This is a brief introduction to the ML&S, my fictitious N scale railroad. The name was chosen based on railroads with which I have an affinity. From my younger years the railroads are Louisville & Nashville and Southern Railway. Both operated routes where I lived and where I first gained an interest in railroads.

Later in life I moved to Minneapolis and discovered the Minneapolis & St Louis Railway after riding on bike paths that once hosted their rails. M&StL was merged into C&NW in 1960.

When my track plan was finalized I had plans to put signals at the entrance to each CP except for the double crossover at Linden. The double crossover would not fit into the System Table. In addition to the double crossover I had a separate single crossover, a yard lead, and a diverging route to Main 3 and the Linden Branch just west of the double crossover.

I also noticed that the distance between East and West Rapidan, and between AltaVista and North Linden was too short to allow sufficient braking.

I will collect documentation in the following posts. One of my early challenges was how to name everything that needed naming; blocks, control points, indications, &c. 

I have always been fascinated by wayside signals. I created a design in 2006 based on hardware using combinational logic ICs. It didn't take long to discover that a pure hardware solution was very complex. A few years ago I began exploring creating a signal system based on monitoring the Digitrax LocoNet for block occupancy and turnout position.

My layout is a two track, twice-around loop folded over itself. I placed a double crossover between Main 1 and Main 2 to provide access to a yard lead. When the double crossover is reversed then trains cross from Main 1 to Main 2, and upon coming around again from Main 2 to Main 1. The two track main becomes one track.

The layout also incorporates two reversing loops that cross each other. If both loops are reversed then trains do not change directions but traverse both loops.