Spokane, Pasco, and Columbia
Owner: Ben Amadeo
Scale: HO
Theme: Freelanced
Access: No restrictions
Description: The layout is a compilation of the River City Modelers’ former River City Railroad modules and the Tri-City Model Railroaders’ former modular layout. Modeled industries include oil/fuel distribution, cement, lumber, grain, and TOFC.
Southern Pacific – Applegate & Topaz Division
Owner: Anonymous
Scale: HO
Theme: Western Sierra Nevada foothill and mountain operations. 1980-1996
Size: 350 sq feet (main room)
Length of Continuous Mainline: 120 feet
Typical Train Length: 8 feet
Percentage Complete: Track-work 90%, Scenery 25%
Access: Stairway; duck-under doorway bridge. No ADA facilities available. Layout size limits to 5 people at one time.
Description: The owner is a long-time fan of Southern Pacific operations. His layout is a free-lance design inspired by operations between Roseville and Truckee, CA. The model railroad interchanges with limited Union Pacific and Burlington Northern operations. Benchwork is L-girder type using OSB and homasote as sub roadbed material. Track gradients are 2% maximum with minimum mainline radius of 28 inches. Track components are nearly all commercial variety with a few custom units. All building structures were done by others. Bridges are commercial or from owner’s kit or scratch work. Operations afford continuous, loop-to-wye, and point-to-point with hidden staging. The layout is DCC powered by a NCE system. The layout features double-track through city and hidden sections. Operations are being converted from tab-on-car to JMRI manifests. Unusual layout features include roll-out sections, overhead turnout status panels, significant scenery heights (up to 36 inches) and LED-tube layout lighting in valence boxes. Visitors are required to access the layout room in a basement area via a stairway and duck-under doorway bridge. No ADA facilities are available. Room and layout configuration limits visitors to a maximum of 5 at one time. Waiting area has chairs available. A complimentary layout drawing sheet is provided for interested visitors.
Glory Bee & Middleton
Owner: John Decker, MMR
Scale: HO, HOn3
Theme: 1920’s era steam, free-lance, Pacific Northwest logging/lumber, commercial fishing, marine freight, and mining
Size: 15’ x 17”’and 10’ x 12’ adjoining room
Style: Single deck, open grid.
Track: Hand-laid Code 55 and 70, Minimum radius 22”, Max grade 2.5%. Minimum turnout No. 5
Percentage Complete: 100% track work, 70% scenery
Access: No stairs but a steep driveway. Park at the bottom and walk up, unless disabled, then drive to top of driveway and park.
Description: The GB&M is an HO standard-gauge steam railroad running from Chehalis to Willipa Bay via Gray’s harbor with a narrow-gauge mining line into the Rainier region. Staging yards connect Chehalis north to Seattle and south to Portland. Scenery includes numerous craftsman and scratch-built structures and a hand-painted backdrop. Control is by NCE DCC. Operations is by timetable and car-cards with 4-stage waybills.
Cambia and Black Mountain
Owner: George Fuchs
Scale: HO
Theme: Free-lanced based in an O-scale layout the owner operated on. Late steam to early diesel era
Size: 26′ x 16′
Accessibility: The layout is 44 inches high. Doorway has a 10-inch-high threshold
Description: The layout is a point-to-point layout, twice around the room with attached peninsula in the middle. The layout features hand-laid track. LaJolla is located on the peninsula with service facilities. A port occupies the other side of the peninsula. San Carlos is situated at the end of the layout and is a fiddle yard. Southern Pacific has trackage rights from San Carlos to Black Mountain with hidden staging tracks. After working for Union Pacific for 21 years, some yellow stuff may make occasional visits. The layout is controlled by NCE DCC with a DC option.
Garden Railroad
Owner: Bob Jekel
Scale: G
Size: Circles the backyard
Length of Track: 400 feet
Description: The layout is a medium size railroad that goes around the perimeter of the backyard. There is approximately 400 feet of track. The railroad features two passing area and a small 3-track yard. There is a medium size KOI pond with a waterfall that the railroad passes behind. Locomotives are battery powered and controlled utilizing the CV Products Air Wire System.
Kootenay and Northern Railways
Owner: Phil Miller
Scale: HO, HOn3
Theme: 1950’s era narrow-gauge mining, 1970’s era northern BC standard gauge PGE/ BCR and NAR interchange. Layout is free-lanced but based on prototype.
Size: 15’ by 25’
Style: Around the walls with three peninsulas, open grid with L-Girder peninsulas
Track: Hand-laid Code 55 and 70 with a small amount of commercial Code 70 flex-track
Percentage Complete: Track work 100%, Scenery 40%
Access: Stairway to second floor of detached garage. Plenty of off-street parking. The layout room can accommodate about 6 people at a time. Chairs will be setup as a waiting area (outside if weather is pleasant, inside garage in case of inclement weather)
Description: The K&N consists of two layouts in one; the standard gauge Peace River Southern and the narrow gauge Kaslo and Slocan. One half of the room is dedicated to 1950’s narrow gauge with the second half dedicated to Northern Alberta Railway and Pacific Great Eastern/British Columbia Railway interchange and switching operations within Dawson Creek, British Columbia. The narrow gauge is based on the Kaslo and Slocan Railway. Due to room size, the narrow-gauge Cariboo Yard had to be placed such that narrow gauge trains must pass thru Dawson Creek on the way to the hills. Therefore, there is a large amount of hand-laid dual gauge track and turnouts. The standard gauge utilizes staging to connect Dawson Creek to Chetwynd, BC and to Grande Prairie, AB. Control is by NCE DCC. Operations is by timetable, although everything is run as an extra, and JMRI generated switchlists and manifests.
Tumbleweed Junction
Owner: Rob Murstig
Scale: HO
Theme: Free-lanced with open era mixed steam and diesel power
Size: 40′ x 25′
Length of Continuous Mainline: 300 feet
Access: No access restrictions
Description: The layout contains a 300 foot continuous mainline loop and 50 foot double-track elevated shelf industry spur. Three major industry island extensions contain 30 industry spurs for operations using JMRI generated switchlists. The layout is controlled using NCE DCC. Scenery is 95% complete with lighting and animation effects. Construction started in 2018 with 34 inch layout height so the grandkids can operate the layout.
Northern Pacific Mid-Columbia Division
Owner: Tri-Cities Model Railroaders
Scale: HO
Theme: 1940 to Transition era. Design based on the operations of the Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Spokane, Portland & Seattle operations in the lower Yakima Valley and mid-Columbia Basin of Washington State.
Size: 24’ x 78’
Style: Double-deck mushroom with wings along two walls. total of 4 levels
Track: Code 83 flex-track
Percentage Complete: Track-work 100%, Scenery 10%
Access: No restrictions
Description: The Northern Pacific, “Mid-Columbia Division” represents rail traffic in the lower Yakima Valley from Pasco to Yakima and from Hinkle, OR to Yakima. The Northern Pacific connects to the world west of Yakima via mainline through Easton and Stampede Tunnel to staging in Auburn. The eastern portion of the NP is represented by Spokane staging. The UP is represented by staging in Hinkle, OR with the branchline terminating in the Yakima yard. The SP&S runs between Spokane staging, thru Pasco, and on to staging at Wishram, WA. Scenic features are the Columbia River bridge at Pasco, and both portals of Stampede Tunnel. Many structures are based on prototype structures in the cities modeled. Control is by NCE DCC and supports Wifi throttles and phones. Local Layout Control (LLC) has been installed and controls all turnouts on the layout. Operations is by timetable and JMRI generated switchlists and manifests.
Kokomo Junction
Owner: John Pettigrew
Scale: N
Theme: Free-lanced, loosely follows Union Pacific practices; steam to diesel era
Size: 12’ x 20’
Access: No access restrictions
Description: The layout mainline has 15-inch minimum mainline curves (Big Boy ready) and approximately 74 turnouts on 3 levels. All turnouts are manually operated. The layout consists of a sawmill with pond, a logging area, 2 coal mines, engine facility with roundhouse and turntable, engine service facility, stock yard, grain elevators, and 2 towns. The layout features two string yards that are located under the layout via a helix.