Scale
HO
Status
Active
Superintendent
Alan Schroeder
Subdivision
Hi Line and Kootenai River
Interchange
Union Pacific, MRL
Locale
Northwestern Montana
Era
1990 and 2000
Layout Size
1000 sq ft
Control
Digitrax Simplex DCC
Dispatching
CTC-CATS on computer
Communication
Telephones
Forwarding
CC/WB by Shenware
Crew Size
15
Listed Jobs
Dispatcher, Yard master, 2 switchers crew, footboard yardmaster, helper crew, 3 local crews, 7-9 road crew
The Burlington Northern Hi-Line Subdivision mainline through the Rocky Mountains of western Montana is the setting for this mushroom style, multi-deck layout. This area is known as Marias Pass.
Trains traverse 700 feet of single and double track mainline, with helper engines shoving hard to get the tonnage up the grade from Essex, MT east to the summit of Marias Pass. While this area of Montana does not feature much on-line industry, the cities of Whitefish and Columbia Falls provide plenty of switching activity. Additionally, secondary lines to Kalispel, Eureka and Great Falls create additional traffic density. The predominant commodities from local industries is aggregate and forest products, but the layout stretches east to Cutbank, MT with grain elevators with plenty of wheat to be loaded into covered hoppers for movement to customers.
The layout features modeling of two different eras of Marias Pass. First, 1990 Burlington Northern with the constant flow of EMD SD40-2’s and GP50’s along with GE LMX B39-8 lease units pulling intermodal traffic from the Pacific Northwest ports to destinations in the Midwest. Second, BNSF of 2000 with the mainline invasion of C44-9’s and a mix of diesels with the original BN and Santa Fe paint along with Heritage I and Heritage II BNSF paint schemes. Whether thundering EMD’s or throbbing GE’s, this railroad is all about the scenery and progress continues to be made on that front.
Digitrax DCC Chief is the control system utilizing UT4R radio throttles and BDL-168 and SE8C signaling components and Southbend Signals. Centralized Traffic Control using CATS on computer screen is utilized for traffic management and Shenware car cards and waybills is the car-forwarding method.
This layout is located in the Wisconsin Dells area (rural Reedsburg).
