General Description

This model is exclusively HO scale (1:87). The equipment operated on the layout represent periods from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present time. Most of the structures modeled date from the 1950's when the transition from steam to diesel motive power was in full swing in the USA.

The layout contains standard gauge track and narrow gauge track. Standard gauge is what most people know about when thinking about real life trains. This layout has 3 foot narrow gauge; the distance between the rails is 3 feet. This was used in the mountains where there wasn't room to have the standard gauge (wide) tracks.

Only one very small piece of the layout (the train ferry "Ramon") represents a place from real life. The overall theme is a composite of the mountainous area of the Western United States.

The layout is approximately eighteen hundred square feet, contains over 4,100 feet of track, has over 400 working switches or turnouts, and contains several miles of electrical wire.

From our collective knowledge, and that of our many visitors, we believe that we have the most mountainous model railroad of it's kind anywhere. The highest peak is about 1,350 scale feet about the floor if measured in HO scale, while the highest trackage is some 400 scale feet above the base table.

The mountains are constructed of lightweight concrete-based products spread thinly over a simple framework of wood and window screening. When properly textured and colored this plaster-like material creates a strong and believable mountainside.

The structures around the layout are of two kinds. Many are scratch-built from raw materials requiring many hours of work. Others are assembled from kits and are often improved by kit-bashing or modified in many ways. Proper painting and weathering are necessary to prevent a toy-shop appearance.

While construction and reconstruction projects have continued for over twenty years, it has never been possible to answer the frequently asked question, "How many man/woman hours have been spent here building the layout?" It seems as if it must be near a million!