The O-scale Aquia Line developed since 2009 models the U.S. Military Railroad between Aquia Landing and Falmouth Virginia during the late winter/early Spring of 1863. The USMRR rebuilt 20 miles of the original RF&P line to Famouth as a supply line to the Army of the Potomac in its winter encampment after the first battle for Fredericksburg VA. The model features period locomotives, some DCC, some battery-powered, and connected to rolling stock through working link & pin couplers. There is also a working simulation of a Civil War-era telegraph system from a dispatcher station in an adjacent room. Two or three crews of two-persons each take trains over the single-track line from Aquia Landing (with ferry connections to Washington and points north and several modeled period ships) through several towns with passing sidings to the small yard at Falmouth, overlooking the Rappahanock River. Usually a train leaves each end of the layout almost simultaneously, so planning meets in the stations in between involve careful planning.

The layout depicts railroading in Catasauqua, PA (just north of Allentown) in the mid-1950s in HO scale. At that time, the town and its environs hosted six railroads. The Lehigh & New England Railroad’s Catasauqua Branch touched them all and plays the featured role on the layout. In addition to serving local industries, the Catasauqua Branch was one of the L&NE’s primary interchange gateways thanks to busy connections at the end of the branch with the Reading and Lehigh Valley railroads. Only a few prototype miles are modeled with the goal of recreating select scenes as faithfully as possible in a space of approximately 16’x23’ + adjacent staging. Access to the layout is via basement stairs only.

Pike is 95% complete and in a 2850 square foot room almost complete with scenery…..floor to ceiling. Theme is northern New Jersey and New York state set in the early 50s. It is DCC and runs quite well. Motive power is all brass steam. Most structures and rolling stock are scratch built with some wood car kits….all fashioned from wood. Roads depicted are CNJ, Erie, PRR, L&H, and NYC. All power is fully DCC with lights, sound, cab lights and markers in addition to firebox lighting.
Pike began in 1982 and is 23 scale miles (1400’+ of main line. It has been covered several times in the MR press and in professional videos. There is also a private museum and over 1000 brass locos for sale in addition to a mess of rolling stock I will not be using. There is much on You Tube and internet on the layout.
I do have some rules…..no bags or boxes of any kind allowed in train room. No coats or loose clothing are also not allowed in train area. Photos are OK as is video. We do have refreshments on the house. Parking is not a problem. We do have pussy cats so we cannot help with allergies. Kids under 8 are not allowed under any circumstance. We are semi equipped for handicapped (stair lift) and aisles are quite wide."

An HO Scale Model Railroad modeled in 1958. Slipping through the suburbs of Montgomery County Maryland in the early 1900’s the Georgetown Branch split from the Baltimore and Ohio Metropolitan Subdivision in Silver Spring Maryland and ended in Georgetown Washington D.C. The mainstay of the branch was freight service mostly building materials, lumber, steel, coal for home heating, and in Georgetown coal for the steam generating plant that heated congressional buildings in Washington D.C. https://finescale360.com/georgetown-branch/

The Central Maine Railway is a freelanced railroad modeled in O scale Proto 48 that operated in Maine in the late 1890s. Running between Bangor and Portland and west to a connection with the Grand Trunk Railroad, the main focus of the layout is the area between Belfast and Camden with a car float/tug operation from Camden Junction to Stonington on Deer Island. A steamship company also operates a passenger side-wheeler between Deer Island and Camden Junction. The layout occupies two rooms plus a staging area with a total area 1,000 square feet. All the locomotives, cars, and buildings are scratch built. The engines are operated though radio controlled NCE hand held radio devices and operate on hand-laid track.. The scenery is real dirt and stones with a hand-painted backdrop. There are also more than a thousand hand-made trees. Of special interest, besides the ships, is the fully operational rotary snowplow, and a full-size Victorian Shingle Style “cottage.” Model Railroader has already published a photo of the layout with a full article coming in the future.

The Wilson Creek Division represents late 50’s railroading in the hills of Eastern West Virginia. The railroad is proto-freelanced with settings suggested by locations in the general area. The B&O line is modeled around the town of Norton WV, with staging toward Grafton and Charleston, W.V. West of Norton, the line to Richwood W.V. branches off to the town of Cowen, with Richwood staging at the end of the branch. The Western Maryland and C&O connect at Norton, with their staging represented at Elkins and Durbin, W.V. Operation features substantial industrial trackage and live interchange at Norton, as well as coal and industrial traffic along the branch, including a coal preparation plant and papermill at Cowen and a connection with the NYC.

Scenery is 85% complete

The railroad is basically single deck, around the walls of a 15’ x 22’ foot room with a central peninsula and grade up the branch. It was rebuilt for operation and is now holding regular operating sessions. Car forwarding is by Car Cards and Waybills with NCE wireless radio controlled throttles as well as one Proto Throttle. Ninety eight percent of the locomotives are equipped with sound decoders (mostly Soundtraxx) and fine-tuned with Decoder Pro. Op sessions are held using a crew of 5 and utilize a fast clock set at 3:1. The layout room is not handicap accessible.

The model railroad is set in the early 1970’s around the time of the consolidation of the B&O, C&O, and WM into the Chessie System. Fred Eisen loves the Chessie System paint scheme and the ability to have locomotives from all three railroads on the layout, but his heart is with the WM.

The layout is double deck connected with a helix approximately 21’x19’ with 10’ long by 1’ wide staging yards in an adjacent aisleway. There are four railroads represented on the layout, the WM, Ma & Pa, Penn Central and Reading. There are two interchanges, one with the Penn Central in Hanover, PA and one with the Reading Railroad in Gettysburg, PA. There is a WM branchline that runs from Porters Sideling to York PA. At last count there were 40 industries served by 20 scheduled trains. JMRI is used to generate switch lists.

The Delaware and Hudson Railway — Susquehanna Division is an under-construction three level point to loop layout with a planned mainline length of over 500 feet. It represents the D&H from Albany, NY to Binghamton, NY and Wilkes Barre, PA. Currently over 50% of the mainline is installed and operational, with basic scenery in place on the upper level.

With the decline of anthracite coal traffic by the mid-20th century, the D&H concentrated on bridge traffic, with principal connections being B&M, CP and CN on the north and EL, PRR (PC), LV and CNJ on the south. My pre-Contrail 1975-era D&H will operate with 14 daily through freights, including a pair of LV/ D&H run-throughs from Allentown, PA to the B&M connection at Mechanicville, NY. Also seen are extras including EL and N&W power.

Albany, Binghamton and Wilkes- Barre are represented by staging yards, while major classification work is performed in yards at Mechanicville and Oneonta, NY. The sawtooth profile of the Susquehanna Division requires helper operations in places, further adding to the action.

The Erie Lackawanna climbed steep grades both east and west out of Scranton, PA. This 28- by 34-foot HO Scale layout faithfully models the eastward climb to Pocono Summit and East Stroudsburg in July-August 1975, and nearly all trains require helpers to climb the grade. ProtoThrottles are used to control sound-equipped DCC locomotives, helping operators feel the struggle up the grade. Two eleven-track and one seven-track staging yards provide traffic. Two on-line yards and multiple on-line industries provide operating interest beyond the mainline action, and the Bloomsburg Branch provides a live interchange with the Reading Railroad plus additional industry. The layout is dispatched using ABS/Rule 251 on the mainline and timetable and train orders on the Branch. Turnouts are both commercial and handlaid, using code 83 rail for the mainline and code 70 in the yards and industrial areas. The layout is fully operational, and scenery is about 50% complete.