|
|
|
Our Railroads:
Welcome
to our layout page, please keep in mind some of these model
railroads are still in their infancy stages and some have
been somewhat completed and others are in their completed
state. As modelers all know a model railroad goes through
many stages and things are always changing, so in reality I
don't think the railroad is ever completed, but that's ok,
we wouldn't have it any other way. As Webmaster and fellow
modeler/operator I guess I'll take this little section to
highlight some of the things about the group. First I would
like to personally thank all the fellow modelers and
operators, you have made the hobby in my life much more
rewarding and I'm proud to call you all my friends. The
hobby is so much more to all of us, in a way it’s a form of
therapy, it takes us away from the hustle and bustle of our
busy lives of working, paying the bills, fixing the house,
watching the kids grow and can take us back in time to a
quitter place. Collectively amongst operators and modelers we
all share a common love for railroading and have all
contributed to the group. We have included a small bit of
personal bio on the Modelers page with links to their actual
railroad pages. Please feel free to browse all through all
our hard work, it only gets better from here and the story
continues….
Ward
Ruland
wwrr@optonline.net |
|
Howard Dwyer's " Island
Central Railroad"
|
 |
ICRR
has an urban setting during the steam to diesel
transition era. Most switching is performed by diesel
road switchers. OPS sessions include main line, coal
hauling, yard operations, and limited branch line runs.
The ICRR is freelanced and 100% scenicked. The layout is
NCE DCC equipped. The ICRR was featured in the May 2012
edition of Model Railroader. A track plan of the layout
is included in the article.
To see pictures of Howard's
"Island Central Railroad" Click Here |
|
Ward Ruland's Railroad
|
|
Ward's
interest with model trains started as child as he he
received his first train set, a Lionel switcher that
he found under the Christmas tree back in the early
70s. His first
layout was built when he was 20 years old, it was a modest
18' x 12' U- shape, utilizing block control and built on
flat plywood, with some bridge elevations and cookie cutter
design for lakes and streams. As the layout grew Ward's
fascination with extreme scenery became evident, spending
many days collecting saw dust from the local lumber
yard and dying it with Rit clothing dye to produce many hues
and shades of scenery material that was not available at
that time. His current layout has been in
progress for 4 years and his construction is based
on open grid and L- Girder bench work. Ward considers
himself a scenery modeler, as he focuses his talents more on
scenery based techniques , although he has the combined
skills of an experienced modeler in many areas of
model railroading, wards love of the hobby is constructing
the "perfect scene" by utilizing scenery skills, techniques
and color. Wards railroad is primary set in the 1960-1970
era encompassing the Long Island NY area, railroads seen
on his layout are the Long Island Railroad,
Pennsylvania, New Haven and all surrounding railroads.
Ward shares his experience that he has picked up throughout
the years and is also happy to learn new skills from his
fellow modelers.
To
see pictures of Ward's "Railroad"
Click Here |
|
Ron Engel's
- "Great Northern Railroad" |
 |
My layout is a freelanced
design loosely based on the Great Northern RR in Minnesota
late 50s really 60s. The main yard is St. Cloud with towns
of Hinkley and Elk River. I use the standard car cards and 4
position waybills along with a train order card. My
operating session is laid back and consists of one east
bound turn from Minneapolis (staging) to St. Cloud and one
west bound turn from Duluth (staging) to St. Cloud.
Operations consist of local and yard switching. I also have
a mine branch run and swap, along with passenger and reefer
runs. I dispatch vocally. Jobs would be - yard master (local
pickups and delay, sort arrival and departures and turn
locos on Turntable). Road turn - (local pickups and drops at
two towns). Third job includes - mine run (empties and
loads) , reefers, passenger. To see pictures of Ron's
"Great Northern Railroad" Click Here |
|
Mike Ryan's
"Jerome Central Railroad" |
|
Mike
started in model railroading back in his preteen years when
his father set up a 4X8 piece of plywood with an oval and a
spur. He still has 4 of his original cars. One, a coal
hopper still runs on the present layout. As a teen he got
into G.I.Joes, H.O. road racing and left trains behind. Then
after his brother set up an oval at his house he went home
and dug out his old trains and hasn’t stop since. In 1983 he
built a 5 X 16 operational layout in his garage, based on a
Model Railroader project by John Olson called building an HO
model railroad with personality. The railroad was The Jerome
& Southwestern published in 1983. It just happens that
Mike’s middle name is Jerome and his dad lived in Arizona
not far from the real town of Jerome Arizona. In that garage
Mike was joined by his brother in law, road racing and
motorcycle partner Jeff Brody, who still runs trains with
him every Thursday evening. Also present on operating nights
in the garage was his freind and teacher of all things
operational, Danny Mulhearn, who along with John R.Taibi
wrote F-UNITS published in 1982 by Quadrant Press, Inc.. The
boys spent many a cold and many a hot night in that garage.
Mike moved four times over the past 32 years and most of his
railroad moved with him. It has underwent many changes over
the years but the theme has remained, copper ore mining in
the mountains and desert near Jerome Arizona. The present
form of the layout occupies roughly a 10 by 63 area located
in two adjacent rooms. Before joining the Central Suffolk
Operations Group Mike’s layout was basically buildings on
painted plywood with mountains covered in ground foam. In
the past few years with the guidance and help of his fellow
operators it has been transformed into a none-flat, mostly
scenic layout. Mike hopes to be done with basic scenery in
2015 and then on to super detailing scenes.
To see pictures of Mike's
"Jerome Central Railroad" Click Here |
|
John Feraca's
" Stone Canyon Railroad" |
|
John’s model railroading
experience started around age 10 when he built a 4’ x 8’ HO
scale layout in the middle of his den. His parents put up
with it for about a year and made him take it down. After
that came a 2’ x 4’ N scale layout in his bedroom. These
early experiences never left him even though he did not get
back into model railroading until 30 years later. In 2001 he
decided to build a small L shaped HO scale layout with his
three boys. He was amazed at what was available to the
modeler and quickly fell back into the hobby. After 2 years John
dismantled the layout and began building his dream layout,
currently about 90% complete. The Stone Canyon Railroad is
25’ x 39’, 1950’s era set in the western US. Predominate
roads are UP and the ATSF. John’s love of big steam and
mountainous terrain are evident throughout the layout. The
railroad includes a full service locomotive facility, large
freight yard, and coal mine, several towns with multiple
industries, a large staging area and a fully lighted city
scene. John’s main reason for building the layout was to
satisfy his artistic side so he focused on realistic
scenery.
To
see pictures of John's Stone Canyon Railroad Click Here |
|
John
Jaklitsch's
"New York Connecting Railroad" |
|
John started modeling the LIRR in 1981, using plywood and table parts dating back to his old Lionel train sets! His concept was to model the railroad in its prime, when the high ways and roads of the island had yet to be fully developed. The railroad was kept busy with freight trains, often with leased Pennsylvania locomotives, delivering goods for nearby New York City, while carting produce from the heavily farmed areas of Long Island in the '50s. While John's North Shore Division is purely fictional, the genuine feel of his modeling derives from the fact that his two major destinations,
Hunters point in Queens, and Oyster Bay in Nassau County, really do exist.
To See
pictures of John's "New York Connecting Railroad" Click Here |
|
|
|