Olaf Melhouse’s

Dakota Northern Model Railroad

Olaf Melhouse’s Dakota Northern Model Railroad

N-scale

The Dakota Northern Railroad is an N-Scale model railroad located in North Dakota in the late 1970’s. The area modeled is the old Great Northern Railway mainline between Grand Forks and Minot, ND. The Dakota Northern is now a subsidiary of the Burlington Northern Railroad. Devils Lake is my hometown and the headquarters for the railroad.

This is wheat farming country. The area around Devils Lake grows the best Durum wheat in the world. Grain elevators are the castles on the prairie and the Dakota Northern exists to serve these industries. There are a total of seven large grain elevators on the layout. We also have numerous fertilizer plants, farm equipment dealers, bulk oil facilities, a rock quarry, a cement plant, and a coal-burning power plant. Most of these buildings are scratch built.

The layout was started in 1994 and is about 99% complete. It occupies a 12’x20’ addition to our home. The layout was featured in the April 2000 issue of Model Railroader and the Sept/Oct 2002 issue of N Scale Railroader, and in issue 72 of the Layout Design Journal.  A number of articles have also been in Rail Model Journal on scratch-building structures, my favorite part of the hobby.

The layout is designed for walk-around operation using digital command control. The 3-foot wide aisles are wide enough for two operators to pass. The layout height is 52 inches. All turnouts are manually operated and can be reached from the front of the layout. The layout was built using box construction. Backdrops were built using 1/8” painted hardboard. The scenery is joint compound over nylon screen covered with ground foam.

The minimum mainline curve radius is 18” and the maximum grade is 1.5%. The track is Atlas flex track and Peco turnouts. Average mainline trains are 18-20 cars and locals are 8-10 cars. We run two mainline freights, two locals, a ballast train, a unit grain train, and two-yard jobs. The Soo Line also runs a freight that has operating rights over the Dakota Northern.

Our two man operating crews consist of an engineer and a conductor. Two train crews and a yard job operate at the same time along with a dispatcher. We use a simplified switch list system that does not rely on reading car numbers. It works great. Trains are operated using an MRC Prodigy-Advanced 2 DCC system. There are plenty of industries on the layout so running a switch job takes 45-60 minutes. During our 3-hour operating session, we usually run 5 or 6 trains. At the end of the operating session, we take a break to enjoy a snack and talk about railroading. We’ve been operating the Dakota Northern for over 25 years and we’ve had a lot of fun.

Ole enjoyed a 31-year career at the Burlington Northern, starting on a track gang, moving to engineering, and finishing as the manager of Maintenance Planning at the BNSF headquarters.  Ole is a prolific author for the Layout Design Journal. 

Hours open: 3:00 – 9:00

Handicap accessible:  Yes, but tight aisles

Parking:  Street

Entry: Front Door