Open Houses at MARPM23

Dave Hughes models the Western Maryland in HO scale in late spring/summer, set from 1965 to 1973. His point-to-point, two-deck layout runs from Port Covington (Baltimore) on the east end to Hagerstown on the west. There is also a continuous run provision. Scenery is 95% complete. Prototype trackage modeled includes the Tide, East, and Hanover Subdivisions. If you like eclectic diesel locomotive consists and the glory of the WM’s proud twilight, you’ll love Dave’s layout. Access is gained via swing bridges – there are no duckunders.

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 W.V., 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 80% 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 over the past few years and is now holding regular operating sessions. Car forwarding is by Car Cards and Way Bills with NCE wireless radio controlled throttles as well as one Proto Throttle. Ninety five 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 Delaware & Hudson Railway - Susquehanna Division is a three level around-the-walls depiction of the D&H between the Albany, NY area and Nineveh Jct., NY, where the railroad splits with lines to both Binghamton, NY and Wilkes Barre, PA, in the 1974-75 time period.

This layout is based on the EL lines in central Pennsylvania (1975) with modeled mainline locations from East Stroudsburg west to Scranton, where there is a connection to Taylor Yard. There is also a branchline extending from Taylor to Rupert.

Train movements on the mainline are per dispatcher-controlled signaling, while the branch is TT&TO territory. HO, double deck walk-around plan, NCE Radio throttles, with Proto throttles assigned to most trains and yards. More information is on the web at: http://elscrantondivision.railfan.net.

The Richford Branch is an HO scale depiction of the branchline that once ran across the far north of Vermont between St. Albans and an interchange with the Canadian Pacific in Richford. Along the way, the line meandered through several New England towns and served a paper mill and a large plywood manufacturing plant. The layout depicts a single level, single track, unsignaled line – in other words, truly branchline railroading. The railroad measures approximately 15x32 feet.

All track and wiring are completed with about 50% of the layout scenicked. Structures are mostly scratchbuilt depictions of prototype buildings.

The New York Central Western Illinois Division (WID) is an HO Scale Model Railroad set in 1954. It operates from Kansas City, Omaha, and Des Moines on the west, through Moberly, MO and Hannibal, MO, to Danville, IL and Indianapolis, IN on the east. Modeled activities include a large yard and Engine Facility with an 18 Stall Roundhouse with programmable indexing servicing both Steam and Diesel. Industries include a Meatpacking Plant, Pulp Mill, Coal Tipple, City Scenery and a Port with Car Float.

The layout depicts the Lehigh & New England Railroad's Catasauqua Branch and its interchange connections with the Reading, Lehigh Valley, CNJ, and Ironton railroads circa the summer of 1956. Thanks to its proximity to the traffic-rich cement-producing region north of Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, this branch was one of the busiest interchange gateways on the L&NE. Those interchange operations along with local industry switching in "downtown" Catasauqua are the focus of the layout.

The layout is HO scale with the primary emphasis placed on depicting prototype scenes from the last two miles of the branch's west end as faithfully as possible. It occupies an approximately 23'x 23' area; scenery is about 50% complete. Access is via the basement stairs only.