Earl Paine    Reading      12:30PM to 4PM

Representing the Reading Railroad's mainline along the Schuylkill River between Philadelphia and Reading in the early 1970's leading up to the Conrail merger. The modeled portion extends from Falls Yard through to Abrams Yard west through Phoenixville, Royersford, Pottstown, Stowe Yard, Monocacy, Birdsboro where the line diverges to the Belt line/Turkey Path and the Main line thru to Reading Yard. Operations involve heavy freight trains performing industrial switching with some commuter passenger trains. The section modeled was yard limits over half modeled distance in its day, that allows for interesting operating situations for general freight, coal, cement, steel and industrial switching.

Paul Backenstose    WESTERN MARYLAND Ry    12:30PM to 4PM

Paul's NCE DCC controlled HO scale Western Maryland Ry. layout is based on the "Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Division" from a John Armstrong book and was operated as a PRR Pittsburgh Region 1955 layout for several years. It was then converted to the Western Maryland Ry. from Hagerstown to Connellsville and the Thomas Sub., also 1955. The era then changed to 1971. Several scratch-built coal mines by the late Alden Smith are featured. Paul's freelanced short line started in his teenage years, the Pennsylvania Northern R.R., was recently incorporated into the layout, running from an interchange in Cumberland , MD with the WM to Philipsburg,PA.

Ron Hoess - PRR    12:30PM to 4PM

The layout is a modest sized switching layout depicting the Pennsylvania Railroad at North Philadelphia circa 1958. Included are a portion of the mainline, the long forgotten Stifftown Branch and the first 3 miles of the Chestnut Hill Branch. All of the structures on the layout are scratchbuilt to better represent the buildings that were there. Major industries that are included are the Budd Company and Midvale Steel. Since this was electrified territory, much of the trackage was under wire. Thus far about 50% of the catenary has been installed.

Steve Salotti  MMR    NYS&W  12:30PM to 4PM

Set in 1949 in northern New Jersey, the railroad runs between Little Ferry (major yard) and Hainesburg and features passenger and mainline freight service, with many locals serving industries, both along the line and on the waterfront.

Don Richards PRR Chesapeake Division 1967    12:30PM to 4PM

Bruce Friedman - CSX    12:30PM to 4PM

My HO layout is based on the CSX Philadelphia Subdivision.  I model the current day. It is 42' X 56' in size and has 4 levels.  The layout is completely finished and has 1000' of main line. There are 2 helixes and 3 staging areas which is one of the levels. Another level is the ESPN shortline that interchanges with CSX in Wilmington, Delaware. The layout is run with Digitrax DCC and is fully signaled with operating detection and is dispatched with Railroad and Company software.

The layout has wide aisles but you do have to use steps to get down to the basement. 

Greg & Angel Shindledecker's Western Maryland, Thomas Subdivision in the mid-‘70s

Based on the WM’s Thomas Subdivision extending along the upper Potomac Valley into West Virginia during the years after the merger into the Chessie system; the layout is modeled from just west of 21st Bridge (east of McCool, MD) to Elkins, WV. Two large staging yards represent points east - Cumberland/Knobmount, MD and beyond; the other being coal branches radiating from Elkins to Durbin, Webster Springs, Dailey, and Belington. In between lies the Blackwater Canyon, in which the famed Black Fork Grade required multiple helpers on almost all trains moving coal eastbound.

Combinations of power using WM, B&O and the early Chessie schemes are seen. Online industries include coal load outs and mines, pulpwood and wood chip loading, the Westvaco paper mill at Luke, MD, coal-powered electric generation at Mt. Storm, a tannery, a Kingsford Charcoal plant, and car shops for maintenance and repair at Elkins. Railroad is dark but dispatched using manual block signaling unique to the prototype.

Location: Coatesville, PA 19320, (26.5 miles, or 37 minutes from the hotel)

Layout Scale: HO

Layout Theme: Western Maryland in the Chessie Era, mountainous West Virginia set in the 1970s

Accessibility: Not wheelchair accessable, but layout room is at grade, with restroom in an adjacent room

Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WMThomasSub 

Train Dispatching System: Dispatcher authorized utilizing WM style manual signaling.

Car Forwarding Method: Car cards

Layout Control system: NCE DCC. NCE, WiFi enabled throttles or phones.

Joshua Blay

U shaped point to point switching layout based on the towns of Homer and Cortland, NY located along the Syracuse Branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad set in the Summer of 1957.  Layout built with every effort to capture the prototype.  Variety of scratch-built structures from field measurements and period photos.  Waybill operation; off layout staging.  First generation diesels with period equipment.    DCC control (Digitrax).  

An OO layout (English equivalent of HO) is in progress above. 

Delaware & Susquehanna Model Rail Road Club 12:30PM to 4PM

Ken McCorry