Hi All:
I am building a new N Scale Layout “LOOSELY” based on teh Hiawatha (sp) Line between Chicago Illinios and Milliwaukee (sp?).
I am starting out with a door blank framed with some wood 1x4’s. The entire layout has to be able to move since I am renting a house right now, so I have to be able to pick it up and move it if I need too.
I thought I would post my progress and get any feedback from all the experienced Modelers on the site.
All the best.
Curtis
p.s. This will be an all DCC Layout.
Hi Curtis
One of the outstanding features of that line is the long straight-aways, which in part if what enabled the steam powered Hiawatha to reach speeds of 100+ mph Obviously on a layout of your size the tangents won’t really give the impression of the real railroad in that sense.
The other key feature is that both the Chicago end and to a lesser extent the Milwaukee end are both so big as to be difficult to model. But that is OK because there were key places of interest in between that could make your layout very interesting. For example part of the line these days is both Canadian Pacific main line freight, plus Amtrak, plus Metra. In true Milwaukee Road days there was freight, passenger and commuter.
Rondout IL – north of the various suburban stations so relatively little Metra these days except for one branch, but where the CP(ex Milwaukee) main crosses the CN ( ex EJ&E) they still hoop up orders. That crossing and the interchange track could be a nice feature on your layout, even if the EJ&E tracks are just for show with no trains running on them
Further north at Sturtevant WI there were branches both east and west, with yards, a wye, a nice wood depot (moved, but preserved) and a fascinating rairlroad hotel. The Milwaukee Rd Historical Society just published a multi part article on the Southwestern Line that leaves from Sturtevant, and one issue focuses on Sturtevant itself. It too could be a focal point on your layout without really modeling the branch lines themselves.
There are a few small towns north of there that had sidings. mostly rural in nature.
At Town of Lake the line passed under a road (College Avenue) with storage yards north and south. Further north is Powerton, on Waterford Avenue, and until the early 1960s the Milwaukee interchanged with an electric railroad that served a power plant on Milwaukee’s south side, on Lake Michigan.
As you approach
You might be interested in Planning, Designing and Making Railway Layouts in Small Spaces from the local library. It’s written by a Brit because in Britain they don’t have large spaces like we do in the U.S. It discusses building what they call “baseboards” (benchwork) out of 1x4"s that need to be portable. It also discusses building a layout with mulitple baseboards and the idea that they can fit into drawers of a cabinet when not in use.
[quote user=“dknelson”]
Hi Curtis
One of the outstanding features of that line is the long straight-aways, which in part if what enabled the steam powered Hiawatha to reach speeds of 100+ mph Obviously on a layout of your size the tangents won’t really give the impression of the real railroad in that sense.
The other key feature is that both the Chicago end and to a lesser extent the Milwaukee end are both so big as to be difficult to model. But that is OK because there were key places of interest in between that could make your layout very interesting. For example part of the line these days is both Canadian Pacific main line freight, plus Amtrak, plus Metra. In true Milwaukee Road days there was freight, passenger and commuter.
Rondout IL – north of the various suburban stations so relatively little Metra these days except for one branch, but where the CP(ex Milwaukee) main crosses the CN ( ex EJ&E) they still hoop up orders. That crossing and the interchange track could be a nice feature on your layout, even if the EJ&E tracks are just for show with no trains running on them
Further north at Sturtevant WI there were branches both east and west, with yards, a wye, a nice wood depot (moved, but preserved) and a fascinating rairlroad hotel. The Milwaukee Rd Historical Society just published a multi part article on the Southwestern Line that leaves from Sturtevant, and one issue focuses on Sturtevant itself. It too could be a focal point on your layout without really modeling the branch lines themselves.
There are a few small towns north of there that had sidings. mostly rural in nature.
At Town of Lake the line passed under a road (College Avenue) with storage yards north and south. Further north is Powerton, on Waterford Avenue, and until the early 1960s the Milwaukee interchanged with an electric railroad that served a power plant on Milwaukee’s south side, on La
THX Greg!
It was available on Kindle, so I got it!
Thx for the heads up!
Curtis