Welcome to the building of the Lyon Valley Northern.  This historical record provides a pictorial account of the fun I had building the layout.  The journey starts with benchwork construction, then track laying, scenery, industrial structures and more.  Lots of captions on processes I used which may help you in your model railroad efforts.  Enjoy.

Bill Scobie takes the lead locomotive while Pierre Lamontagne operates the helper on the freight from Ridgeway to Rico. The switching operations in Placerville are interesting as the two Sn3 steam locomotives operate both ends of the yard. Interesting moves were made to situate the lifts in the proper part of the train. There are facing and trailing moves for drop offs at industries and local moves as well. The long freight had to clear the main for passenger train traffic. Always a joy to see Bill's Sn3 Rio Grande Southern put through its paces.

Dave is from Ottawa Ontario.  He and I got together to discuss prototype modeling. His Conn River Line is a fine example of how you can take a point in time in history and replicate it in an HO Scale Model Railroad. We did a six part series where a number of subjects were addressed and it provides a great overview of what to consider when modeling and operating a prototype.

Part 1 Introduction to Modeling the Prototype
Part 2 Simplifying Waybills for Operations
Part 3 Ideas for Operations
Part 4 Prototype Events on your Model Railroad

Mike Hamer and I got together over the holidays and decided to put together a series of videos on how to efficiently operate a model railroad. In four parts, the show covers:

Part 1. What to look for when coming to a new railroad. Areas to pay attention to.
Part 2. How to switch, doing lifts and drops from a mainline train
Part 3. Understanding arrival at a major yard and locomotive moves
Part 4. Switching a yard and industrial area efficiently.

PART 1

Dave Primeau's HO scale layout depicts the CPR's Lyndonville Subdivision and the B&M Connecticut River, a line running from Newport, Vermont to White River Junction, Vermont. The Maine Central,St. J&LC and Central Vermont railroads all make appearances at the various junctions along the line.

Well last weekend was the completion of another successful gathering of the American Invasion of Friends.  Three days of Large Scale Model Railroad Operations in Ottawa and one full day at Finger lakes NY.

Click to see full size in proportion.

Moving stock on western railroads has always been big business and no less on the narrow gauge. When a large block was to be moved off the Rio Grande Southern to market the RGS and the D&RGW worked to move the stock with in the time set by law. Law was animals could not be in the cars for more than 24 hours, the shipper could make 30 hours at his risk. When the move was to be made the railroads had it set up so the cars would go from loading to transshipping point in this time.

Ron Newby operates his Alco at prototypical speeds during a recent operating session on Michel Boucher's HO Scale Adirondack Branch of the D&H. To me he really demonstrates the way a train should be handled on a model railroad. It is also a complement to Michel as he ideally takes the stress off the operator by ensuring the schedule is not unreasonable or crowded with other train action. Also the number of cars in the yard is reasonable making room to get about.