Steve, The main part is about 20' x 40', with an extension of 2' x 40' along a wall for the Memphis and Union Station scene. It is basically a loop with a long stub in simple terms. Ken McElreath
I think I am on a roll here. I just completed a new section of the layout, comprising a trestle and girder bridge across the Ten Mile Bayou. As you go west from Bridge Junction in Arkansas, you cross the Mississippi River floodplain and the southern end of the Little River Drainage District. It started more than 100 miles north at Jim James's Headwaters Diversion Channel just southwest of Cape Girardeau. This project in total was the largest earthmoving project in North America, greater than the Panama Canal. It drains everything south of the Diversion Channel into the St. Francis River in Arkansas and eventually into the Mississippi River at Helena AR. Between the Mississippi and the St. Francis was the "Little River", as opposed to the "Big River" to the east. This area is drained by an assortment of "ditches" that occasionally flow into swamps and then drain into another ditch. My dad used to take me fishing in the Diversion Channel and some of the larger ditches. Across from Memphis, there are four ditches, called the Five Mile, Ten Mile, Fifteen Mile and Twenty Mile Bayous. Both the Rock Island, with Cotton Belt tenant, and the MoPac crossed these bayous and the St. Francis River after splitting from the A&MRB&T Co. at Briark, AR and before climbing toward the interior of Arkansas and Little Rock. So I have notionally modeled one of these crossings for use by all three roads. Here are some photos of my Ten Mile Bayou and bridge, with my dad, uncle, cousins and me doing some cat fishing. Since it is Arkansas and not Missouri, you will note we have an observer watching us upstream by the big tree. And the last shot confirms that the MoPac was the indeed "The Route of the Eagles". The pine trees are not quite right for this area, but a little farther west in Arkansas they are predominant. So it is my layout and that is that. Enjoy. Ken McElreath
And of course the main attraction is the railroading. So here are two trains crossing the bridge, a Cotton Belt/Southern run-through to Pine Bluff and the remnant of the MoPac's little Delta Eagle, which in my version of history goes west to Wynne and then south through Forrest City to Helena and McGehee LA. Ken McElreath
Between Briark and Forrest City Arkansas, the Rock Island's Choctaw Route crosses a swale with a sag in the roadbed grade. This is a very familiar characteristic of midwestern railroading and always a great spot to railfan and photograph trains climbing out of the sag, usually with a strong exhaust plume. Last week I finished my swale scene and took some photographs to share. When I proudly invited my wife Marsha to inspect my handiwork, she, who grew up on a dairy farm, dryly said, "I will give you ten minutes and those cows will be on the track." Not to be humiliated, I responded, "Not these cows, they have their feet glued in place." So much for sharing my enthusiasm bubble. Trying to be authentic in modeling comes with a price when the critics show up. Enjoy. Ken McElreath
Yeah, those GP38s, new in 1976, did not keep their white faces clean for very long. What terrible color choices for longevity, but I loved them anyway. Interestingly, my unit, named "City of Little Rock" is headed toward Biddle Yard in its namesake city. It took considerable fiddling with the benchwork risers to arrive at a smooth, "just enough" sag to be attractive but not overdone. It would be a great feature on an HO layout as well, but one must be able to look at the track grade at eye level in order to appreciate the vertical dimension. Otherwise, it really does not show up well. Ken McElreath
Since it has been a while since I updated the status of the A&MRB&T layout, here are a few photographs of the work in progress. The first four are of the town of Forrest City, served prototypically by all three roads, the Rock Island with the Cotton Belt trackage rights, and the MoPac's Wynne Sub. The last one shows my working area on the MoPac's White River Country section just west of the Ten Mile Bayou crossing. More to come. Enjoy. Ken McElreath
And here is my latest rolling stock project, a 1937 Magor caboose, still in local service in 1970. I used to see these at Ste Genevieve on the Missouri-Illinois with lime dust all over them. Quite a rarity in midwestern railroading. Ken McElreath
The latest major section of the layout that I have now finished is the West Memphis Joint Yard, used by the MoPac and Cotton Belt for staging their westbound blocks forwarded from the ICG, Southern and L&N. Because the yard is tight in space, I alternate operating sessions between the MoPac and the Cotton Belt. The photographs that follow are with the MoPac operation. First, here are photos that show the general yard layout and the backdrop, which represents the Mississippi River flood plain across from Memphis.
This one is for you, Greg. Several times you have commented on my clean Rock Island equipment, and I could not agree more. It was hard to even read the numbers on some of the prototypes in the late 1970s. So here is my response, with as much weathering as I could stomach on a pretty custom-painted engine. I had to take a deep breath and just start slopping! It is not like the way I used to paint, decal and weather $2.00 HO Athearn blue or yellow box freight cars. They could be expendable. Ken McElreath
Well, Ken, here is a dirty little secret I will share with you. I do not weather my models either, since 1) about 2/3 of them are custom-painted by me and I hate to mess up what I have done, and 2) to me, they just look better to me when they are clean. Probably for the same reason I keep my car washed. And I think those models of yours look spectacular. GS
The first town on the Rock Island's Choctaw Route westbound after climbing out of the Mississippi River bottoms was Forrest City. It has an interesting railroad history, being the crossing of the MoPac's Wynne Subdivision from Paragould to Helena AR. There was actually a union station depot there, in a hotel at the crossing. After the MoPac discontinued its motorcar service and the hotel was razed, the Rock Island converted its freight station into a passenger facility to continue serving the Choctaw Rockette RDC-3 and conventional Cherokee trains between Memphis and Little Rock. So in my selectively compressed version of history and geography, the MoPac ran its Delta Eagle in the 1960s west to Forrest City and then south to Helena and McGehee. My MoPac Wynne Sub local freight also serves Forrest City. I have only four structures comprising the town, but I am surprised how convincing the scene has turned out. It is one of my favorites. So here are several posts with photographs, starting with the east approach to the town with the main industries, the Forrest City Elevator and ammonia fertilizer dealer, and the team track beside the (closed) East Arkansas Manufacturing Company. Ken McElreath
When modeling in G-scale, the level of detail is not necessarily any greater than HO, but the difference is that a viewer feels like he is actually in the scene, without having to get really close and squint his eyes to appreciate that detail. Here are some examples that just pop out as I walk by the layout every time. These are particularly meaningful to me because these recall the rural Missouri towns like Delta and Whitewater of my youth. Ken McElreath
Now for the town's west end, with the main street running through. The Arkansas Highway Patrol car is actually from "Smokey and the Bandit." Great fun. Ken McElreath
Now for the best part--the trains. I have both the Rock Island Choctaw Rockette and my latter-day version of the MoPac Delta Eagle serving the town. Ken McElreath
