At A Glance

If you have not guessed by now, MDRail is a concept for a Proto-Freelanced model railroad system. Existing limitations on space and available time to pursue the hobby will only allow me to start out with a small room-sized layout. As some of these limitations ease up, I hope to expand my "empire" into a much larger and much more fluid system.

For now, here are the details about my current initiative:

NAME: MDRail Capitol Bypass Corridor

SCALE: HO (1:87)

SIZE: 15-0 x 19-6

THEME: Industrial/switching w/light run-through traffic

LOCALE: Southern Maryland

ERA: Modern/Present Day

PROTOTYPE: Freelanced based on CSX operations in Southern Maryland

STYLE: Folded Dog bone

HEIGHT (EYE LEVEL): 54"

BENCHWORK: Sectional based on domino construction

ROADBED: Woodland Scenics Foambed

TRACK: Atlas Code 83 Flex-track

MINIMUM TURNOUT: No. 6 mainline; No. 4 industry

MINIMUM RADIUS: 26" mainline; 22 " industry

MAXIMUM GRADE: 1.9% down to staging

SCENERY: Woodland Scenics Foam Terrain System

BACKDROP: Flexboard w/painted background

CONTROL: Digital Command Control

(click on image below to open larger view in new window)

Modeled Industries

Operations is a very important aspect of this layout design. Not only do I want to keep a team of operators busy during any given session, I also want the average spectator to be wowed at the shear amount of activity taking place at any point on the layout. To that end, there is one other important quality that I wanted to capture in my design and that is to model "unique" industries that require "unique" operations. Here are some examples of industries that I have chosen:

Ethanol Processing Refinery: Okay, so not necessarily unique as ethanol plants are starting to become place. However, the shear size of the operation coupled with the loads-in aspect of unit grain trains and loads-out of unit tank trains makes this the centerpiece of the layout.

Waste Off-Load Facility: The placement of this industry along the back wall of the layout at Headquarters means that operators will have to do a reversing move in order to place/remove cars. Always a fun move, especially when battling yard traffic in order to get it done.

Credits

As much as I would like to claim full responsibility for the design of this latest version of the MDRail layout, I cannot. I have been influenced by several more experienced modelers than myself. My final design is a culmination of all of their efforts customized to fit my most basic needs. Therefore, I would like to take an opportunity to acknowledge those from whom I have borrowed ideas in order to fuel my own:

Dan O'Conner - The John Galt Railroad Company (HO)

Eric Brooman - The Utah Belt

David Barrow - The Cat Mountain & Sante Fe

Patrick Phelan - Pope's Creek Secondary Railfan Website

My many friends with whom I share a love of model railroading . . . . you know who you are . . . . THANK YOU!