Updated 5/24/2018 @ 8:40 am

*Needs Ride

There will be a total of six operating sessions, two on Thursday, three on Friday and one on Sunday. All six layouts are operationally complete, fully or mostly sceniced and have been operating on a regular basis for several years. One layout uses NCE and the others all use Digitrax radio systems for control and all but one operate under the authority of a dispatcher using FRS radios for communications.

On Thursday afternoon, operators will run on MMR Ben Bartlett’s Erie RR in Brevard, NC. His 22'x28' HO scale transition era layout features superb operations with two yards and numerous opportunities for local switching.

Thursday early evening will be at Terry Ketcham’s HO freelance West Virginia & Southern in Etowah, NC. Terry’s beautifully detailed three-level eastern mountain layout fills a 14’x40’ room and was featured in Great Model Railroads 2017. Both steam and diesel power are in service.

Friday morning’s session will be in Leicester, NC, at the home of Wally Brown on his 14'x28' Southern Railway, Asheville Division layout. This early ‘50's HO scale pike is centered on the Asheville yard with trains running west to staging in Knoxville and east to staging in Spencer, NC, with a branch to Canton and Murphy. Thru trains with stops in Asheville, plus branch runs and locals providing lots of switching are accommodated.

On Friday afternoon, Dale Martell will host operations on his transition era freelanced Midwest and South Atlantic RR. This small but action packed HO scale layout is very well detailed and features loads of beautiful structures, many with detailed and lit interiors. No officious dispatcher here - just lots of switching and loads of fun.

Friday evening will be hosted on the large N scale layout of Joe Dunn. His nicely sceniced contemporary NS Rathole Division runs from staging in Chattanooga through Sevier Yard in Knoxville, then to Louisville Yard, and ends at staging in St Louis and takes three rooms to do it. This 32'x32' layout was published in the Nov-Dec, 2016, issue of N Scale magazine. Joe took advantage of N scale’s smaller size to have several busy towns and large industries separated by long mountain and valley runs between them.

The final session will be late Sunday morning and will take place over the border near Sevier, TN on the very large HO Chicago, Denver and Pacific model empire built by Dave Houseman. This multi-level re-creation of the central and western part of the country features a huge Denver Yard plus a host of smaller towns, two other yards, staging at both east and west ends, a rail barge operation to an isolated community, and countless industries, both large and small. It fills several large rooms and the mainlines are long enough to handle 40-50 car trains with ease. Dave’s control system is all radio NCE. This session is intended to attract conventioneers heading home to points south and west, although it is well worth the drive if you are going the other way.

Attachment: 

Operating Sessions Contact Information.pdf