plan of the layout is included in the article.rnThe layout has been expanded and improved since the Model Railroader article appeared.

The Long Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road (yes, the space in the name is correct since the corporation is still running under the original 1834 charter) was built to carry passengers to the seashore. It served the typical lineside customers of the era, but also served the brand-new Long Island Lighting Co power plant in Island Park, NY that received trainloads of coal. This steam-era representation models the Jazz Age with plenty of passenger trains, a wayfreight or two, and a coal train to power the new seashore hotels built in the Roaring 20s boom. There is also a parallel section that models the famous subterranean meatpacking terminal adjacent to Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn. This is switched by DD-1 electrics.

The HO scale New York & Atlantic focuses on freight operations run by contractor New York & Atlantic Railway over the Long Island Rail Road. Given the LIRR setting, there are commuter passenger trains as well. The era modeled is 1997 to 2017; beginning after the arrival of NYAR and ending before the addition of the second track to Ronkonkoma. With that said, there are a number of Alco’s about because… “model railroading is fun.” The current passenger fleet might best be described as being in a time warp. The railroad is under active construction with 0.97% scenery complete. The verdant landscape so closely associated with Long Island has been represented at this stage by a vibrant hue of dark grey paint. Monthly operating sessions have been hosted since 2019 using the current run of about 700 feet of 1, 2 and 4 track main line which includes LI City to Fresh Pond, Jamaica to Floral Park, and Westbury to Greenport. Freight Jobs run out of Fresh Pond Yard and Pine Aire. Diesel Passenger trains run to/from Long Island City and Electrics run to NY Penn which is staging. The Port Jefferson, Atlantic, and Hempstead Branches are represented. Train Directors at Jay (Jamaica) and Divide (Hicksville) control train movements under the direction of the Dispatcher. Primary communication is using a PBX telephone system supplemented by FRS radios. At this time, multiple-track main line is run as Quasi-Rule-251 “Right hand running and lookout ahead”. CTC (Rule 261) signals are installed to protect the single main line track from Farmingdale to Deer Park. The layout is partially signaled using the distinctive LIRR position light signals with more getting cut in as things progress. Jobs: Dispatcher (Room 204) Jay Train Director Divide Train Director and Operator Fresh Pond Yard: 2 people Road Crews: 6 people, (2-man freight crews or 1-man passenger crews)

It's 2026 and the NPSF has purchased a secondary line in New Mexico from the BNSF. The NPSF has a substantial subset of all modern railroad traffic running across its well maintained route through the desert and the city of Albuquerque, NM. Passenger trains from Amtrak and RailRunner compete for track space with unit trains, mixed manifests, coal drags, ethanol trains, and local switch runs. The NPSF is proto-freelanced, based on the practices of BNSF. The layout is double decked and the desert scenery is 95% complete. The railroad uses NCE DCC with radio. Trains are dispatched via verbal train orders and local freights use switchlists to direct car movements.

A freelance railroad loosely based on freight operations in the northeastern PA area. The time period is 80s to current time. Scenery is about 65% completed. The NSKP uses switch lists and manifests and JMRI ops pro to generate them. Trains are controlled using the EngineDriver app on smartphones and tablets.

This is one of the more interesting layouts to operate on. Based on the West Side of Manhattan in 1955, Dave models the carfloat-served waterfront terminals of the Erie RR at 28th St and the Lehigh Valley RR at 27th St. He also models NY Central's 33rd St Yard and the famous NYC High Line that are served by the unmodeled 72nd St Yard (staging). The Erie, LV, and NYC 33rd St all work the block-long Terminal Stores warehouse. Sessions have the energy and density of New York City and you have to hustle to keep up. It is a lot of fun and you leave with a real sense of accomplishment at the end of a session.

The host of the Rhythm Railroad is a musician and artist. He captures the look and feel of the area around Albany, NY in the current era. In addition, the layout space is one of the nicest you'll see with wide aisles, tile floors, and lots of lighting. The focus is on Canadian Pacific's ex-Delaware & Hudson lines in the area, including the Glens Falls Branch out of Ft Edward, NY. There is a wide range of traffic - from stacks, high priority intermodal, and Amtrak to locals, manifest freights, and paper industries.

The Riverside Transfer Short Line Railroad (RTSL) is a freelanced N-scale model railroad set in New York City. It is designed to offer a fun and engaging operating experience. While the layout draws inspiration from real-world railroading practices, it prioritizes creative problem-solving, teamwork, and a sense of accomplishment over strict adherence to prototypical rules. Whether you're a seasoned operator or new to the hobby, the RTSL provides a welcoming and enjoyable environment for all.

See layout website for detailed info: https://humancity.org/layout/

The Stone Canyon Railroad is a fully operational freelanced single deck layout based in the western U.S. Timeframe is 1950s in the steam/diesel transition era. UP and ATSF are the predominant roads.

Overall layout size is 26' x 39' including staging. The mainline is 200' double track closed loop plus 120' of hidden staging that can accommodate up to 10 pre-staged trains. Scenery is 100% complete and ranges from rugged mountains to a completely lighted city scene.

Control is via DCC using Digitrax Super Chief Duplex Radio. Throttles will be provided.

Motive power includes a variety of steam engines as large as 4-8-8-4 Big Boys. Diesels include switcher and road units along with E and F units for passenger operation.

Operations include passenger, local freight, coal and, through freight. Switching opportunities include a coal mine, six towns, a large freight yard, lumber branchline for a total of more than 30 industries. An interesting industry is a full service steam/diesel engine facility that includes a 130 ft. turntable, 12 stall roundhouse, and diesel shop.

A typical three hour operating session involves the movement of approx. 200 cars, 18 locomotives and up to 12 trains. Operator positions include: Dispatcher (layout owner), Yardmaster, Motive Power Hostler, Engineers and Conductors. Communications between dispatcher and operators are via radio/headsets (provided). Car forwarding is done with car cards and waybills. In addition to the dispatcher, a minimum of 5 and maximum of 9 operators are required.

The layout has hosted over 100 operating sessions since 2013 and has participated in every IslandOps weekend. It's proven to be enjoyable for everyone who's visited.