First, let us again express our gratitude to the Convention Committee for a successful Regional and to all those individuals and groups who hosted either a tour open house or a Call board operating session, our thanks and appreciation.

Past experience has shown that because of Washington metro area traffic, 4 hour time windows were preferable to 3 hour windows. This, along with the geographic clustering we have been practicing allows for more time spent at each layout. Being the kind of folks they are, the (already high, I’m sure) appreciation level of the visitors for the work the hosts put into their individual layouts would only be enhanced, to this end, we avoided overloading any one time slot with too many layouts.

Paper tour manuals were eliminated, and we received much positive feedback for the electronic directions program Marshall Abrams developed.

We also made a conscious effort to encourage new hosts to participate and were reasonably successful but also made sure to try to include many of the famous layouts folks never seem to tire of visiting.

There were over 40 layouts open during the convention. These are the layouts pictures received after the convention: ■ Marshall Abrams' Abrams Railroad Empire; ■ Albert Pugliese's West Virginia – B&O, C&O, PRR; ■ Gary Eames' PRR Northern Central Branch; ■ Bernard Kempinski's USMRR Aquia-Falmouth line; ■ Dale Latham's Piedmont Southern Railroad; ■ Mat Thompson's Oregon Coast Railroad; ■ Pete LaGuardia's HO scale New York Central Western Illinois Division (WID)

Albert Pugliese's West Virginia – B&O, C&O, PRR

Al Pugliese has a good size a good size floor to ceiling HO railroad he's been working on for 30 years. It is a freelanced HO 23x32ft spread. Based in the late 50s with heavy Pennsy B+O and C+O steam double track main line, featuring both freight and passenger consists, It also features a point to point logging branch that models Cass West Virginia on a 7x20 foot hill. Many of the structures are craftsman models and many are freelanced.

Alex Belida's Eureka and South Pass Railroad

is a freelance short-line located in Nevada in the early 1900s. The small but highly-detailed HO layout extends along three sides of a small, 10x12 bedroom in two-foot wide sections. It features two mines, a sawmill, a shipping operation, a blacksmith, a stream, rock faces and rocky spires. Some of the structures have lighting and interior detailing. At present it is a simple DC system. There is no operating scheme. As the layout is located on the second floor of the house, it is not considered handicap accessible. Because of the small size of the room, there is a limit to the number of visitors of four or five at any one time. More information and many photos at his blog: https://esprrblog.wordpress.com

Bernard Kempinski's USMRR Aquia-Falmouth line

Bernard Kempinski's 1/48th - (O) Scale model railroad depicts the U. S. Military Railroad (USMRR) Aquia-Falmouth line in early April 1863 during the American Civil War. The layout occupies about 500 square feet in about a 30 by 32 feet space. The point to point design includes about 130 feet of mainline track. The track is hand-laid code 100 rail with 4 spikes per tie, about 20,000 spikes in total. The turnouts are stub style with scale sized operating switch stands. There are 5 DCC sound-equipped 4-4-0 locomotives that use battery or keep alive circuits for reliable running. The locos haul about 30 freight cars and one passenger car, all of which are scratch built. Some freight cars have working hand brakes. All use link and pin couplers. It takes a crew of 4 to 6 to operate the layout under time table and train orders using authentic replica paperwork. An automated telegraph system is currently being installed. The layout has full scenery, including a model of the first railroad car ferry ever. However, the Aquia Landing area is still being detailed with additional model ships and structures. Bernie also has an HO scale Port of Los Angles Railroad, set in 2014. The time period justifies container cars and modern diesels. The modeling is superb and the layout is built to support operating sessions.

Brian Sheron's Long Island Rail Road, Port Jefferson Branch

Brian Sheron models the Long Island Rail Road, Port Jefferson Branch, Atlantic Branch, and the City Terminal Zone, circa 1964 (or, if he wants to run his G5’s, K4’s, and H10’s, he changes out his fleet of cabooses, and dials the era back 10 years to 1954). The layout occupies three rooms in his basement, a 13’ x 19’ room, a 12’ x 12’ room, and 10’ x20' room. It is primarily a double track, folded dogbone arrangement. One branch (City Terminal Zone) runs into the 12’ x 12’ room where he models New York City, complete with an operating overhead El, Penn Station, including a cutaway of the LIRR underground platforms in Penn Station where the P-54 MU’s would arrive to deliver and pick up the famous “Dashing Dan” LIRR commuter. The newest branch, the Atlantic Branch, goes into the 10’ x 20’ room, where Brian models Holban Yard, Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, and the LIRR car floats in Long Island City. The layout is 100% sceniced, and chock full of detail (Brian estimates he has well over 1800 figures, and over 800 vehicles on the layout). All of his engines are prototypic of the eras he models (although he also has two Atlas C-420s in the 1970’s Metro livery — because he thought they were neat!). Most of the streets have working streetlights, the buildings on the layout have interior lights, and he has also a large number of of electro-luminescent signs, including many that he custom-made, for many of his industries, all of which contribute to impressive nighttime scenes.

Dale Latham’s Piedmont Southern

Dale’s layout is nationally known. Dale’s layout room is about 528 square feet, and the layout goes around the room with a U-shaped island in the middle. Dale models the Piedmont Southern Railroad, a fictional railroad running between Richmond, VA., and Connellsville, PA, set in 1956. Dale’s railroad was featured in Kalmbach’s “Great Model Railroads” in 2009, and in their “Art of Model railroading calendar. However, the current layout doesn’t resemble the layout featured in the 2009 publication. Dale uses Digitrax DCC and several his engines have sound decoders in them. What I think makes Dale’s layout so nice is the overall balance of the scenery. As you follow the track plan around the room, Dale has numerous sidings to service different industries. However, the buildings associated with these various industries are not overwhelming or too congested, and convey the feeling of a rural industry. All of his buildings are excellently built and weathered. Turnouts that are close to the front of the layout and within easy reach for the aisle are hand throws from Caboose Industries, whereas turnouts not within easy reach are motorized.

Doug Kirkpatrick's Virginia & Western RR

The V&W railroad is a freelanced, late steam/early diesel era railroad hauling people and cargo from the tidewater west over the Blue Ridge Mountains post WW II. The HO-scale railroad follows the Norfolk & Western prototype. The layout room is 37' x 26' with the railroad occupying 575 square feet. The track is handlaid with all scenery completed. The mountain railroad features many bridges and trestles which are scratch built. All of the buildings are either scratch built or craftsman kits and highly detailed. There are many mirrors incorporated through out the layout with an article describing their use in Model Railroad Planning (MRP) 2017. The V&W railroad is featured on the cover of the May 2008 issue of Model Rairoader. Doug hosted an operating session during the convention.

Gary Eames' PRR Northern Central Branch

Gary Eames' PRR Northern Central Branch is a medium sized high rail layout designed by John Armstrong. The layout models the Northern Central from Baltimore/Fells Point Canton to Monkton and the Susquehanna River. Timeframe is the 1930's. Layout features over 60 custom scratch built buildings and building fronts. Some have interior detailing. The most notable is a 3 story cannery.

John Sethian's PRR Nassau Division

John models in O Scale and bases his operations on the PRR Nassau Division through the New Jersey countryside in the mid 1950's. He has placed models of vehicles he had personally owned around the layout with 1956 NJ license plates. He uses equipment from MTH, Lionel, Atlas, etc. all controlled by the MTH Digital Control System. There are buildings based on Edward Hopper paintings (The paintings themselves are close by for confirmation). Lighting is by 4 foot lighting strips and dimmable to enhance the illumination of signals, street lighting and in his structures.

Marshall Abrams' Abrams Railroad Empire

The ARE is a 20 foot by 22 foot walk-around freelance HO layout using Digitrax DCC that models the "anachronistic era." The ARE operates 21 industries, 5 yards, 7 towns, and 2 interchange tracks. Three towns are fully sceniced and scenery construction is spreading.

The ARE operations are directed using instructions based on manifests generated by the RailOP computer program. Local trains run from Babel Yard to industries and towns and back to Babel. Local switchers serve Vienna and Carnegie, interchanging cars with the locals from Babel. Through freights run between Babel and Marshal Yards. Marshal, in turn, interchanges freight cars with the world beyond the walls via the Westmoreland Railroad and the Providence & Worcester Railroad. The Westmoreland interchange track is connecting to Marshal Yard and serviced by a local locomotive provided by the Westmoreland. The Providence & Worcester is a staging track. Both Westmoreland and Providence & Worcester are hidden tracks visible from Marshal by a mirror hung from the ceiling.

Mat Thompson's Oregon Coast Railroad,

set in 1957, follows the Columbia River from Portland to Astoria and then south along the Pacific Ocean to Tillamook. Modeled activities include an ocean port with a tramp steamer and car float, a large yard and engine facility, and a large meatpacking plant. This portion of the layout fills a 36' by 32' room in a folded dog bone configuration. The layout has grown with a 50' x 2' U-shaped extension in a second room. Newly modeled industries include a cheese factory, a large lumber mill and a paper mill.

Scenery is 95% complete with several water features and hundreds of trees. The layout was featured in Great Model Railroads 2014.

Nick Kalis’ Oahu Sugar Company

Nick’s Oahu Sugar Company railroad is set in 1944 on the Hawaiian island of the same name. He models in Fn3 scale using #1 gauge (45mm) track. The layout fills a third of a large basement room and consists of six viewing boxes varying is size from four to nine feet long around an oval facing inward on three sides, with a combination duck under/swing open double track section at one end for access and continuous running. Each box represents a single complete scene; some are finished, but others have details remaining to be done. This unique arrangement has some interesting advantages; you can detail a scene without having to be concerned with the scene on either side of it and, like any well done model railroad, it’s the little things (animals, people, vehicles, etc.) that make the difference.

Pete & Jane Clarke's East Broad Top,

HOn3, fully sceniced, Wireless throttles, most locos have sound, TT&O, card cards. Crew of 7 including one dispatcher. Published in 2016 Great Model Railroads.The EBT starts in Mount Union, PA which is where the line connects to the PRR. This is also home to the coal cleaning plant and the North American Refractories (NARCO) brick plant. From there the line runs south to Orbisonia, home to the Rockhill Coal & Iron company iron furnaces. This is the operating headquarters for the EBT and also where the Shade Gap and Booher branches diverge from the mainline. After passing the small towns of Saltillo, Kimmel, and Coles, the line arrives in Robertsdale. This is the start of the coal mining district. Trains heading up the Shade Gap branch pass through the town of Shade Gap (home of an iron mine and a limestone quarry) and then on to Neelyton (home of a ganister quarry and a lumber mill). Daily operations call for 6 train crews to handle the following trains; Passenger/mail, Freight (coal only), General freight (non-coal), Miners (coal and passenger), Shade Gap freight, and Furnace Shifter (switcher) for the iron furnace.

Pete LaGuardia's HO scale New York Central Western Illinois Division (WID),

is set in 1953, Operates from Kansas City, Omaha, and Des Moines on the west, through Moberly (MO) and Hannibal (MO), to Danville (IL) and Indianapolis (IN) on the east. Modeled activities include a large yard and engine facility with an 18 stall roundhouse with programmable indexing servicing both Steam and Diesel. Industries include a meatpacking plant, paper mill, city scenery and a harbor with car float.

Layout style: Walk-around filling a 36 by 34 room. Track configuration is point-to-point for operations to include a Staging yard and Equipment transfer yard. Scenery: Bench and track work are 99% complete. Scenery was started in January 2014 and is 25% complete. Prototype: New York Central, summer 1953, passenger trains, thru and local freights, extras and industry switching.