First, a map showing the location of the Meadow Sub within the SPSF Kansas City Division.

And here is the track plan, so you have an idea of how everything is arranged.

This is the workbench, where it all happens:

The crew lounge.  The SP sign came off the bridge over I-25 at Castle Rock and was given to me by a friend who retired from the UP and worked on the bridge reconstruction over 10 years ago.

This is the operations center, where the layout is controlled and where locomotives are programmed through JMRI.

Track guides along the fascia direct crews where to spot cars and move trains.  Let's start at the diesel yard and work our way west.

The diesel yard was designed with a larger fleet in mind.  Now that I am down to 15 operating locomotives, I have redesigned the space and will work on that in the coming months.

Then on to the staging yard.  The staging yard is essentially one yard, but divided into two areas, which have separate entrances to the sceniced portion of the layout: Kanseville Yard in Council Bluffs, where the SPSF is based, and South Omaha, where the UP and Amtrak trains are staged.

The staging yard is also too big for my current operations, but I don't have any plans to downsize this one.

Now entering the real layout, starting at South Omaha, which is the first area after the crossing the Missouri River and the UP mainline (not modeled).

South Omaha has a Sutherlands lumberyard.

And a Scoular flour mill.  Plus an abandoned spur to a brewery that is used for off-spot cars.

The SPSF has a small diesel facility at Bellevue to maintain the MP15DC switcher.  This unit serves the Belt Line, most of South Omaha, and provides switching for Scoular and Maytag when the local is not running.

Bellevue was a major passenger station for the Rock Island and continues to serve people with the Amtrak Missouri River Eagle, plus private cars as shown today.

One of the largest industries in Bellevue is Maytag, which still ships out appliances via rail and also takes in coiled steel.

The Husker Industrial Park was developed on the site of an old packing plant and contains a number of customers and some abandoned spurs.

Now we come to MO Junction, which is where the Meadow branch separated from the Rock Island mainline.  The mainline has been abandoned and a connection from the UP to the south for Amtrak was added in the early 1990s.

The Papio Creek bridge also crosses the old UP transcontinental route that looped to the south, west of Omaha.

The first branchline town is Papio Crossing, now the site of a bulk transfer facility and another lumberyard.

Fairview is a very small country town that has lost its depot but still retains some grain bins.

Plattford is the site of a sand pit - we are getting near the Platte River.  This is operated by Western Sand & Gravel and they have their own switcher for spotting cars inside the plant, an OL&B 70-tonner that used to work at the Lincoln Ready Mixed Concrete plant.

Now we continue west to the last station, Meadow.

Meadow has a siding that is used for runaround moves.

Meadow is a small village with a decent old depot.  There is a lead to a Western Sand & Gravel gravel pit past the depot.

Meadow is also the site of a large Co-op, where unit grain shuttles run between here and Council Bluffs to be blocked into larger unit grain trains.

The grain elevator is not nearly complete - there will be more silos added soon.

Now let's head over to the Belt Line.  This is the extension that was recently built and the line starts just north of Bellevue and it is on a deck above the diesel yard.

The south end has a cold storage facility, Chugwater Chili distribution, and transload tracks.

On the other end is the Ready Mixed Concrete plant, which has a trackmobile, and gets sand and gravel from Plattford and Meadow and cement from the UP transfer.

There is a small staging yard for the light rail vehicle and any cars that aren't able to be brought back down to Bellevue, or need to be off-spotted for another day.  The Belt Line is a double-track light rail line and is switched at night when there is no service.

Here is a shot of the Belt Line with the night lights on.

And here are some general views of the layout, looking down the aisles.

Eric Miller: Modeling the Stockyard Industrial Lead small switching layout in HO Scale
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what scale is this? Ho or N?

Nice layout and it looks like it has a good operating scheme.     John

Thanks for the comments!  This is an HO Scale layout.  I plan to post some of my operating documents in the near future.

Eric Miller: Modeling the Stockyard Industrial Lead small switching layout in HO Scale
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Good looking layout. Operations should be a blast.

As a signal guy, one thing that stands out to me is your searchlights turned away from the track. Are they being modeled as recently taken out of service or in the process of being put into service?

Steven

Thanks ICMainline - I think it has a good variety of some road operations, lots of switching, and a little passenger running.

Steven - the signals are on the old mainline from the Rock Island era, when it was ABS territory.  The signals have been decommissioned but not taken down yet.  The newer, working signals at MO Jct are for controlling the switch.

Eric Miller: Modeling the Stockyard Industrial Lead small switching layout in HO Scale
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Looks good.  I always liked the SPSF paint.

"always liked the SPSF paint."

  Yep ,in a just world that would be reality :>)    

   I especially like the graphics of your fascia schematics of local track layout. ......DaveB

   Very enjoyable to see your layout.  Living in Omaha made it even more interesting and fun to read about and see.  The SPSF paint is great and seeing the "ROCK" equipment brings back nice memories of railfanning in past times!

   Thanks,

Gary H.