Philadelphia Convention 2006

The 2006 NMRA and LDSIG Conventions will be held in Philadelphia. More information on the NMRA Convention, Independence Junction 2006, is available by clicking here.

• • SIG-specific event registration help
  • SIG meeting times and places, hotel room sharing, and carpool information

Layout Tours

On Wednesday, July 5th will be the layout tours and picnic. The layouts selected for the tours show many state of the art techniques, plus some adaptations of older designs to modern thinking.

Accessibility for the layouts are average. Most of the layouts are in basements, but most are newer homes with easy stairs. One has narrow steps, but it can be accessed from the house where there is a hand rail. One is in a garage with walk in access, and there are two that are unknown.

Bruce Friedman's CSX system is based on today's CSX, focusing on the Philly Subdivision. All trains are based on real life operating patterns, and the industries modeled are all based on actual locations along the line and include automobile manufacturing and distribution, plus many other industries. Many of the scenes, both on and off line are modeled after the actual locations. The railroad is double decked; with the bottom deck standard L girder, and the top deck 2" foam on metal shelf brackets. The layout includes two helixes, one that is 8' tall! There is a large staging yard, operational B&O signals using Integrated Signal Systems, and DCC by Digitrax. The railroad is 100% complete, with only minor scenery work to be done.

Carl Huth models the Reading in the era from 1952 - 1976. The main line from Pottsville to Philadelphia is double tracked, and the line to Newberry Jct. is single track. Reading PA. is the hub of the layout, and most trains will pass there and make large pick-ups and setouts. Freights will vary in length with some up to 80 cars long. There are 24 scheduled trains in an operating session and many extras. Operation is with waybills and Easy DCC by CVP Products. The main line and branch lines are point to point for operation, but continuous run is available for open houses. Two years went into the planning of the layout. It has 23 corners, multiple stairs a workshop, storage room, and a restroom! The bench work is open grid, with the roadbed laminated wood with spacers. Yards are plywood and homasote. Wide aisleways and no duckunders are the norm. A slide up section with 5 levels of track in front of the men's room door is the only duck under during operating sessions!

Paul Cappeloni models the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western in 1945-1953. The layout has a double tracked main line around the room, with the Bangor& Portland branch on a peninsula down the middle. The main line features continuous running. The layout is triple decked with staging on the lowest level. Many of the scenes are of a specific geographic location, and include the Delaware Water Gap and the concrete arch viaduct across the river. There is continuous staging around the room with many of the local railroads including the L&NE, the Lehigh Valley, the PRR, and the Northampton & Bath. The railroad is built with foam insulation board.

E. Winfield Gross' Pennsylvania theme railroad is a classic island style railroad with a number of new design ideas added in recent years. The old portion of the railroad is plain grid bench work with plaster scenery, while the new portions are shelves about 18" wide hung from the walls. The railroad features mostly PRR equipment, with Reading, Jersey Central, Lehigh Valley and Lackawanna interchanges included. The railroad is operated with car cards and hand written switch lists, and includes passenger and freight traffic. There are several branch lines and much local work to do. Control is by Digitrax DCC.

John Rogers models Northern New England railroading in the classic transition era. Included on this multi deck railroad are the Boston & Maine, Canadian Pacific, and the Maine Central. All traffic is controlled by timetable and train order. The railroad is a linear walk around design with a dual helix, and includes multiple main lines and branch line operations. There is a Dispatchers desk and telephone system in place for communications. All of the work on this current version of the railroad was completed in just over a year, and except for extending a branch line, all trackage and much scenery is in place. Control is by Digitrax DCC.

Larry Reynolds models the PRR from Huntingdon to Tunnel Hill. Operations feature passenger trains, symbol freights, and locals over a 4-track main line. Activities at Altoona and the operations through Horseshoe Curve are a focal point of the railroad. The railroad is a single deck linear design built around the walls of the room. Staging operations require an additional operator to control trains in and out of the active railroad. This operator supports the Dispatcher at Alto. There are a number of future projects in the works including an extension of he mainline west that will partially double deck the railroad, a signaling system, and a total redesign of Altoona yard.

Jim Hertzog's well known Reading Lines layout features the Anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania during the steam to diesel transition era. Trains run under the control of the Dispatcher, and include passenger and through freights with numerous locals. Lenz DCC is used for control, and some units are equipped with sound. The layout is a linear walk around design that is single level and includes three helper districts. When facing the railroad West is always to the left. Staging is accomplished in a large double deck staging area. Bench work and track are complete, and most of the railroad is sceniced.

Joe Lofland's Erie -Lackawanna railroad focuses on the Lackawanna side of the lines from Stroudsburg to Binghamton. The railroad is around the wall with two islands, and is double deck at some points. Construction is L girders made from plywood, with risers and spline sub-roadbed. Homasote is used for the roadbed. The layout is constructed using cantilevers off of the wall studs with no posts or wires. When facing the railroad West is always to the left.

Jim Dalberg's prototype based layout is set in the transition era, and follows the Lehigh Valley and CNJ between Jersey City and Pittston. This double, and at points triple deck layout places towns in correct order and includes numerous interchanges with many other lines. The railroad is point to point and there are three staging yards and two helixes scattered throughout the railroad. Operation includes passenger and through freight, plus locals. Also included are car float operations to various NYC terminals.

Gale Smith's Lehigh Valley railroad occupies a 21' X 25' room with an around the room, double deck linear design. There is 365' of double track main line that runs from Allentown to Rockport Tunnel. There are staging yards at both ends (8 tracks East and 16 West end), with three major online yards. Traffic includes 5 local drills, two coal mines, and a cement industry, as is typical of the area served by the Lehigh Valley. Track work is almost complete and scenery is under way.

Paul Backenstose has recently completed the change of his PRR based layout to the Western Maryland. The original design was based on John Armstrong's PRR Schuylkill Division plan, to which three staging yards were added. The current operation reflects the WM from Hagerstown to Cumberland and Connellsville and the Thomas Subdivision. The railroad is built around the walls with a center peninsula, with portions multiple decked. Track work is almost completed, and many areas of the railroad are fully sceniced.

Steve Salotti models the New York, Susquehanna & Western railroad in 1949. The double deck, linear design occupies two large rooms in the basement. The railroad closely follows the operations of the Susie-Q in '49, with many actual industries and cars from the time period included on the railroad. Traffic includes commuter and express trains running on actual NYS&W symbols, with all freights run as extras. All passenger trains are first class and run on timetable, while freights run only by train order. There is a three to one fast clock, and phone system used to relay orders (Form 19). Track work is nearing completion, with only the Edgewater Branch with the large Ford assembly plant to be finished, and scenery is about 60% completed.

Ken McCorry is the host for our picnic this year, and his large layout, housed in its own separate building, will be open for you to visit. Ken's railroad models the ex PRR Buffalo line from Rockville tower near Harrisburg to the Ebenezer yard terminal in Buffalo NY. Current time period modeled is 1976-1983. RR requires 3 dispatchers Rockville, Kase and Lyco to handle operations on the 1450' long mainline. 20 operators are required for full operations. Signaling is currently in operation from Buffalo to Renovo. Scenery is about 65% Digitrax DCC.

In addition, Brian Good from our layout design challenge will have his basement space and collection of research materials open for you to look at. With a list of layouts like this, there are sure to be many ideas you can glean for use on your layout! Will we see you at the Junction this year?

Detroit Convention 2007

The 2007 NMRA and LDSIG Conventions will be held in Detroit July 22-28.

Information on the NMRA Convention, The Great Lakes Express, is available by clicking here.

Information on the LDSIG activities at the convention is available here: http://www.nmra.org/2007/ldsig_page.htm#Great_Lakes_Express_2007
 

The following LDSIG activities are available to all convention attendees -- membership is not required (but we would love for you to join!)

Displays & LDSIG Desk – in the SIG Roundhouse (Mackinac East Room). Members’ informative displays include trackplan diagrams, layout photographs and 3d mock-ups, and priority lists of design features to help others learn how others have solved layout design problems. Design-related clinic schedules, descriptions of open-house layouts for the Wednesday tour, carpool signup lists, a local restaurant list, and a roommate-wanted list. A bulletin board will have important updates about LDSIG events -- be sure and check daily for activities and schedules. You may catch great discussions from time to time, especially in-between clinics. The SIG Roundhouse (Mackinac East Room) is open Sunday, July 22nd from 4:00p to 11:00p and daily throughout the week from 8:00a to 11:00p. Saturday, July 8th the SIG Roundhouse will close at noon.

Layout Design Advice – (Mackinac East Room) The Layout Design SIG offers a free design consultation service. Stop by for an available consultation period. Bring your list of "Givens & Druthers," proposed track plans, etc., to obtain valuable help.

(NEW) Pre-Convention Layout Visits

Sunday, July 22, 10:00a to 1:00p, Blissfield, Michigan (about 70 miles south of Detroit). Self-guided layout visits to Doug Tagsold's photogenic HO scale Denver, Front Range & Western and Doug's On3 D&RGW Silverton Branch (two layouts at one place); and the Blissfield Club's HO double-deck layout. Doug is at 303 S. Lane St., Blissfield. The Blissfield Club is at 115 E. Adrian St., Blissfield, Mi. Maps at the bottom of this page.

Sunday, July 22, Noon to 5:00p, Northwood (Toledo), Ohio. Pete Forbes will host an open house Sunday, July 22, for LDSIG and OPSIG members driving to the Detroit NMRA Convention via Toledo, Ohio. Pete is modeling about 4 miles of the urban PRR Phildelphia Terminal District between North Philadelphia and Frankford Junction. The 20x25' HO layout will feature the 4-track main line, signaled interlockings and catenary, industrial branch lines, and a fiddle yard to generate traffic. So far the main line is running and the N. Philly station platforms, Shore Interlocking, and several overpasses and underpasses have been modeled. From the Ohio Turnpike (I-80) west of Cleveland, take Exit 71 onto I-280 North. Go 7 miles and take the 3rd exit, Exit 6, for "Woodville/Curtis Road". Go up the exit hill and turn right at the stop sign onto Curtis Road. Go .2 miles and take the second right onto Chantilly Rue (West). The address is 108 Chantilly Rue (West). Pete's phone is 419-309-8648.

Meet 'n Greet – Sunday, 7:00p, Greco Room. Begin your convention by meeting other attendees who are especially interested in layout design. Hear informal LDSIG-member introductions about their layout design and construction status, plus timely event announcements and networking opportunities. Meet published authors and respected contributors to various email lists. A nice social occasion. Sunday, 7:00p, Greco Room.

The following LDSIG activities require membership in the LDSIG:

LDSIG Annual Meeting – Wednesday, 8:30a to 10:30a, Cartier Ballroom. Our annual membership meeting agenda includes bylaws amendments, voting for a director, and officer and volunteer reports. All members should participate because a quorum of members is required. Layout tour maps will be distributed at the close of the meeting.

LDSIG Layout Tour and Picnic – Wednesday 11:00a departure, last layouts open until 10:00p. A highly-regarded self-guided tour and picnic by carpool or rental car (no transportation provided). Tickets must be purchased at NMRA tour desk before Monday at 9:00p so we can finalize food order. Sign up for carpools Sunday-Tuesday in the Mackinac East Room. The time and location for finalizing carpools, organizing car rentals, and distributing maps will be announced on the LDSIG’s Bulletin Board in the Mackinac East Room. Information on nearby rental car agencies will be available for those wanting to gather a group of friends or "birds of a feather" to visit specific layouts. Event is open to members’ spouses. Nineteen innovative home and club layouts will be open to choose from – expect to see about ten, with up to 200 miles of driving. The picnic (ticket required) will be at the Operations Road Show layout location.

(NEW) Special Thursday Morning Layout Visits - Thursday, 10:00a to 1:00p, Blissfield, Michigan (about 70 miles south of Detroit). These layouts would have been on our Wednesday Tour and Picnic, but were in the wrong direction and too far away. Self-guided layout visits to three interesting layouts, including Doug Tagsold's photogenic HO scale Denver, Front Range & Western and Doug's On3 D&RGW Silverton Branch (two layouts at one place), and the Blissfield Club's HO double-deck layout. See below for addresses and maps. (These layouts are also open on Sunday before the convention--see above)

LDSIG Reception and Program – Friday, 6:00p to 8:00p, Penthouse of the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown hotel, two blocks from the main Convention hotel. Cash bar, light hors d'oeuvres (not a dinner). A great social occasion to wrap up the LDSIG’s week of Convention activities. An entertaining program will begin about 7:00p, featuring an illustrated presentation by Jack Ozanich, the designer of the very innovative and influential Atlantic Great Eastern Railroad. Spouses and members of the Operations SIG are welcome. Reception tickets must be purchased at the Convention Tour Desk by Tuesday afternoon (changed: was Monday, 9:00p). Plan on having your own early or late dinner (we will provide a list of area restaurants in varying price ranges), and join us for a "cocktail party and show" either before or after.

(NEW) Special Friday Evening Layout Visit - Friday, after LDSIG Reception, until 10:00p. Mike Burgett's fully signalled C&O layout will be open for modelers specifically interested in signal systems. If you missed this layout on our Wednesday tour, this is an opportunity for a visit. For directions, see maps from Wednesday or visit LDSIG display room.

All 20 Layouts on the LDSIG Tour and Picnic

Ann Arbor Model Railroad Club

HO Group 3

The Huron Valley Railroad is housed in an historic and restored 1886 Michigan Central Depot located in Dexter, Michigan.  It represents a shortline railroad being spun off the New York Central in southeastern Michigan.  Features include NCE command control and the JMRI computer application driving CMRI based detection and signals.  The layout is a single track point-to-point operation between Detroit and Jackson, with emphasis on local freight and passenger service.

Michael J. Burgett

HO Group 4

My HO scale railroad models the Chesapeake and Ohio’s (C&O) line as accurately as possible between Clifton Forge and Gladstone, Virginia in August of 1965. The historical aspect as well as the operational aspect is my main focus in the construction of this layout. Making the operator walk away with the feeling that he has spent a day back in time working for the C&O is the objective to this effort. The CTC system is of primary focus to me and will feature all aspects of prototype signaling as employed by the C&O, route locking, time locking, call on features and prototype C&O signal aspects to name a few. The CTC machine was acquired from an actual railroad and features only original Union Switch and Signal Company’s (US&S) components.

Larry Burk

HO Group 4

SE coal hauler/bridge line set in 1980. Large double and triple deck designed for operations. Staging for 45 trains. Numerous through freights, some locals and lots of coal. 25 – 30 car trains over a 600’ mainline. NCE radio DCC. Dispatcher control with radios. Monthly operating sessions with 15 – 20 operators.

Ken Chick

N Group 2

The Danforth Hadley & Northern is a 30' x 60' point to point railroad with two large yards and a large engine facility, featuring long runs through beautiful scenery between 12 cities on a 400' main line. Based on the Northern Pacific Montana Division operating between Huntley and Garrison, MT, it shares tracks with its parent NP and an occasional GN train. The railroad is steam to diesel transition on code 55 track with hand-laid turnouts and crossings, NCE DCC, a branch line and a separate logging railroad. Construction uses L-Girder benchwork and both Homasote on plywood and spline roadbed. Scenery uses “Oatmeal’ over Styrofoam and Geodesic scenery materials. An aluminum backdrop is used to round corners and for the backdrop on a peninsula. The DH&N has appeared in several major trade publications including most recently in Scale Rails.

Mario Mateo

HO Proto 87 Group 3

The CRRR is an independent line running from Anacortes, WA on Puget Sound and up the Skagit Valley to the Diablo dam construction site. The setting is just pre-WWII -- around spring of 1940 plus or minus one year -- at a time when many of the products of the Valley were in greatly increasing demand in the lead up to the war. The CRRR actively interchanges with the GN (at Burlington, WA) and the NP (at Sedro Woolley, WA), as well as with a number of small timber lines along its route. The CRRR layout is being built to Proto-87 standards; all layouts are custom built and all rolling stock must be modified significantly from typical NMRA standards to run on this track. As such, the CRRR is one of the largest P87 layouts in existence. The layout is designed for operation, with considerable staging available for the GN, NP , as well as the logging lines and numerous on-line and off-line industries for switching. The layout should be of particular interest to members of the Layout Design, Operations, and P87 SIGs.

John DePauw

HO Group 4

I model the Elgin Joliet and Eastern Railway in the fall of 1973. The actual prototype railroad runs a 30 mile radius around Chicago, Il. All railroads coming into Chicago cross the “J” at some point. Some railroads more than once. I have modeled most of these interchanges; some are at grade, others are over and under. There are 101 staging tracks. The layout is in a 2000 sq ft basement. The layout is built in a double deck configuration. In some locations there are 3 levels. I’ve used a support structure made out of metal in a “U” form. It is called strut. It goes together like an erector set. On top of the strut support system I have installed ¾” plywood with ¼” Upsom board on top of the plywood. I use cork for my roadbed for the mainline trackage and the industrial areas are laid directly on Upsom board. My trackage is all code100 flex track using Peco and Shinohara switches. I’ve used ¼” drywall for my backdrops and all corners are curved. I am using the NCE DCC system for control of the railroad. All main line switches will be powered and controlled via the dispatchers. I say dispatchers because there will be 2 dispatchers. The trackage between Gary yard and Joliet yard is double track and is controlled by the #2 dispatcher. The trackage between Joliet and Waukegan is single track with passing tracks and will be controlled by the #1 dispatcher. The layout has been built with operation as the basics.

Dan Kempf

Sn3 Group 3

The Clear Creek Branch is point to point with an option for continuous running. It is set in the 1930’s and starts at the wye in Forks Creek travels up the canyon of the Clear Creek to Idaho Springs. At Idaho Springs the line services passenger station, the Argo Mill and Stanley Mine, a mine supply warehouse, bulk oil, gasoline and coal facility, along with a lumber yard along and other general industrial sites. Moving up the canyon the next stop is Georgetown. In Georgetown the train will stop at the station or drop of loads of coal or lumber or pick up empty cars at Stewart & Wing. The Georgetown Power plant, mining supply warehouse or the Clear Creek Sampler Works are also serviced before heading off to Silver Plume. After crossing the Devils Gate Bridge the next stop is Silver Plume with its station, team track and coal, lumber and oil facilities. From Silver Plume it is possible to run continuous through the Alpine Tunnel to Forks Creek. The bench work is all “L” girder construction with riser and spline and homosote roadbed. The track and switches are mostly prefab. Some of the “special” track work in Idaho Springs is hand built. I have 3 PFM sound systems that operate the layout that add a great dimension to operation. The premises of operations are that three operators could operate at the same time. Two main line trains, while a third operates in a yard.

Bill Neale

HO Group 2

Actual railroad documents, ETT’s, track charts, historical letters, etc. were used to develop a plan. The plan was built in two stages, allowing early operation. A 3-dementional mock-up was created to check clearances, and to comprehend the overall look and feel of the layout. Some design for locomotive sound considered and incorporated. Part of the layout is actually double deck, with the mainline climbing a 2% grade to reach the second level. This replicates the eastbound helper district on the prototype, as the PRR climbed out of the Ohio River Valley from the Steubenville/Weirton Jct. area heading towards Pittsburgh. Design also accommodated both tunnels on this part of the line as important design elements in the overall plan. Total mainline length is about 3 scale miles. Staging was developed to provide a reasonable representation of the actual traffic running in September of 1939. Staging yards have minimal access, with 3 yards stacked on one wall, and partially hidden staging on the other side of the access aisle. Staging includes a loads in-empties out arrangement. Scenery in done through about 70% of the layout, with rough forms in place for the other 30%.

R. Brooks Stover

S Group 4

Prototypical representation of BC&G coal-hauling 19 mile line through WV mountains, including all four towns serviced by the prototype. Linear track plan with 100’ mainline on around the wall benchwork with large central peninsula with above-eye-level scenery. All three of road’s Consolidations and many of its rolling stock are modeled. Also represented is the Lilly Fork logging line of the ERC&L Co., including sawmill at Swandale. Layout is designed for prototypical operation, using car orders based on prototype paperwork. Typical op session runs 8 trains of all three roads. NCE DCC with Soundtraxx sound in all locomotives. Hand operated ground throws. All structures are scratch built from photos of prototypes. Some are accurate representations; others capture the character but are freelanced.

David Thornton

O Group 1

This is a railroad that represents a change in history. The Baltimore & Ohio acquired the Kanawaha & Michigan Railroad instead of the NYC. The line became a secondary mainline hauling coal from the Charleston, West Virginia area to the Lake Erie port of Sandusky, Ohio, where the B&O actually did have a coal dumper. The section of line I model is from Kanagua, Ohio, on the north bank of the Ohio River through Athens, Ohio to Zanesville, Ohio. There is interchange and trackage rights running with the C&O (Hocking Valley) between Galapolis and Hobson Junction, Ohio; a crossing and junction with the B&O St. Louis main at Athens, Ohio; and major coal mine branch at Botsko, Ohio; and interchange with the NYC (Zanesville & Western), NKP (W&LE), and PRR (Morrow Branch) at Zanesville, Ohio. There is a large, double ended division point yard at Kanagua. There is a three track, 72 car capacity stub end staging yard for Cincinnati, and 8 track, 192 car capacity double ended staging yard for Charleston and Newark, Ohio, and 2 – 2 track 24 car capacity stub end staging yards for the Pennsy Morrow branch, and one each 10 car capacity staging yards for the NYC and NKP. Traffic is predominately coal and chemicals moving north and manufactured goods moving south. There are two crossings at grade; one with the B&O St. Louis main at Athens and one with the PRR Morrow branch at Zanesville. The staging yards are located below Athens and the mine complex. Minimum radius is 60” and all curves are eased. #6 turnouts are the minimum with a number of #7 and #8 turnouts. All 65 plus turnouts are hand layed. There is currently over 800 lineal feet of track in place with a total of 1600 feet planned. There is minor passenger service (4 -5 car trains, all steam powered heavyweights) between Charleston and Cincinnati and Charleston and Willard, Ohio. This is late in the steam era, but the B&O is still heavily steam powered in this part of the world for another year.

Larry Wright

HO Group 2

Railroad is essentially the Ma & Pa moved from the east side of Pennsylvania to western Pennsylvania. It represents a shortline running from Wellsville, Ohio, on the Ohio River northeast to Erie, Pa.

Jim Zinser

HO/Hon3 Group 1

Michigan Upper Peninsula mining/logging theme. Rugged, UP scenery, detailed structures. Standard and narrow gauge trackage (standard gauge mainline and branch trackage completed, narrow gauge mainline trackage to be laid this summer but narrow gauge line will not be operational by convention time). A 10-track hidden staging yard that pulls out like a drawer when in use, then disappears under a town when not in use. Note that while the staging yard is complete and operational, the town over it will not be constructed until after the convention, thus the yard’s mechanisms will be fully visible. A whistle-stop station and water tank scenery section that flips over (via motor) to become just a section of wilderness. This “disappearing town” concept allows the same area to simultaneously serve both as a stop and a pass-through sceniced area, adding more “miles” to operating sessions. Thus even though a train will go through the same area more than once, the scene will change each time as will the action taken during operation. (Construction of this feature to take place this summer).

Operations Road Show

HO Group 3 (also the Picnic Location)

This modular constructed layout features TT & TO operations on 55 miles of the Wabash Montpelier Division’s Second District between Peru and Lafayette, Indiana. Designed with unobstructed access to fit into the typical hotel ballroom at NMRA National Conventions, a unique aspect of the modules is that they are double-sided; doubling the running length and with about one foot of depth to the modeled scene. The layout had its public debut in July 2003 at the Maple Leaf 2003 NMRA National Convention in Toronto. It also was displayed at the Cincinnati Convention. Intensive research for the layout included a detailed list of “Givens and Druthers” used to make design decisions. The layout was written up in the February 2006 issue of Rail Model Journal.

Skip McDonald

HO Group 3

The Mackinaw & Western models a fictitious bridge line in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula based on the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic in the 1950’s. The modeled portion of the line begins in Mackinaw City on Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, with the crossing of the Straits of St. Ignace modeled with the car ferry Chief Wawatamon a pivot arm crossing an aisle, and stretches to Ishpeming and Marquette in the UP.

Thomas Lendzion

O Group 1

The NYC Ypsilanti (MI) branch is a loose copy of an agricultural line which emphasizes switching, with 2 man crews assigned to locals. A yardmaster and a road crewman round out positions. I can accommodate approx. 6 people per session. The line models Southeast Michigan from Ypsilanti to Cement City, with 3 towns in between. All industry is modeled on the actual customers on the prototype.

South Oakland County Model Railroad Club

HO Group 1

We are modeling the Grand Trunk Western, Holly Subdivision from Milwaukee Junction (Downtown Detroit) to the city of Durand during the transition period. The layout is a two level design with two helixes and wide aisles. It is designed to be a point to point layout but has turnaround capability at each end. The upper level of the layout is single track representing the more rural areas with a few switching areas. Double track begins at the upper entrance to the main helix and represent the more industrial areas from Pontiac to Detroit. Our goal is to be as historically correct as feasible.

Dave Regittko

HO/HOn3 Group 4

Two division RR with division point yards, engine servicing and industrial switching. Four online towns, with much switching, staging for 16 trains at each end of the RR. Some HOn3. ABS signals, helper grade where trains won’t make the hill w/o helpers. Most switches are powered. CTC80 control. Need 12 operators for full session, can run with any number.

John Orminski

HO Group 4

Around the Walls with 3 Peninsulas, two level, two laps to complete. Large freight yard and engine terminal area. Diverse scenes, Dale Jct (WY) and German-themed towns. All Peco track and turnouts (approx 50) all powered.

Detroit Model Railroad Club

O/On3 Group 4

Easily one of the country’s oldest model railroad clubs, the Detroit Model Railroad Club was founded in 1935 and the Detroit Union Railroad has been located in its current home – a converted movie theater – since 1974. The railroad is 2 rail O scale and has 3500 lineal feet (32 scale miles) of hand laid standard gauge track with over 100 feet of On3 track under construction. The sloping floor of the old movie house allows the layout to be on two floors of the building with over 7 feet of elevation change and scenery topping 8 feet in some locations. And construction is not for the weak; access to some areas is by walking on the track! The 8 ½ mile long mainline is 50% double track and 50% single track with a ruling grade of 1 ½ % and there is a 2 ½ mile long branch with a ruling grade of 3% tying end to end with the narrow gauge line. Train control is by verbal train orders and radio controlled DCC. The railroad features 18 double ended staging tracks accommodating trains from 30 to 50 cars in length.

Roger Parry

HO Group 2

Roger Parry's large layout occupying his entire basement. Modeling the Great Northern in Washington, this single-level layout features five major towns each in a separate room. Specific scenes include a bay on Puget Sound, and the Cascade Mountains. Only steam locomotives are allowed on Roger's layout! Tall duck-under. Large staging yard; operations by waybill.

Directions for Sunday and Thursday Layouts

(see above for dates and times) Here are sketch maps to Doug Tagsold's layouts and to the Blissfield Club layout:

Anaheim Convention 2008

The 2008 NMRA and LDSIG Conventions was held in Anaheim July 13-19.

Information on NMRA Conventions is available at the national convention website - http://www.nmra.org/2008/; information on the LDSIG Convention is available here as well as on the NMRA site.

SIG Room

All week long you can make the SIG room the place to be. We are sharing the room with other Special Interest Groups including the Operations Special Interest Group which is planning a full round of operations during the convention. NMRA Special Interest Groups (SIGs) were invited at Anaheim Special 2008 to share modeling ideas, publications, services and membership information with convention attendees. The SIG Room (Grand Ballroom salon E with the contest room) is open Sunday, July 13th from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM, Monday and Tuesday 8:00 AM to 10:00, Thursday and Friday from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM. Saturday, July 19th the SIG Room will open and 8 AM and close at noon. Make the SIG Room your convention headquarters networking opportunities, meeting others for planning, designing, building, and operating considerations intended for your dream layout.

Displays & LDSIG Desk – in the SIG Room [Grand Ballroom salon E with the contest room]. Members’ informative displays include track plan diagrams, layout photographs and 3-D mock-ups, and priority lists of design features to help others learn how others have solved layout design problems. Frequently, the layout designer is available for discussion. Design-related clinic schedules, descriptions of open-house layouts for the Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday tours, carpool signup lists, a local restaurant list, and a roommate-wanted list will be available. A bulletin board will have important updates about LDSIG events -- be sure and check daily for activities and schedules. You may catch great discussions from time to time, especially in-between clinics.

Layout Design Advice – The Layout Design SIG offers a free design consultation service. Stop by for an available consultation period. Bring your list of "Givens & Druthers," proposed track plans, questions, etc., to obtain valuable help.

Meet 'n Greet

Meet 'n Greet – Sunday, July 13th, 7:00p, Begin your convention by meeting other attendees who are especially interested in layout design. Hear informal LDSIG-member introductions about their layout design and construction status, plus timely event announcements and networking opportunities. Meet published authors and respected contributors to various email lists. Sunday, 7:00p, in the SIG room.

Layout Design Clinic Track

Layout Design Clinic Track – Tuesday, July 15, A series of clinics will be presented focusing on layout design.

The clinics will give real examples of design challenges and solutions to assist you in designing your dream layout.

LDSIG Annual Meeting

LDSIG Annual Meeting – Wednesday, July 16th 8:30am to 10:30am in the Rancho Las Palmas Room [downstairs]. Our annual membership meeting agenda includes officer and volunteer reports. All LDSIG members at the convention are encouraged to participate. Layout tour maps will be distributed at the meeting.

Layout Tours and Picnics

This year the LDSIG has organized several self-guided tours. Two have meals and participants need Convention event tickets. Tickets must be purchased at NMRA tour desk before Monday at 9:00p so we can finalize food order. The tours are by carpool or rental car (no transportation provided). As private transportation, insurance is to be provided by the participants in the tour. Neither the LDSIG, Inc. nor the NMRA provide insurance coverage for private transportation. Sign up for carpools will be Sunday-Tuesday in the SIG Room. The time and location for finalizing carpools and organizing car rentals will be announced on the LDSIG’s Bulletin Board in the SIG Room. Maps will be distributed at the annual meeting, Wednesday morning. Information on nearby rental car agencies will be available for those wanting to gather a group of friends or “birds of a feather” to visit specific layouts. The LDSIG Layout Tours are open to members’ spouses, and Layout Tour tickets are required.

An interesting phenomenon occurs in Southern California along with other areas of the west. In residence buildings there are very few basements and because of the low pitched or flat roofs very few attics. That leaves spare bedrooms and garages as the most common space for the modeler’s railroad empire. Sometimes that space has to be shared with other uses – a bed, a desk and storage space in a bedroom or a car, tools and a laundry in a garage. Sometimes the former occupants never grace the space after the railroad is constructed – child off to college or car sits in the driveway. Occasionally, the modeler is lucky and is able to construct a purpose built space for their model railroad, but this is the exception and not the rule.

This year the LDSIG is offering two formal tours with 21 layouts of various sizes.

For the Wednesday tour the plan is to start at the Convention and see the layouts in Orange County in the morning and work our way north toward the San Gabriel Mountains then along the 210/134 towards the San Fernando Valley in the afternoon. The picnic will be held between 4 and 5 at Travel Town in Griffith Park. We will resume the tour with the Burbank, and Van Nuys layouts and then head to the South Bay for a few layouts there before heading back to the convention.

The Thursday tour to Santa Barbara is planned for the afternoon. Many of the same layouts will be on the convention bus tour Thursday morning. We want to allow the buses to complete their tours so that we can spend more time appreciating the layouts. Jon Cure’s layout is the initial layout tour stop and will allow you plenty of time to see both of his layouts. It will also allow you to stop for a quick lunch if you desire on the way up to Santa Barbara before the 1PM openings of the layouts there. Several of the Thursday layouts are open for operations Thursday evening. The meal for the Thursday tour will be at Gary Siegel’s amidst the G-gauge layout.

Most of the layouts fall in the garage or spare room category. There are a few unusual locations including one outside, one in a purpose built basement, two in a space dug out under the residence specifically for the model railroad and three clubs in larger spaces. Additionally, we have arranged for an informal tour on Saturday of three layouts in San Diego County. One is located in a basement or at least a lower story, one is in an office trailer and there is also a special behind the scenes tour of the La Mesa Club at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. We hope you enjoy your visits to these model railroad empires and appreciate the use of the available space and the designs necessary to accommodate the railroad empires in those spaces.

Wednesday Layout Tour and Picnic

Wednesday LDSIG Layout Tour and Picnic (Convention Tour SGM1) – Wednesday, July 16th 10:30 AM departure, last layouts open until 10:00 PM. We have lined up about thirteen innovative home and club layouts which will be open for you to choose from. The picnic meal (ticket required) will be served at a location approximately halfway through the tour.

The following descriptions and photos will orient the visitors to the layouts on the tours.

Wednesday 10-2 HO Mike Kresen Connequenessing Line Scenery 90% 14x20 Easy Access Theme: Western Pennsylvania 1950’s

Mike Kresen’s HO scale Connequenessing Line, is a freelanced layout depicting an area in western Pennsylvania in the early 1950's. Mike began building the layout in 2003. The layout is approximately 14'X20' and is in a 2-car garage size. All Digitrax controlled including 31 Tortoise Machine switches controlled through stationary decoders. Mike is working on computer control including programming of locos via Decoder Pro software. The layout integrates 2 working yards, 1 turntable and a reverse loop via a double crossover. Motive power is a mix of steam and early diesel locomotives.

Wednesday 10-12 HO Jim Lancaster Los Angeles & San Diego Railroad Scenery 70% 40x15 Easy Access Theme: Southern California Citrus

Jim Lancaster’s HO scale Los Angeles and San Diego has been constructed in its own 40’ x 15’ building in back of Jim’s home , The model represents parts of Riverside and Orange County. The railroads represented on the layout include Santa Fe, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific. The benchwork is essentially complete (including an upper deck) but track and scenery on some sections of the layout are still not finished. The layout has several staging yards that enable numerous trains to enter the “working” portion of his layout. Jim has been doing some amazing research into the citrus packing houses of Southern and Central California [1] and has incorporated that research into his model empire. While the layout is still under construction, you can view the layout and some of Jim’s modeling skills at http://www.geocities.com/jim_lancaster.geo/modelrr.html

Wednesday 11-2 N Lestico, Mark UP Cascade Subdivision Scenery 70% 28X17 Easy Access Theme: Contemporary UP in Oregon

Mark Lestico’s N scale UP Cascade Subdivision is built in the typical Southern California garage. The N-Scale Cascade Subdivision is an operations focused re-creation of the beautiful Cascade crossing between Eugene and Klamath Falls, Oregon. The layout is set in the present time with Union Pacific in control of the line. The layout features a 13 track staging yard and 5.3 scale miles of mainline track. A 6 hour radio dispatched operating session duplicates all of the prototype traffic found on this line today. Innovations include using a sloping garage floor to your advantage, using narrow benchwork for a long run, Steel boltless shelving for benchwork, domino construction and many other contemporary design concepts. Over two years were spent on room preparation alone. Come and enjoy a clean, crisp and contemporary model railroading experience on the Cascade Subdivision in Whittier.

For a preview, see the website at: http://ldsig.org/wiki/index.php?title=Cascade_Subdivision_-_N_-_Mark_Lestico

Wednesday 10-1 HO Bill Meyer ATSF Western Region Big Creek Sub Scenery 85% 19x25 Duck under or stairs Theme: ATSF in Orange Co., CA

• Bill Meyer’s HO scale ATSF Western Region Big Creek Subdivision is a freelanced railroad based on the traffic and industries of Fullerton, CA and North Orange County set in the late pre-BSNF merger 1990’s era. The railroad scenery is about 85% complete and has 95’ of mainline with double ended staging supporting a total of 17 trains run in a 3-4 hour session. Traffic includes manifests from east/west ATSF traffic and 20+ local industries switched by the DB & AJ Railroad. In addition, there is interchange traffic with the SP and the DB & AJ Railroad. The dispatcher, yardmaster, road crews and SP local crew operate the railroad using CVP EasyDCC wireless throttles. Car forwarding is managed using car cards and waybills. Traffic control is managed via track warrant dispatching using radios.

Wednesday 11-2 HO Ralph Hougesen Amargosa Railroad Scenery 75% 14x17 Easy Access Theme: Bullfrog Mining District

Ralph Hougesen’s HO scale Amargosa Railroad is a freelanced railroad set in the post war through mid nineteen fifties era in the desert east of Death Valley between Beatty and Goldfield Nevada with connections and interchange with the SP, the UP and Santa Fe. Industries modeled are mining and support for the mining community with plenty of traffic to keep the railroad busy. The 14 X 17 HO layout is in an around the room dog bone configuration with combination of very reliable handlaid code 55 and Atlas code 100 track. Switches are operated using hand throws. The operational focus is local industry switching using car cards and waybills. Waybills are not turned. There is no dispatcher so crews handle clearance and meet negotiation. Control is DCC using Digitrax wired and wireless throttles. Most motive power has sound installed. The layout scenery is 75% complete. It is a beautiful little layout that runs very well.

Wednesday 1-4 HO Mike O’Brien Scenery 0% Basement stairs Theme: MKT Denison, TX

Mike O’Brien is still in the planning stages of his layout although some of the benchwork is already built. Come visit the LDSIG’s president and offer him some design advice in one of the few basements you will see in Southern California.

Wednesday 1-4 HOn3 and Sn3 Slim Gauge Guild Scenery 70% 40x40 Easy Access Theme: Colorado narrow gauge

The Slim Gauge Guild’s Sn3 and HOn3 Colorado layouts. Yes, there are two layouts at this location both modeling Colorado narrow gauge. The 2000 square foot basement contains an Hon3 DRGW and RGS based layout from the 1920 – 1949 time period. Specific prototype locations are modeled. The Sn3 layout is more freelanced. Scenery is nearing 90%. Both layouts were recently featured in Scale Rails and can be seen at http://www.slimgaugeguild.com/

Wednesday 1-4 HO Jim Spencer Denver and Rio Grande Western Scenery Easy Access Theme: Colorado Rockies

Jim Spencer’s HO scale Denver and Rio Grande Western models the Second Division standard gauge over Tennessee Pass and the Third Division narrow gauge over Marshall Pass with Salida as the junction between the two. The standard gauge models the run from Salida to Minturn on the other side of the pass. The future narrow gauge will model the run from Salida to Gunnison with branches to Baldwin and the Black Canyon.

The layout is entirely unscenicked. It was actually excavated under my house and was not originally designed to be there. However it is in finished space well suited for a layout. My house is on a hillside and the layout occupies the downslope. As such it is entered on level. But there is a duckunder of about 50" high required to enter the room.

It is a two deck design with the upper deck housing the standard gauge and dual gauge yards, mostly in place. The future lower deck will house the narrow gauge . Linking the two levels is a massive helix that transports the narrow gauge down about 24" to the lower deck. Atop the helix is the main dual gauge yard and turntable with roundhouse.

Construction of the upper deck is 2" foam-masonite composite panels that are cantilevered from the walls using ordinary threaded plumbing pipes and pipe flanges. This has minimized the thickness and eliminates interference with the lower deck. The roadbed is entirely on extruded foam and utilizes Woodland Scenics risers for elevation changes. Scenery will utilize the more common expanded bead foam.

The layout utlizes Digitrax DCC and has some locos equipped with sound.Tennessee and Marshall Pass is in a space under Jim’s home specifically prepared for the railroad. The lower level is Marshall Pass (narrow gauge) yet to be started. The upper level is Tennessee Pass (standard and dual gauge) which should at least have a full loop and most of the yards done by July. The construction is very interesting and unusual. It is mostly foam and cantilevered out of the wall. It uses Woodland Scenics risers and Jack Parker's Central Valley switch and tie system. It is DCC with SoundTrax.

Travel Town will be the site of our mid-tour meal. Started in 1952, this collection of prototype rolling stock includes 16 locomotives, 19 freight and passenger cars an several trolleys and motor cars. We will be picnicking at the museum. The tables just to the right of the large shed in the adjacent photo have been reserved for the LDSIG. There is ample of parking and plenty to see. For more information on the mueum go to the Travel Town web site: http://www.cityofla.org/RAP/grifmet/tt/index.htm

Wednesday 5-8 HO Paul Catapano Little Rock Subdivision of the Atlantic Inland Railway Scenery 40% 25x51 Stairs Theme: Appalachian coal & bridge route

Paul Catapano’s HO scale Little Rock Subdivision of the Atlantic Inland Railway is a freelanced eastern railroad set in July of 1952 in western West Virginia. The modeled portion of the road has a coal hauling base with industrial switching. Four coal branches coming out of staging drive coal traffic. A direct eastern interchange with the Western Maryland and a southern interchange via a secondary line to CRR, VGN, N&W, and INT provides a high level of interchange bridge traffic. Paul built the two story garage with the specific purpose of putting a railroad on the second floor. It is so large that he fondly calls it the “Garage Mahal.” The double deck 25' X 51' layout was built with a primary focus on operations. There is no helix but the second level is reached through a long grade requiring helper engines on all but the shortest trains. Stacked staging yards are beyond the modeled sections on both decks.

The layout is largely without scenery although Paul has put in some landforms and many structures or signs to designate specific industries. The operation uses TT/TO for traffic control and CC/WB for car forwarding. A Dispatcher is located downstairs, outside the layout room with a local Agent Operator in the layout room receiving and delivering train orders. Along with yardmaster, road crew and dedicated switching positions, there is a helper service crew for the grade between decks. Control is via wired and wireless CVP DCC throttles.

Wednesday 5-8 HO Dan Wexler Hamlin & Valley Central Railroad Scenery 95% 18x20 Easy Access Theme: California Citrus

Dan Wexler’s HO scale Hamlin & Valley Central Railway is a freelance industrial short line railroad with a citrus shipment focus set somewhere in California during the summer of 1964. The fully sceniced railroad measures 18 X 20 feet overall and is housed in a finished two car garage. While a talented staff maintains steam profitably for main line operations, yard jobs and the secondary mountainous Ore Grande Branch are serviced by Alco diesels acquired from operating partner ATSF. The railroad features a point to point configuration on two levels. Traffic control is via Time Table with switch list car forwarding by Rail-OPs. Digitrax DCC wired and wireless throttles are used for control. Web site at http://www.hamlintrains.com/

Wednesday 6-8 HO Lee Christopher McCloud Railway Scenery 40% 19x17 Easy Access Theme: McCloud Railway

Lee Christopher’s HO scale McCloud Railway represents a circa 1997 short line handling lumber, paper and mining products. It’s modeled after the McCloud Railway and models specific areas on the prototype. This multi-level layout is 17’ x 19’ and operates point-to-point. Curves are minimum 28” with easements and turnouts are minimum #6, hand laid to fit the track plan. Rail is hand laid Codes 83, 70, 55 and 40. A signature element of the track plan is an actual representation of a long switchback used by the prototype. The railroad interchanges freight with the Union Pacific as part of the operations. More information at http://www.trainweb.org/mccloudrails/Miscellaneous/LeeChristopher.html

Wednesday 6-10 HO Los Angeles Model Railroad Society Great Lakes and Western Railroad Scenery 99% 40x50 Stairs Theme: Freelance

The Los Angeles Model Railroad Society’s HO scale Great Lakes & Western Railroad is a proto-freelance Railroad set in the steam-diesel transition era (1945-1960). The 2000 square foot GL&W has many interesting scenes along its route. Most all scenes and structures are based on actual prototypes. The railroad runs in an East- West direction from the Great Lakes to the west side of the Continental Divide parallel to other major name railroads and assists those railroads in relieving congestion during times of heavy traffic by issuing trackage rights to those railroads. The major railroads haul loads destined to locations on the GL&W as well as provide motive power and crews to switch the local industries. Traffic that results includes freight from several different roads working the GL&W as well as name passenger trains stopping at the local stations. The railroad features over 800 feet of mainline and two major yards. Trains running include local switching, interchange, unit trains and scheduled passenger service. Industries served include the largest HO scale oil refinery ever built , a modern intermodal transfer facility similar to Port of Long Beach, a grain terminal, an ore terminal including a scale model of Great Lakes ore ship Aurora, sugar beet loading, lumber operations, citrus operations with icing facilities, passenger trains from the golden era of passenger service and a large narrow gauge railroad. Yards include both diesel and steam service facilities. Operation positions include yard masters, local switching and road crews. The club is integrating computer control into its operations facilitating dispatcher assigned computer controlled routing although local routing control is also supported. Switch lists are used for yard switching while car cards and waybills (see http://tinyurl.com/ywyjja) are used for individual and block car movements. The club uses Digitrax DCC for train control and communications are via radio headset. Web site: www.lamrs.org

Wednesday 6- 9 N Frank Kenny Central Pacific Railway Scenery 50% 19x20 +10x12 Easy Access Theme: Tehachapi Freelance

Frank Kenny’s N scale Central Pacific Railway is a two-car garage and 1 bedroom layout. This railroad is set in California and reflects the areas from Mojave to Fresno, including the Tehachapi loop area. The era is the present. The premise is the SP was having financial troubles and needed money, so the CPRX (Central Pacific Railway ) management stepped up and bought the trackage between LA and Sacramento from the SP. The traffic is still BNSF/UP. There are also Amtrak and Metrolink trains as well as Central Pacific trains. The layout is built for operations. The mainline track was finished in August 2005. There are still a few sidings and spurs to be installed, including the industrial trackage of Fresno, and the remaining 9 tracks of the lower staging yard in the bedroom staging area. The layout is in a 19’ x 20’ room with the upper and lower staging yards in a 10’ x 12’ room, which also will contain the dispatcher’s desk. The main engine facility also will be located in this room. The layout is double-decked with the mountains on the upper level and the Valley on the lower level. Spline is used for the upper level roadbed. Control is Digitrax. Scenery is in progress (~50%) at this time.

Thursday Layout Tour and Picnic

Thursday LDSIG Layout Tour and Picnic (Convention Tour SGM2)

- Thursday, 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Santa Barbara, CA (about 130 miles north of Anaheim ~ 2.5 hours drive plus stops enroute). These layouts would have been on our Wednesday Tour and Picnic, but were too far away. This self-guided layout tour visits eight interesting layouts. There will be a picnic (ticket required) at Gary Siegel’s Thursday afternoon at 4:30 PM. Those who are operating layouts in the Santa Barbara area with the OpSIG are encouraged to join the LDSIG tour and join us for dinner.

The following descriptions and photos will orient the visitors to the layouts on the tours.

Thursday 8 - 12 HO Santa Susana Railroad Historical Society Santa Susana Pacific Scenery 90% 25x54 Easy Access Theme: So. California

Santa Susana Railroad Historical Society’s HO scale Santa Susana Pacific is located in the freight room of the historic Southern Pacific Santa Susana Depot, built in 1903 and recently renovated. The one thousand square foot layout utilizes Digitrax to control the trains, and the club in the midst of installing a DCC controlled signaling system. The existing track work, structures and scenery are being upagraded to "fine scale" modeling standards on the back 1/3 of the layout. The layout loosely represents Southern Pacific’s coast line in the mid 1950s, and the most featured display is of Simi Valley and its local industries. Also modeled are areas such as Camarillo, Felton, Cuesta, and Salinas.

Thursday 9:30- 2 HO Jon Cure SP Inyo Subdivision Scenery 70% 37x25 Easy Access Theme: Eastern California – Nevada

Jon Cure’s HO scale Southern Pacific Inyo Subdivision is located in Jon’s four car garage garage. The 37’ X 25’ layout models modern day traffic in California’s Mojave Desert and Owens Valley as well as an Eastern Sierra branch and some Nevada desert. Major industries include carbon black, copper smelting, tungsten and talc mining, cement, lumber and paper mills, and military installations as well as assorted industrial/commercial businesses such as lumber, fuel, scrap, etc. In addition there is an interchange with the Trona Railway. Typical trains are SP, WP, and ATSF. Trains are run from staging as extra’s and car forwarding is controlled by car cards and waybills. Jobs typically include yard masters, local switching crews, and manifest trains with scheduled work. The layout scenery is approximately 60% complete. Train control is NCE DCC with some sound equipped motive power. The garage is next to the UP/Metrolink (former SP) Coastline trackage so you might enjoy some real train traffic. As a bonus, Jon also has a T&NO Beaumont Industrial RR, an around the walls HO scale DC switching layout inside his house. Photos of the layout can be seen at www.pbase.com:80/rbarnes11/jcure

Thursday 1- 4 HO Gary Siegel L&N Eastern Kentucky Division Scenery 90% 25x60 Easy Access Theme: L&N Railroad 1971

Gary Siegel’s HO scale L&N Eastern Kentucky Division, is a well known operations oriented railroad in the Los Angeles region. The railroad was on the NMRA tour for the Long Beach national convention in 1996. It was featured in Model Railroader in April 1996. At the time of the article layout modeled the fictitious Ashlan subdivision of the L&N extending from Dent, KY, to Ashlan, VA interchanging with the Clinchfield. The layout has since expanded considerably and the area now models from Hazard, to Ashlan with interchanges with the Norfolk & Western through Norton, VA, the Kentucky Northern at Harlan Junction, KY and the Chesapeake and Ohio, at Deane, KY and Corbin, KY. More recently, the railroad was featured in Rail Model Journal in January and February 2008 and Model Railroad Craftsman in May 2008. The Eastern Kentucky Division models an area of coal mines in the Appalachians in eastern Kentucky and western Virginia. The year is 1971 so both 1st and 2nd generation diesels are the rule. Operations focus on coal traffic both on and off the line with mines and coal processing industries distributed in the mountainous Appalachian scenery. The EK is still running its own passenger trains. The 1500 sq ft HO scale layout is fully scenicked. Crews staff yards at Ashlan, Fowler, Dent, and Hazard. Road crews are responsible for mine runs, empty and full coal trains, hot freights, forwarders, local freights and an occasional passenger train. Communication to the dispatcher is via 5-channel radios. 3:1 fast clock moves the action along. Car cards and waybills are used to direct car forwarding. Control is DCC using CVP EasyDCC wireless and wired throttles. Web site: http://www.pbase.com/rbarnes11/lnekdiv

Thursday 1- 4 G Gary Siegel SP Santa Cruz Division Scenery 60% 200x185 Easy Access Theme: Santa Cruz to San Jose

Gary’s SP Santa Cruz Division layout is an operations oriented 1:32 standard gauge layout. Modeled after the Southern Pacific’s line from San Jose to Santa Cruz, the old South Pacific Coast R.R. The era is in the late 60's. the mainline is 750 feet long with five passing sidings. The railroad design is point to point. Mainline minimum radius is 8'6". The maximum mainline grade is 1.5%. We run with 1st. and 2nd. generation deisels. Mainline track and industrial spurs are in. The yard and industrial tracks at San Jose and Santa Cruz are not in yet. There are some temporary yard tracks in. Gary has planted several hundred dwarf Alberta spruce trees as part of the scenery. For more photos scroll down a few pages at the Gold Coast Garden Railway Society’s October 2007 newsletter http://www.gcgrs.com/October%202007%20on%20line%20edition.pdf

Thursday 1- 4 N Walter Naumann UP&W Scenery 20% 50x15 Stairs, ramp available Theme: Union Pacific Sherman Hill

Walter Naumann’s N-scale UP&W, is a representation of the Union Pacific June 20, 1949 with a no compromise scale mile representation of the “S” curve at Sherman Hill (scale 200 inch minimum radius) with hand laid #10 and #20 turnouts, super elevated code 40 track, and a goal of 100 cars trains. Less detailed operating extensions include yards at Cheyenne, Green River, and North Platt. Separate East and West nested-loop staging completes the layout. Car forwarding is by car blocks. Control is Lenz DCC using cordless phones for wireless throttles. It will have the m_RPS model Railroad Position System as shown at RPS-mrr.com. Operation positions include road crews, yardmasters, and dispatch. There will be 50 feet of double track main with one center siding, three 5 track main yards, and 8 staging tracks http://www.nacservicesinc.com/id7.html

Thursday 1- 4 HO James Donlon Southern Pacific Coast Line Scenery 60% 18x21 CRAWL UNDER Theme: SP Coastline ~ 1950

James Donlon’s HO scale Southern Pacific Coast Line, James Donlon’s HO scale, three deck representation of the Southern Pacific Coastline route. The circa 1950 era allows a mix of steam, first generation diesels and a few second generation diesels. The railroad seeks to faithfully recreate the SP’s Ventura Sub Division operations between Burbank Junction (roughly Glendale CA) and Sea Cliff (south Santa Barbara) with 350 feet of mainline in an around the 22’ x 19’ room. The railroad was built for operation. Using an original SP timetable from the era, James dispatches trains based on the actual time table of the day using and 8:1 fast clock to cover a 24 hour period in 3 hours with an average of 16-20 trains operating. The times of the trains on his model are within minutes of the actual 1952 SP timetable. Trains include through and local freights as well as named passenger consists. Trains run as scheduled and extra’s. Towns and landmarks along the route are captured in the layout including Santa Susana Pass, the yard at Oxnard and the “Y” for the Santa Paula branch line. The layout scenery is expected to be 30% complete. Car forwarding is handled via car cards and simplified waybills. Rolling stock and motive power are per the period and some power has sound. The layout configuration includes hidden staging at either end of the route and helixes to traverse decks. Operators include road crews, local switching jobs, and the Oxnard Yardmaster. MRC Prodigy DCC is used for train control. Entry to the layout requires navigating a “CRAWL under” so be prepared.

Thursday 1- 4 N Dana Driskel Los Angeles & Salt Lake Scenery 50% 18x21 Easy Access Theme: Salt Lake Route

Dana Driskel's N-scale Los Angeles and Salt Lake is in the back portion of his garage. This is Dana's third iteration of the route between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, now a part of the Union Pacific. Dana takes his inspiration from the LA&SL's Third subdivision in the year 1920. The Third Sub was a helper district in southern Nevada. The railroad is itself a helix with grades around the walls. Nevada Desert and canyon landscape is the scenery theme.

Thursday 1- 4 HO Bruce Morden SP Santa Barbara Subdivision Scenery 0% 20x20 Easy Access Theme: SP Coastline

Bruce Morden’s HO scale Southern Pacific Santa Barbara Subdivision is another 2-car garage. The Southern Pacific Santa Barbara Subdivision models an area from Carpinteria to Goleta. Bruce’s layout is a work in progress and so far there is no scenery. Tracks have been completed on the first of three proposed levels. Two staging yards are completed and one medium sized on line yard. Construction includes “thin wall”, L-girder, and open grid. Roadbed includes solid masonite spline and plywood-homosote sandwiches. Bruce hopes to one day extend the tracks over Cuesta grade to San Miguel.

Saturday Self-guided Layout Tour

Saturday LDSIG Layout Tour

This tour will be very informal but we have several outstanding opportunities for layout visits on Saturday. Jay Styron's Southern Pacific Friant Branch and Steve Harris' Rio Grande Southern will be open and may be visited on trip to San Diego. We have arranged special "behind the scenes" tours of the La Mesa Model Railroad Club's Tehachapi layout at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. If you are interested in participating in this special tour check in the SIG room.

Saturday 9-12 HO Jay Styron SP Friant Branch Scenery 70% 13x22 Easy Access Theme: SP Friant Branch (Fresno)

Jay Styron’s HO-scale SP Friant Branch layout (12' x 32') is housed in a fully finished room built under his house for the railroad. He has recreated the Southern Pacific's Friant Branch in the Fresno, California, area. The design of the layout includes careful consideration of aisle space, layout access, storage and lighting. Industries modeled include citrus farms, wineries, fruit packing houses and reefer icing facilities. Operations are DCC controlled.

Saturday 9-5 HOn3 Steve Harris Rio Grande Southern Scenery 70% 20x8 Easy Access Theme: Colorado narrow gauge

Steve Harris’ HOn3 Rio Grande Southern is housed in a commercial office trailer. Steve’s railroad was featured in Model Railroader in November 2004. More recently Model Railroader ran an article on one of Steve’s removable hills (Apr 2008). Steve has also had articles in the Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette on some of his structures and rolling stock. The helix has been replaced by one of Dick Robert’s train elevators.

Saturday 11-5 HO La Mesa Model RR Club Tehachapi Pass Scenery 80% 7500 sq ft on two levels Easy Access Theme: Tehachapi Pass

The La Mesa Model Railroad Club’s Tehachapi Pass layout is one of the largest model railroads in the world. For more than 24 years, the club has engaged in a demanding and expensive undertaking. Members have planned and built well over half the joint Southern Pacific/Santa Fe Railroad running from Bakersfield to Mojave, California, in the 1950s. The 70 actual miles was compressed to 25 scale miles. Two of the most dramatic things about the route are the mountain scenery and the nearly continuous series of sharp reverse curves forced upon the railroad by the rugged terrain. The current layout consists of the area from the Southern Pacific Bakersfield Yard through the famous Tehachapi Loop, where an engine of a 100 car train spirals up to cross directly over it’s caboose 70 feet below After 2 1/2 years of major construction to build the mezzanine and public viewing area, the club is now in high gear to finish the dream started over 20 years ago - building the best ever historical model railroad! Current projects include building switches, installing benchwork, adding details, buildings and scenery, adding to rolling stock and wiring the new railroad for DCC.

We have made some special arrangements to visit the La Mesa Club. Contact Bruce Morden in the SIG room at the convention to make arrangements for a special behind the scenes tour. The club’s layout is part of the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park near downtown San Diego. There is an admission charge of $6 for admittance to the museum. The museum includes 2 HO scale layouts, one O scale layout, one N scale layout and one O gauge toy train layout. It is well worth the $6 even without the behind the scenes tour.

Check for further details on these and other special tours in the SIG room.

Contact Coordinator

Bruce Morden is our LDSIG local convention coordinator for Anaheim, and he is actively looking for layouts to add to our tour. If you have interest in presenting a clinic, please contact Bruce Morden Please send any suggestions to him.

Anaheim is 27 miles southeast from downtown Los Angeles, about a 40 minute drive of so depending upon traffic.

Hartford Convention 2009

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Last Updated July 3, 2009

The 2009 NMRA and LDSIG Conventions will be held in Hartford on July 5-11, 2009.

Information on the NMRA Convention is available at the official site http://hn2009.org/home.html

If you have questions or would like to get involved, please contact the LDSIG local convention coordinator, Jeff Zeleny.

NJ Layout Open Houses En Route to the Convention, Sunday, July 5th

LDSIG Exhibit Room, Sunday, July 5 through Saturday, July 11

All week long you can make the SIG room the place to be. We are sharing the room with the Operations Special Interest Group which is planning a full round of operations during the convention.  Make the SIG Room your convention headquarters networking opportunities, meeting others for planning, designing, building, and operating considerations intended for your dream layout.

Displays & LDSIG Desk – in the SIG Room. Check here in coming months for guidance on ways to improve your displays and instructions for shipping them to Hartford if you can't travel with them.  Members’ informative displays include track plan diagrams, layout photographs and 3-D mock-ups, and priority lists of design features to help others learn how others have solved layout design problems. Frequently, the layout designer is available for discussion. Design-related clinic schedules, descriptions of open-house layouts for the Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday tours, carpool signup lists, a local restaurant list, and a roommate-wanted list will be available. A bulletin board will have important updates about LDSIG events -- be sure and check daily for activities and schedules. You may catch great discussions from time to time, especially in-between clinics.

Layout Design "Help Desk" –  LDSIG volunteers will be available at several times during the week to provide free sit-down guidance if you are in the process of designing your layout.  To get the most value from these opportunities, do some homework before asking for help: prepare a dimensioned drawing of your layout space, identify your "Givens", "Druthers", and constraints, and bring a map or route schematic of your proposed territory.  Also bring forecasts of the traffic mix and jobs you'd like to feature during your eventual operating sessions

Operations SIG Presence - The Operations SIG is bringing the Rails on Wheels (ROW) group http://railsonwheels.com/ from Michigan. Their fantastic modular Operations Road Show Timetable and Train Order (TT&TO) training layout will be available in the SIG room.  

Meet 'n Greet, Sunday

Begin your convention by meeting other attendees who are especially interested in layout design. Hear informal LDSIG-member introductions about their layout design and construction status, plus timely event announcements and networking opportunities. Meet published authors and respected contributors to various email lists. Sunday, 7:00p, in the SIG room.

Special Albany Area Layout Tours, Monday

Albany Area Layout Tours – The LDSIG is sponsoring its first daylong tour of layouts to Albany New York, 2+ hours from Hartford. Hosts include Dick Elwell's HoosacValley, Henry Probst's NYCentral between Albany and Utica, Tony and Diane Steele's D&H, and several others. This tour's price will be $18, and does not include a meal.  Participation is limited to LDSIG and OPSIG members and their families/significant others.  Some of the tour layouts will also be hosting operating sessions in the evening, so carpools must be closely coordinated.  We will be making arrangements to form carpools before the Convention, on Sunday July 5 and early Monday, July 6, so check this website for updates.  Also check the OPSIG website for information about its conflicting, non-Albany Monday operating sessions.

 Here are descriptions of the layouts on the Monday tour:

  Henry Probst with Paul Allard Selkirk on upper left and Fonda on the right.

 Henry Probst's layout centers on the New York Central mainline operations in the early 1950's from New York City to Albany/Selkirk area in the east through the Mohawk River Valley to Utica in the west.  It is a multi-decked layout with Rail-marine terminals New York City) and dense passenger and freight operations. Layout Design features include: track plans (yards, industries, mains) that follow the prototype, left hand running from Hoffman's to Selkirk (per the prototype), Schedule Symbols and car routing that follow NYC practice.  

Mike Ledly's A&LM Railroad is a a large outdoor layout featuring 100's of miniature plants and bushes to complement a large and winding layout.  There are two yards, two reverse loops, and great views of operating trains.  The layout features a roundhouse and turntable, two towns, and several bridges.  The layout was featured in Model Railroader in August 2006. 

 Andy Clemont's Rutland Railroad's Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Subdivision is modeled in the period from 1948 to 1953 in the fall around October 15th.  This section of railroad parallels the Canadian border from Albught, VT to Ogdensburg, NY.  There is interchange with the D&H, CN, Central Vermont, and NYC.  Terrain along the right of way is fairly flat with low hills and ravines with rivers and bridges.  It is a rural setting with villages.   Engines have sound.  About 70% of the scenery is complete on the completed portions of layout.  A second pennisula and second deck are planned. Vic Roman's New York Central Hudson Division models the area from Albany, sout to Tivoli, NY, with an expansion in the works to Poughkeepsie and Croton Harmon.  Densely populated cityscape, unique weathering and distressing on structures.  A masterpiece in progress.  See videos of the railroad in action at http://www.youtube.com/user/aclermont59. 

Bill McChesney's Lehigh Valley Railroad features the mainline symbol freights of the Lehigh Valley, The Jersey Central, Reading, Lehigh and Hudson and the Delaware and Hudson connection from Binghamton to Sayre. There are four yards, two industrial areas, a brewery and a float operation. A total of 26 trains are run between two separate, 3 hour operating sessions. The layout was featured in the March 1998 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. There have been a number of photos of the layout in the Walthers' catalogs. 

Dick Elwell's Hoosac Valley Railroad is has been rebuilt in 2005 in it's new home.  The HO scale railroad captures the essence and feel of railroading in New England.  Perhaps one of the finest layouts in the country and featured in numerous articles over the years.  Several books and DVD's have been made both about the construction and content of this layout.

Tony & Diane Steele's Rutland & Albany Railroad is currently under construction from a previous layout this large project will contain 7 levels, 3 helix's plus a train elevator(RoRo).  The 25' X 35' HO scale layout is about 50% sceniced.

     Ken Nelson's Poco Valley Railroad is the home of a freelanced Northeastern RR, hauling freight and passengers in the 1950's and 60's. It serves Mass, PA, and NY.  It runs from Boston, MA (staging) westbound through New York and Pennsylvania, serving Nelson City (main terminal), Mt Crumroy, Klingertown, Scottsdale, Hillside Jct., and Jefferson Jct. (staging).  At Jefferson Jct., the railroad interchanges with the New York Central.  In Klingertown, the PV crosses and interchages with the Delaware and Hudson, which is represented by staging tracks.  At Hillside Jct., a branch line leaves the main and runs through Rockville and Hillside.  In Hillside, the railroad interchanges with the Hillside Street Railway, which serves the Hillside Industrial Park and the town of Coopersburg.  The Hillside Street Railway used to be a trolley line many years ago.  After going out of business, the tracks were bought by the PV, and now runs with a diesel.  

The town of Scottsdale features a cement plant which was published in the July 1994 Model Railroader magazine.  The town of Rockvill on the Hillside branch is didicated to a large coal mine.  The town of Hillside is designed after the track plan of New Hope, PA where I worked on the New Hope and Ivyland RR.   The railroad, minus the Hillside Street Railway segment, was published in the January 1991 issue of Model Railroader, and the Hillside Street Railway was published in the February 2000 issue of the NMRA Bulletin.   There are numerous kit built and scratch built structures and the layout features both a mainline and branch line with working signal systems. 

In addition the RR switches industries with the Hillside Street Railway in a different room on the other side of the basement.

Layout Design Clinic Track, Tuesday

Layout Design Clinic Track – On Tuesday, July 6, HN2009 and the LDSIG will be presenting an all day series of clinics focusing on layout design. The clinics will provide real examples of design challenges and solutions to assist you in designing your dream layout. All these clinics are open to all convention attendees.

Of special note is the 7PM New England Forest Modeling clinic by John O'Keefe, Museum Coordinator of the Fisher Museum Harvard Forest.  The Museums dioramas [
http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/museum/dioramas.html ] are exquisite scale scenes depicting the land-use history, ecology, and conservation of New England forests.  This
clinic is not to be missed.

LDSIG Annual Business Meeting, Wednesday, July 8, 8:30AM

LDSIG Annual Meeting – Our annual membership meeting agenda includes officer and volunteer reports. All LDSIG members at the convention are encouraged to participate.

Hartford Region Layout Tour, Wednesday

The LDSIG business meeting will be followed by the traditional Wednesday LD SIG self-guided tour. This event will be extra fare and limited to LDSIG/OpSIG members and families/significant others. There will be no picnic this year. You should plan to eat when and where your carpool feels the need. The price of the tour is $24,  so you should have plenty of spare change to get whatever food you like.

Here are some descriptions of the layouts that will be featured on the Wednesday Tour:

Bob Davis'Mashamou Valley & Western is a two level layout with a helix.  Aproximately 2500 feet of track with over 140 turnouts and a double track main.  58 industrial sidings make this layout a switchman's dream. The layout consists of three railroads - The MV&W, the Providence and Worcester and the New Haven.  Each railroad picks up and sets out in specific locations.  The main yard is in Applegate where all trains are assembled and taken down.  There are two yardmen assigned to Applegate.  The west end yard man assembles trains and sets them out on the outbound tracks.  He then hands the switch list over to the east end yard man who places power and cabooses on these trains.  The west end yard man also is responsible for taking classifying inbound trains and putting motive power and cabooses away.  The MV&W is in charge of all interchange trains between yards and the ferry operation at Alexander Bay.  The car ferry at Alexander Bay brings cars to and from P.E. Island.  The island is famous for its potato crop, thus all the empty reefers going to the island.  Its power plant is coal fired requiring a large amount of coal.  There is also a milk train pulled by a Budd car that picks up 40 quart milk cans and passengers.

 Bill Duffe's Boston and Main Division follows the Fichburg Division from East Deerfield to Mechanicsville with the branch to Troy (and to New York City staging).  The Rutland Division (newly added) represents North Bennington northward to Rutland (staging).  Using model railroader's "license" there is a Great Lakes style carferry operation at Mechanicville.  A dispatcher's board for the B&M Division and in-house telephone system facilitate operations.    

John Elwood's Olympic and Puget Sound Railway is set in the Pacific Northwest.  His highly detailed layout was featured in the March 2007 Model Railroader. Since the article the Puyalup River waterfront and Tacoma are complete along with the addition of about 30 structures. Most are scratchbuilt with a few craftsman kits thrown in.  The layout is operationally simple, using switchlists developed before each session.  Due to the small size of the layout, we use two crews with two in each crew.  DC control is still used. Visitors, however, will get an eyeful. There are currently over 100 structures in place and sceniced. Many of them are scratchbuilt from photos. The photo was taken by Phil Monat and appears as the opening shot on the convention Promo Video www.hn2009.org/promo_video.html. There is another shot around my sawmill in the same video.

 Bert Sacco's Allegheny Union Railroad is a Class I pike with long mainline running in rugged mountain country. A long 2% grade extending through two sets of reverse curves makes operations interesting as the main line rises from 42" to 66" above the floor. The 1950's era allows running of both heavy steam and early diesel locomotives. Most of the structures are commercial kits that have been kit bashed to fit specific area's. Two thirds of the bridges are scratch built. This layout has been featured in 1994 MR. Other features of Bert's layout include:

• Scenery using hard shell and wet cast rock molds
• Stock turnouts curved to fit layout conditions
• DC and DCC optional power
• "O" scale traction coffee table layout

Layout map published with permision of Model Railroader magazine.

John Grosner's New Haven RR - Naugatuck Division is an amazingly detailed replication of Derby, CT and the NHRR is not to be missed. Numerous scratch built structures to match the prototype, attention to detail, working signaling system and hand-laid track make this layout very impressive. Unique design of the layout room and creation of back drops round out this layout. John's layout was featured in the April 2009 Model Railroader.

Bob Collett's Huntington & Hartford is a freelanced CT shortline that parallels the Naugatuck and Higland lines of the New Haven RR.  Numerous scratch built and craftsman structures.  Fine attention to detail. The existing logging line was extended from 15 to 45 feet and up steep grades to a height of about 80 inches.  The layout was featured in the December 1996 MR.

John Sacerdote's Berlin, Bangor & Maine Railroad is a view the Maine and New Hampshire area as seen by the Bangor and Aroostock and Maine Central RR's. All track on this layout is hand aid code 83 and code 70 rail with over 100 turnouts.

Paul Mangini's Clintonville & Forest City Railroad is based on a New England small city with trolley line, a saw mill, full round house and a narrow guage sub that serves  the small village of Gildersleeve. Layout features a large number of scratch built structures with fine attention to details. Also fetured is a brown stone quarry aand numerous bridges and trestles. For some photos of Paul's layout go to http://smallshawrailroad.com/htfdworkshop-2.htm and then scroll down to Paul's section.

Brian Whiton's Addison Branch of the Rutland Railroad is an operations styled layout featuring a staging yard with 47 tracks. 

It conveys a New England feel with over 100  industries and a varied operational design.

Bob Van Cleef's North River Railway is a 12' X 31' 1920's HO scale layout.  If you're excited about computer control and electronics this will be the layout to see. Besides the handlaid track,7 main switching area's and over 50 industries, Bob has develop his own computer controlled form of DCC. The layout is controlled via the computer using software developed by Bob.  Kitbashed and scratch built structures round out the layout. You can see more photos on line at http://www.northriverrailway.net

Donald Irace's Providence & Worcester Railroad is a double deck layout that covers the modern operations of the P&W in NY, CT and RI. Interchange with current NE providers. Numerous industries and interchanges. Unique CTC and dispatching setup. Layout is dispatched from RINGGOLD, GA !  There is web site at www.trainweb.org/pwmrr that includes a track plan and more photos.  Don's Layout was featured in the May 2009 Railroad Model Craftsman.

Layout Design Forums, Thursday

Layout Design Forums –  On Thursday HN2009 and the LDSIG will be presenting an all day series of forums focusing on layout design.  If you might like to participate as a panelist or have discussion topics to propose, please contact Doug Gurin, dgurin@comcast.net or call 703-549-0925.  Also consider bringing layout photos or other materials relating to the panel discussion topics to exhibit in the LDSIG room. 

.

LDSIG Banquet, Friday

LDSIG Banquet – The LDSIG will once again host its traditional reception and high-quality banquet for LDSIG members and their families/significant others. Come join your friends for an evening of food, friendship and fun.  This years LDSIG banquet will be held at Carbones Restaurant in Hartford, CT on Friday.   

The featured speaker will be Richard Abramson, long time professional railroad engineer and talented modeler.  Richard's talk on "Modeling a Prototype through Selective Compression promises to be both informative and entertaining. Among Richard's credentials are:

Layout Design Clinic Track, Saturday

Over the years, many LDSIG members seem to finish their participation in the NMRA Train Show on Friday.  To add more value to the Convention Week, the LDSIG has arranged for several additional clinics on Saturday, including a session for audience feedback about a limited-circulation professional video documenting lessons from one of the hobby's most popular layouts, which was sold and moved in 2008.

Milwaukee Convention 2010

Last Updated June 22, 2010

The 2010 NMRA and LDSIG Conventions will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 10-18, 2010, to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the NMRA.

Information on the NMRA Convention is available at the official site http://www.nmra75.org/

If you have questions or would like to get involved before or during the convention, please contact the LDSIG local events coordinator,  Seth Neumann via email at sneumann at pacbell dot net or click anywhere in this paragraph.

Note: Watch this site for updates on clinics, forums, layout tour information and other convention activities.

Sunday, LDSIG Drive In Tours

Mike Ritschdorff will have his layout open on Sunday.  There is information about his layout in the Wednesday Tour Section below.  Ted Schenpf  will be holding an eleven day open house from Friday July 9 to Monday July 19th.  Each day from 9 AM  to  5  PM, you are
welcome to visit.  Ted will be operating 1  PM  to  5  PM, on the following dates:
Saturday - July 10
Sunday - July 11
Saturday- July 17
During the none operating times, staging the layout will be taking place and your are welcome to help.  No
reservation is necessary for the open house. Ted will also be on the Wednesday Tour and there is information below about his layout. Contact Seth Neumann for further information (click here)

  LDSIG Exhibit Room, Sunday, July 11 through Saturday, July 17

All week long you can make the SIG room the place to be. We are sharing the room with the Operations Special Interest Group which is planning a full round of operations during the convention.  Make the SIG Room your convention headquarters networking opportunities, meeting others for planning, designing, building, and operating considerations intended for your dream layout.

 Displays & LDSIG Desk – in the SIG Room. Check here in coming months for guidance on ways to improve your displays and instructions for shipping them to Hartford if you can't travel with them.  Members’ informative displays include track plan diagrams, layout photographs and 3-D mock-ups, and priority lists of design features to help others learn how others have solved layout design problems. Frequently, the layout designer is available for discussion. Design-related clinic schedules, descriptions of open-house layouts for the Wednesday tour, carpool signup lists, a local restaurant list, and a roommate-wanted list will be available. A bulletin board will have important updates about LDSIG events -- be sure and check daily for activities and schedules. You may catch great discussions from time to time, especially in-between clinics.

Layout Design "Help Desk" –  LDSIG volunteers will be available at several times during the week to provide free sit-down guidance if you are in the process of designing your layout.  To get the most value from these opportunities, do some homework before asking for help: prepare a dimensioned drawing of your layout space, identify your "Givens", "Druthers", and constraints, and bring a map or route schematic of your proposed territory.  Also bring forecasts of the traffic mix and jobs you'd like to feature during your eventual operating sessions

Meet 'n Greet, Sunday

Begin your convention by meeting other attendees who are especially interested in layout design. Hear informal LDSIG-member introductions about their layout design and construction status, plus timely event announcements and networking opportunities. Meet published authors and respected contributors to various email lists. Sunday, 7:00p, in the SIG room.

Layout Design Clinics, Monday

Layout Design Clinics  – On Monday, July 12, NMRA75 and the LDSIG and the OpSIG will be presenting an all day series of clinics focusing on layout design. The clinics will provide real examples of design challenges and solutions to assist you in designing your dream layout. All these clinics are open to all convention attendees.  

Special Layout Design “Bootcamp”

Former Layout Design Journal editor and custom layout designer Byron Henderson and other members of the NMRA's Layout Design SIG are leading a Layout Design Bootcamp at the NMRA Convention in Milwaukee in 2010.

This four-hour clinic begins at 8 am Monday, July 12th and will be an intensive session on track planning and layout design. Discover how to refine vision, concept, and purpose; select layout footprints and schematics; draw accurate and useful plans; create efficient and engaging yards and industrial areas; make best use of staging tracks; maintain space for people; and avoid common track planning errors. Step-by-step examples from a variety of layout designs will be discussed.

Whether your dream layout is strongly prototype-based, a creative freelanced theme, or somewhere in between, this practical session will give you the tools and best practices to design a great layout!

Among the topics to be covered:

Layout design phases: Conceptual, Structural, and Detail

Developing vision, theme, and purpose

The impact of givens and 'druthers considering space, resources, and skills

Prototype research techniques and tools

The user and viewer experience

Layout footprint techniques

Drawing and rendering tools and best practices

Planning for people

Multi-deck considerations

Yard planning

Staging design

Signature elements vs. typicality

LDEs: Possibilities and pitfalls

Tricky traps of layout design (common errors to avoid)

… and much, much more!

Layout Design Clinics, Tuesday

Layout Design Clinics  – On Tuesday, July 13, NMRA75 and the LDSIG and the OpSIG will be presenting an all day series of clinics focusing on layout design. The clinics will provide real examples of design challenges and solutions to assist you in designing your dream layout. All these clinics are open to all convention attendees. 

LDSIG Annual Business Meeting, Wednesday, July 14, 8:00AM

LDSIG Annual Meeting – Our annual membership meeting agenda includes officer and volunteer reports. All LDSIG members at the convention are encouraged to participate.  The meeting should end about 9AM so the Milwaukee Layout LDSIG Tour can commence.

Milwaukee Layout Tour, Wednesday, July 14

 The Annual meeting will be followed by the traditional Wednesday LD SIG self-guided layout tour. Jeff Markey has planned a tour that includes 21 layouts in the Milwaukee area as well as 8 layouts in northern Illinois. Each of these layouts is a quality example of design, construction or operation.  Jeff has gathered "Layout at a Glance" data and "Special Features" descriptions on all these layouts which will make it easier for you to decide which ones you want to visit.  Click here to see the whole list or click on any individual owner or railroad to jump directly to that information.

There will be no picnic this year.  This event will be extra fare and limited to LDSIG/OpSIG members and families/significant others. 

 Another change this year is the transition to the GPS rather than maps for navigation.  So if you own a portable GPS. please bring it to the convention.  Every Car will need One!

 To assist your planning of your personal layout tour route, we have added a column in the spreadsheet below after the owner's name, which indicates the travel time from the convention hotel.  An approximate location of the layouts is shown on a map available by clicking here.  The actual addresses will be handed out to ticket holders at the convention.

 Note: The Layouts will be open at different times depending on location.  The Illinois Layouts (Numbers 22 to 29) will be open from 10AM until 5PM except layouts 28 and 29 which will be open from 10AM to 9PM.  The Wisconsin Layouts (Numbers 1-21) will be open from 1PM until 9PM except for layouts #15 and #18 which will be open from 11AM to 4PM.  Please observe these hours of operation.  Thank you.

Layout Design Clinics and Forums, Thursday

Layout Design Clinics  – On Thursday, July 15, NMRA75 and the LDSIG and the OpSIG will be presenting an all day series of clinics focusing on layout design. The clinics will provide real examples of design challenges and solutions to assist you in designing your dream layout. All these clinics are open to all convention attendees. 

Friday Layout Design Clinics and Banquet

Friday LDSIG Banquet  

The LDSIG Banquet is being planned for Friday evening at Mader's which is a famous German restaurant in Milwaukee.  It will be a full German style buffet with all the well known German dishes - sauerbraten, kassler rippchen, hungarian goulash, German sausage platter plus a fish dish, beer battered cod, and of course a large selection of German beers! (Cash bar though). 

Sunday, LDSIG Drive Out Tours

Mike Ritschdorff will have his layout open on Sunday.   Greg Bedlek will be open Saturday following the convention.  There is information about both layouts in the Wednesday Tour Section above. Ted Schenpf will also be open on the Sunday following.  [See information about Ted's open house at the top of the LDSIG events above.]   For more information contact Seth Neumann via email (click here).

Sacramento Convention 2011

The 2011 NMRA and LDSIG Conventions will be held in Sacramento, CA on July 3-9, 2011.

Information on the NMRA Convention is not yet available; information on the LDSIG Convention will be available here.

To get involved, please contact the LDSIG Convention Chair.

Grand Rapids Convention 2012

The 2012 NMRA and LDSIG Conventions will be held in Grand Rapids, MI on July 29 - August 4, 2012.

Information on the NMRA Convention is not yet available; information on the LDSIG Convention will be available here.

To get involved, please contact the LDSIG Convention Chair.

Atlanta Convention 2013

The 2013 NMRA and LDSIG Conventions will be held in Atlanta, GA on July 14-20, 2013.

Information on the NMRA Convention is not yet available; information on the LDSIG Convention will be available here.

To get involved, please contact the LDSIG Convention Chair.