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.
Harold Dill, Santa Fe Western Division
This fine HO layout is based on Harold’s 40 years as a fireman and engineer on the Santa Fe’s Western Division between Newton and Dodge City, Kansas. The layout concept is to have many trains, passenger and freight, steam through with minimal operator input. It is based on railfaning rather that prototype operation. The 19’x41’ layout includes 165 feet of code 83 double tracked mainline with additional hidden trackage. Set in the 1940-1960 era, steam and diesel locomotives pull their loads through the beautifully landscaped scenes.
Paul Fries, Red Board Hobbies
Located in the front window of Red Board Hobbies, this HO railroad features colorful fall scenery with a small town, lots of details, and modern motive power and rolling stock.
Bill Giese, Rock Island Railroad
Bill Giese’s Des Moines Area Rock Island HO scale model railroad features highly detailed city and industrial scenes filled with cars, trucks and people. The railroad, set in the late 1960s to early 1970s, is a walk-in design with a 76-foot single track main and 24-foot branch line using DC control with two walk around throttles and two fixed cabs. The layout is completely (and beautifully) sceniced, with a masonite backdrop of painted and printed scenes and structures with building flats.
Herb Gilden, Hi-Sioux Southern Railroad
This 38’x12’ HO railroad features the prototype Southern Railroad during the 1950-1970 period. It was featured in the May 2000 issue of Model Railroader. This steam and diesel layout has a dog bone mainline depicting the Smoky Mountain areas of Tennessee and the Carolinas. The Smoky Power Co. has been recreated along with a very large yard. Coal and wood (for charcoal) are the main commodities. The layout features a scratchbuilt Union Station and power plant, seven bridges, a trestle, heavy industrial manufacturing, extensive coal mining areas, plus a working 3-color signal system. There is also a scratchbuilt dam, outstanding backdrops, and a lighted city by night.
Ric Golding, Kaskaskia Valley Railway
This beautifully laid out and executed G garden railroad has over 400 feet of track with more under construction. A point to point plan provides operational variety for both steam and diesel locomotives and uses various radio-control battery powered equipment and sound systems (Locolink, RCS, Aristo Train Engineer). Structures, water effects, innovative garden railroad design concepts. Featured cover layout in the May 2001 NMRA Bulletin.
Chuck Graham, Cumbres & Toltec
The Fourth Division is a 13’x13’ two-level layout depicting standard and narrow gauge from Alamosa (Colorado) westward to Chama (New Mexico) and beyond. The upper level is a loop-to-loop narrow gauge featuring Chama, Cumbres Pass and a freelanced Toltec Mining District. Operation includes locomotive sound and occasional doubleheaders up The Hill. Scenery on the upper level is 75% complete with most of the structures, many scratchbuilt, in place. The lower level is still under construction, and will have a dual gauge yard at Alamosa with connections to a standard gauge folded loop and a 4½ turn narrow gauge helix to the upper level. DCC and Soundtraxx in HO/HOn30.
Greg Gray, San Miguel Southern Railroad
The On3, SMS RR is patterned after the Rio Grande Southern and runs from Telluride to Ridgeway, Colorado where it interchanges with both a standard Colorado & Pacific) and On2 gauge (the Silver Ridge) railroad. Great running motive power takes a back seat to the magnificent mountains and painted backdrops which recreate the grandeur of Colorado. Digitrax Radio Chief. This layout was featured in the August 2000 issue of the NMRA Bulletin.
Gary Gross, Franklin Pacific Railroad
The Franklin Pacific Railroad (FP) was organized in 1876 in the town of Franklin, Missouri. The original owners intended to extend the railroad from St. Louis, Missouri through Franklin and the Missouri Ozarks to the Pacific Ocean. The railroad was never able to achieve its objective because of financial, political and competitive circumstances that occurred over the years. Today, June 1955, the railroad is a shortline operation, connecting the town of Franklin with the towns of Taylorville, Gravelton, and Knobel and interchanging with the Missouri Pacific (MP), Kansas City Southern (KCS), and the St. Louis San Francisco (SLSF) railroads in a common yard at Franklin. The MP and SLSF have passenger and freight trains coming east from St. Louis and west from Kansas City and Springfield respectively, and the KCS has two freight trains that travel between Springfield and Kansas City, all stopping daily at Franklin. Passenger and freight traffic travels daily on the Franklin Pacific from Franklin to the towns of Knobel, Gravelton, and Taylorville and to industries in East Franklin, dropping off passengers and switching freight. Sixteen regularly scheduled trains flow in and out of Franklin daily.
John “Helix” Hardy, St. Jacques Northern / Great Northern
This freelance 30’x33’ railroad connects Chicago to Seattle. The area modeled is on the Columbia River in western Washington. Great Northern has running rights on this 1947-1970 era layout featuring code 83 main lines and code 70 yard trackage, lots of mountains, and some river traffic. Oh yes, you can find a few custom designed helixes here as well.
Ken Hartley, Baltimore & Ohio
B&O of the 50s runs through a number of scenes patterned after the prototype. Watch sixty different twenty-car trains appear and disappear at different locations east and west along the mainline. See them leaving and arriving New York City, whizzing or creeping between Baltimore and Washington, DC, going up or down the eastern slope of the Allegheny Mountains in the Potomac River valley, through the Alleghenies – and all on four track operation. HO 32’x24’, with one aisle enclosed by a B&O coach.
Jim & Sheila Heizer, Union Pacific Helix Division
The “UP Helix Division” is a family project started in 1997. It is located in Sheila’s garage which is now the train room (the garage door was replaced by a wall). The 12’x18’ layout has three levels connected by a double track seven-turn helix which includes 16 switches and two reversing ways and a reversing loop. Control is by Digitrax, with Red Caboose, Intermountain, IMX, Proto 2000 and OMI rolling stock. The layout is set in the transition period for steam and diesel operations.
Gary Hoover, N&W – Santa Fe – Missouri, Kansas & Quincy
Gary Hoover’s beautiful model railroads have appeared in all of the major modeling magazines, “in Great Model Railroads”, in Walthers catalogs, and the Allen Keller “Great Model Railroads 34” video. Gary’s HO scale layout is once again being rebuilt, this time as 1950s era Virginia coal fields on the N&W.
Fred Houska
Fred Houska’s completely sceniced N scale model railroad is an around the walls with peninsula design featuring DC control.
Jay Janzen, Santa Fe
Jay Janzen’s multi-deck Santa Fe HO model railroad has levels connected by an amazing helix and uses Digitrax DCC control.
Jeremy Janzen
Jeremy Jansen’s model railroad features photographic backdrops and detailed scenes.
Rich Jennings, Megan’s Ferry Railroad
Megan’s Ferry is a fictional town in mid-Missouri drawn from memories of the real towns of Fayette, Glasgow, New Franklin, Booneville and Rocheport. It is served by the family owned and operated shortline, Megan’s Ferry Railroad, with interchange from the Missouri Pacific and Missouri-Kansas-Texas. The layout is HO scale on an “L” girder shelf 32 feet long and up to 3 feet deep. The timeframe is October during the late 1950s. This is the 4th Megan’s Ferry layout, with many of the buildings carried forward with each improved version.
Bob Johnson, Pseudo Soo Line
The Pseudo-Soo Line (PSL) is set in north-central Wisconsin in June of 1953. It represents the Third Subdivision of the Gladstone Division of the “Soo”. The HO scale PSL is in an approximately 50’x16’ area using an around the wall design with a long center peninsula. The mainline is a closed loop with two single ended staging yards that represent Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (The “Soo”) and Minneapolis, Minnesota. The backdrop features over fifty feet finished with stamp art by Prue Johnson. Designed for operation, the layout’s traffic features iron ore, local forest and agricultural products, passenger, and a variety of freight runs. The modeled portion of the railroad runs from Rhinelander to Cameron, in north-central Wisconsin. The three online yards at Rhinelander, Ladysmith, and Weyerhauser are each operated by a two-man crew. A branch line at Ladysmith represents the Wisconsin Central routes to Superior, Wisconsin and Bessemer, Michigan (iron mining). The layout uses Digitrax DCC, card cards and waybills developed by Bob Johnson, and a 6:1 fast clock for operations. Dispatching is by verbal authority. There are typically three one-man road crews running trains in addition to the dispatcher and yard crews.
Brad Joseph, MMR, Union Pacific
You’ll feel like you’re in Wyoming when you step into this model of the UP over Sherman Hill from Cheyanne to Laramie. There are also separate C&S and CB&Q routes to Denver. This double deck HO layout features several scenes modeled after specific spots on Sherman Hill. Eras are mixed freely, so expect to see heavy steam moving iced reefer blocks and wide cab Dash 8s pulling low sulfur western coal in action! A nine track staging yard with a turntable, and the fully sceniced and operational town of Greely, Colorado, are recent additions to this nationally published layout.
Dee Joseph, Harriman-Hill Lines
Dee and his railroad are no longer with us, lost in a home fire at the end of 2010. We’ll be placing photos of Dee and his railroad online as a tribute to his many contributions to St. Louis area model railroading and railfans. His system featured big time transition era railroading. The PFM sound equipped roster included famous power from the UP and GN with many name trains like the Empire Builder, City of Portland, Oriental Limited and several smaller trains. The beautiful mountains and many bridges followed the UP-GN’s joint line between Denver and Glacier National Park. Finally, the adjacent room featured a working CTC board. Dee’s layout was featured in Model Railroader and the NMRA Bulletin.
Jerry Jungers, Western Arkansas Railroad
The Western Arkansas Railroad (the WAR) is a freelance railroad operating primarily in western Arkansas from Texarkana on the south end to Gateway on the north end. Several communities and the industries served are a result of the owner’s imagination. It all began in 2008, so it is very much a work in progress layout, attached to approximately 100 feet of finished basement walls, plus a couple 7 foot peninsulas. It is basically a point to point operation, with a double track main in dog bone fashion. At present the locomotive power is marked Arkansas & Missouri with a loaner from the Wabash, but eventually will be repainted in the WAR Royal Blue & White scheme. The St. Louis Southwestern RR (Cotton Belt) is an operating partner of the WAR and serves the industries on about half the layout, while the A&M handles the other half. A Frisco mixed freight and a Katy passenger train also make visits during operations. Industry structures and other details are constantly being added. Scheduled operating sessions are for a group of fellow members, as well as an occasional session by invitation.
