Urbana | Dallas | Edsall Road | Longworthe Square
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Overall Dimensions: 6 by 3.5 feet
Mainline Length: 33 feet
Minimum radius: 9-3/4 inches
Maximum grade: 2.5%
Innovation: Entire layout made to fold up behind sleeper sofa.
The original layout in Urbana, Illinois, was based on Atlas' Scenicked & Relaxed Railroad, layout N-108 in Nine N-Scale Layouts You Can Build. I added a small yard to the front of the layout. Because of space constraints, the layout folded upwards above our living room couch (our married student apartment only had two rooms and 500 square feet). Interestingly, N-108 is also seen as an example of a vignette pike in John Armstrong's Creative Model Railroad Design and as the cover art for Atlas' Right Track layout design software. I believe that in the newest edition of N Scale Layouts You Can Build, the layout is numbered N-14.
Operationally, the layout had two small towns and a quarry. Cars arrived and left via the interchange track. The setting, north central Washington, and a history predicated on Burlington Northern spinning off a shortline, were established at this time. (Reality caught up with us in 1996 when BNSF did indeed sell the Wenatchee-Oroville Branch to RailAmerica to become their Cascade & Columbia River Railroad.)
This was my first effort at a model railroad since I abandoned my old HO layout before I went to college a decade or more earlier. I learned a lot about carpentry, electrical wiring, and considerable model railroading skills like rolling stock maintenance, structure building, and scenicking. All in all, it was a good beginning layout.
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Overall Dimensions: 8.5 by 9.5 feet
Mainline Length: 66 feet
Minimum radius: 9-3/4 inches
Maximum grade: 2.5%
Innovation: Murphy bed and credenza arrangement.
Space contraints were eased by getting an apartment with a second bedroom when we moved to Dallas in 1985 (my wife had moved down in 1984; I stayed on in Urbana to continue graduate studies). Despite having more room, a permanent set-up was still impractical. So this layout, incorporating the original Urbana layout in part, was made to fold up again. The scheme was based on John Armstong's Murphy Bed & Credenza Railroad from his book, Creative Model Railroad Design (originally published as Created Layout Design). Initially, the railroad ended at the credenza, but this proved less than satisfactory. Eventually, as shown, we added a reverse-loop along one wall of the room. Overall, the layout measured 8.5x9.5 feet with about a 66 foot (two scale mile) mainline.
Operationally, the return loop represented both the north and south ends of the layout. Trains originating at the south end entered from the loop at Peshastin. It continued counterclockwise north to Chelan for classification. From there it progressed to Omak then to Oroville before returning to the staging loop. The track passed through Wenatchee twice, but only connected to the yard and local tracks from one of the main tracks.
Before adding the loop addition, we depended on a wye to turn locomotives. After adding the wye, the closure of the original loop could be broken to create a branch line. This was when the Oroville & Hedley Railroad entered our "history" as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Columbia & Okanogan Railway.
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Overall Dimensions: 6 by 2.5 feet
Mainline Length: 17 feet
Minimum radius: 11 inches
Maximum grade: 0%
Innovation: Small switching layout fits on top of low bookcase.
My wife took a temorpary assignment to northern Virginia in 1987. We took an apartment in the west end of Alexandria, on Edsall Road overlooking the RF&P flyover of CSX. We could see the CSX (former Southern) Van Dorn Street Station, the UPS intermodal loading and unloading yard, and a Vulcan Materials sand and gravel receiving yard. Because we expected to return to Dallas, we left the Dallas layout in storage, but a year is a long time to go without running trains.
So to stay active in the hobby we built a small switching layout. The layout was 2.5x6 feet. It was based on a small switching layout in Kalmbach's 101 Trackplans, set within an oval layout that provided for continuous running. Interchange occurred at the small yard up front. Five local industries provided plenty of switching opportunities. Most of the oval was hidden under a cityscape, with a highway overpass at the right reaching over both the lower switching level and the street-level. The two tracks beneath the layout provided for minimal staging of one train in each direction. The two trains would deliver cars to and pick up cars from the small interchange yard from which the local switcher transferred cars to and from local industries.
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Overall Dimensions: 11.5 by 14.5 feet
Mainline Length: 75 feet
Minimum radius: 9-3/4 inches
Maximum grade: 2.5%
Innovation: Staging. Digital Command Control.
In mid-1988 we found out that we were to be transferred to Alexandria. So we bought a townhouse. It had a formal living room on the second floor and a similarly sized 12x22-foot family room on the first floor. The land-grab garnered the family room for the Train Room. In it, the Columbia & Okanogan Railway reached its greatest extent. Overall it was 14.5x11.5 feet with a 75-foot mainline (2.2 scale miles). The original layout was still included in the design. Principal improvements included addition of staging tracks to represent points north (Canadian Pacific and the CORY's own subsidiary, the Oroville & Hedley) and points south (Burlington Northern and CORY's Wenatchee customers) in seven tracks. The staging capacity was about sixty 50-foot cars. Most traffic was pre-staged, but some fiddling occured during operating sessions.
The north central Washington setting provided several commodities to ship: grain from Okanogan Falls, Oroville, and Omak (I like covered hoppers); light manufactured goods from Oroville, Chelan, North Wentachee Junction, and Wenatchee; fruit from Oroville and Omak; fruit juices from Chelan; and cement products from AmCemCo, the layout's single largest customer.
Operations involved both through-operations between CP and BN and wayfreight operations. Chelan was the main classification yard. North Wenatchee Junction and Okanogan Falls were the principal interchange points. A session typically took three hours and saw fifteen trains run. Two operators ran switchers at Chelan and Oroville. The former handled classification and industrial switching at Chelan, the latter industrial switching at Oroville and interchange at Okanogan Falls. One or two other operators would run the interchange freights into and out of storage. We used a sequential timetable where trains arrived or departed according to a schedule, but we used no clock or other timing mechanism. We used Track Warrants control movements with the timetable provided a framework for train operations.
Here's the final operating schedule according to "Timetable No. 3," the last timetable we created. It had a issuing date of September 6, 1996, coincidently the same date as Timetable No. 1 of the prototype Cascade & Columbia River Railroad.
| Train 1 | 1st Inbound BN Transfer | Appelyard to North Wenatchee Junction (NWJ) and return |
| Train 2 | CORY-BN Transfer | Chelan to NWJ and return (switch NWJ and Entiat as necessary) |
| Train 3 | Chelan Switcher | Classify cars for Northern Wayfreight and Chelan industries |
| Train 4 | Inbound CP Transfer | Penticton to Okanogan Falls (OKF) and return |
| Train 5 | Oroville & Hedley | Hedley to O&HR Interchange |
| Train 6 | Oroville Switcher | Switch OKF, O&HR Interchange, and Oroville; and classify Southern Wayfreight. |
| Train 7 | Second Inbound BN Transfer (if required) | Appelyard to North Wenatchee Junction (NWJ) and return. |
| Train 8 | Chelan Switcher | Switch Chelan industries; assemble Northern Wayfreight. |
| Train 9 | Northern Wayfreight, the OKF Turn | Work Omak; drop cars for Oroville to be worked by local switcher; work OKF, leaving cars for CP at interchange; return to Oroville after Oroville switcher completes swtiching moves; work Omak again, as necessary; return to Chelan. |
| Train 10 | Oroville Switcher | Work cars dropped by Northern Wayfreight; place southbounds for returning OKF Turn (train 9). |
| Train 11 | Chelan Switcher | Assemble Southern Wayfreight (while Northern Wayfreight is working). |
| Train 12 | Southern Wayfreight | Departs after return of train 9; cars for points south are added to this train; run Chelan to NWJ; switch NWJ industries; deliver cars to Wenatchee; leave cars for BN at NWJ interchange; return to Chelan, switching Entiat as necessary. |
| Train 13 | Chelan Switcher | Classify returning Southern Wayfreight; switch Chelan industries; classify cars for next sessions trains 2 and 9. |
| Train 14 | Outbound BN Transfer | Appelyard to North Wenatchee Junction (NWJ) and return |
| Train 15 | Outbound CP Transfer | Penticton to OKF Interchange and return |
Although there are no through-freights per se on this schedule, the dispatcher always had the perogative to add extra run-throughs to provide traffic for the wayfreights to work around. We also had a few extras periodically to provide variety and interest. Such extras included: O&HR Sand Train from Hedley to Entiat's cement products plant; BN Cement Trains from Appleyard to Entiat; AmCemCo Shipments Train from Appleyard to Entiat (gondolas and flat cars for large pre-stressed concrete structural elements); Harvest Trains from the elevators at Omak, Oroville, and OK Falls; Amtrak Ski Train from Wenatchee to Penticton.
This layout saw several revisions on its way to the layout depicted here. Most involved realignments to produce more satisfying operations. The most substantial change took place beneath the layout, though. In 1996, we had the opportunity to upgrade to Digital Command Control and we took it. This was the single best improvement ever made to operations on the layout and while the initial outlay was expensive, the improvement of the quality of model railroading experience was well worth the price. Anyone contemplating the expense of conversion to DCC should definitely think long and hard about a decision not to convert. If your wish is to operate your model railroad, you will never regret the decision or expense.
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In 1998 we were transferred to Colorado. With the exception of the 6x2.5-foot section containing Chelan and the staging tracks, the layout was scrapped. Over the years, as I built layout after layout, and revised each, I learned a lot about layout design. My participation in Northern Virginia NTrak and, in particular, the National Model Railroad Association and its Layout Design Special Interest Group, taught me a lot of lessons. Each step and layout was important to my education about what makes a good model railroad and, of equal importance, what matters to me about a good model railroad. The desire to "start from scratch" was overwhelming and that is where we stand. The remainder of this website details plans for the next incarnation of the Columbia & Okanogan Railway.
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