The Division officers are working on an update of this information. Here is the content that was on the old website. Please send changes to layouts@gatewaynmra.org.
Jim Agnew, Ajuga Flats
Jim has three separate G scale layouts, two inside and one in the “wilds” of his backyard. Indoors are a 20’x6′ dog bone featuring American steam and diesel plus a 30’x3′ point to point European prototype running under overhead wire. Outside there is a 20’x38′ loop with several passing sidings and spurs. The outdoor layout features Digitrax control of motive power, Phoenix sound, and air pressure control of the siding turnouts. Featured in the December 2000 issue of the NMRA Bulletin.
Jim Anderson, Eureka and Western
This freelance HO layout is set in the midwest and has been under development for over twenty years. The 50’x12’ layout represents a Class 1 railroad with trackage rights for all of the railroads found in eastern Missouri and western Illinois. Featured are a large coal mine and an oil refinery, along with an engine servicing area and large yard. A multi-track staging yard is hidden from view under the layout. DCC is being installed.
Len Applebaum, New Mexico Western Railway
The HO scale NMWRR is a freelance modern day railroad based on the ATSF and SP prototypes. The railroad operates from Amarillo, TX to Barstow, CA with mostly bridge traffic for the ATSF and SP. The area modeled is central and western New Mexico. There are numerous intermodal and coal trains on this 30’x40′ linear walkaround layout with a double track mainline. Motive power is mostly late generation diesels with thirty trains a day passing through the area. 30″ minimum radius with spiral easements on code 83 wood and concrete ties. Digitrax DCC control.
Noel Baker, Santa Fe La Junta Sub
This 1,300 square foot HO railroad is one of the larger single owner layouts around. The mainline is point-to-point and double tracked with staging at both ends. The era is the late 1930s to the early 1950s so steam and diesel power is included. The locate is Raton, New Mexico to La Junta, Colorado. Greg Gray did the painted backdrop. Two large yard facilities are planned with roundhouses, turntables as well as freight and passenger yards. The model features more industrial switching than the prototype.
Dave Bartz, Santa Fe Trinity Division
This 12’x32’ (with 7’x12’ staging yard) HO layout depicts the Trinity Division of the Santa Fe Railroad. Both steam, as well as diesels, are seen on this 50s era empire. The double track main is protected by operating 3-color signals, while operating dwarf signals protect some 30 turnouts.
Bill Beilstein
This freelance 30’x18’ HO layout is set in Missouri and Illinois, 1960-1970. See diesel (and some steam) trains cover ground on this Midwestern layout with some Union Pacific run-throughs. Digitrax DCC, UP mainline, switching industrial branchline.
Big Bend Railroad Club, Ozark & Springfield
Built in the historic Webster Groves train station on the Frisco mainline, this 18’x60’ O scale club layout has a five scale mile mainline point to point run, a stomping ground for Challengers, Big Boys, Y6Bs, E8s, ABA F-unit lashups and impressive passenger trainsets. The 40 members of the club, which has existed since 1938, are proud of their rolling mountainous scenery, a couple of really big bridges, and excellent trackwork. The four mainlines are operated from controls on an elevated platform above one end of the layout.
Scott Bimson, Alton and Southern
Prototype modeling of St. Louis and East St. Louis of the 1970s-1980s is the setting of this 22’x34’ HO railroad with many scratch and kit-bashed structures. Digitrax DCC controls the over 1,000 feet of track including a trip over the 25-foot long MacArthur Bridge. Watch operations at Alton & Southern A&S hump yard while other Midwestern railroads (UP, MP, CNW, MKT, and others) arrive and depart the yard. Trains arrive from a hidden staging yard.
Bob Boedges, Fussin & Fumin
Bob’s N scale completely sceniced modern era BNSF in St. Louis layout features a single track mainline loop with Digitrax DCC control. The layout is located in the lower level of a split foyer home and includes the 2 car garage. Bob has monthly operating sessions using a document prepared in Microsoft Word and colored adhesive dots.
Ray Boismenue, Brittany Short Line
This G scale outdoor 17’x25’ layout features three separate mains, bridges, and a large trestle. Various steam and diesel powered trains will be seen including locomotives and both sound and smoke. The BSL has great buildings and beautiful plants.
Phil Bonzon, Buffalo Creek and Gauley
Phil is a long-time B&O fan and recently became interested in the BC&G through Deane Mellander’s and Bob Kaplan’s book “B&O Steam Finale Volume 1″. The original thought was that the BC&G would be an ideal short-line to model with the B&O. As time passed, the BC&G and ERC&L became the more dominant roads on the layout. Through the use of the Intenet and topographical maps Phil developed an HO layout plan that is 20’7″x15’2”. The time period is the late 1950s. Steam and diesels were both in use on the B&O. The layout is currently under construction, 300 feet of track has arrived and 50 of the 65 turnouts have arrived (Shinohara turnouts are a little hard to obtain). The BC&G will include Dundon (station, shops, company houses and store), Avoca wye, Sand Fork, Cressmont (dairy), Swandale (sawmill, engine house, company store and houses) and Widen (mine, tipple, power house, Widen bank, company store & houses). The ERC&L will join the BC&G at the Avoca wye and will include the Lilly Fork. The vertical separation between the two railroads will vary from 4″ were they cross to 7″ at Swandale and 8″ at Widen. At Widen the ERC&L track will be at eye level. Phil’s goal is to capture the character and surroundings of the ERC&L and BC&G and bring them back alive through my layout. The layout will be a never-ending project and hopefully, a constantly improving one.
Ralph Boyd, R&N Railroad
This beautiful HO layout represents a fictitious small branchline in the late 1940s near Thurmond, West Virginia, and features the Nickel Plate Railroad serving two major coal mines and a small marshalling yard. Much of the exposed single track in the 13’x27’ room is hand-laid and features a 33″ minimum radius, two reverse loops and hand-made turnouts. Scratchbuilt and commercial kit structures dot the rural landscape backed by hand painted distant mountains with stormy and clear skies with clouds so real you’ll forget they are painted. A creek edges Mill Creek Mine #2 and flows by a deserted mill. Digitrax DCC.
Eric Brooman, Utah Belt
The new Utah Belt is an expanded version of the original with a similar modern southwest theme. Set in northern New Mexico, the 165’ mainline runs through desert and mountain scenes. A linear sound-the-walls design with a central peninsula is used. The mainline connects two staging areas of six 20’ reverse loops stacked over each other. Intermodal, unit coal trains and manifests pulled by modern EMD power keep the rails polished on this intermountain bridge route. The Utah Belt has been featured in many issues of both Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman.
Bob Buschart
CB&Q and AT&SF in Northern Colorado is the emphasis on this large 35’x40′ HO railroad. Multi-cab lash-ups and long trains are frequent on this layout which features three yards, one of them primarily for reefers. A coal mine, diesel facility and other assorted industries are in evidence. Mountains and 1,000 feet of track provide a setting in which trains can appear and disappear seemingly at will. Hidden yards below the layout provide storage for several trains.
