The plan includes a large Port area with: a dock for unloading new autos from ships into waiting car-carriers, an intermodal yard, a grain elevator, a refinery with tank car loading racks and barge pier, a waterfront scene, a power plant and other warehouses supporting rail traffic.

From the coast the layout climbs, making its way into mountain scenes as well, and past other industries such as a paper mill, lumber yard, rail car maintenance & paint facility, and a mine. The route also passes through several towns with numerous industries. Also being constructed are a transfer table equipped diesel servicing and repair facility and a separate steam facility, complete with a round house.



The layout can be run as continuous loop or point-to-point. The HO scale line has three industrial switching areas online, with more on the way. There are four staging yards - two above our workbench and two below the main layout peninsulas, providing a grand total of 25 staging tracks.

In 2007 we started holding regular operating sessions using RailOp, a computer program designed to manage car, engine, train, and track location files – and to create the paperwork needed to easily move freight and trains of all types over our railroad.
 

Some of the features of the layout are as follows:

• 30' by 50' layout room (Original Layout) 50' by 50' layout room (expansion)
   
• Over 2600' of track  (Original Layout)
   
• 30" minimum radius on the main line
   
• Number 6 minimum turnout size on the main line
   
• Maximum gradient 2-1/2%
   
• 9 passing sidings (excluding the yards) that range in length from 13 to 41'. Two of them can be used in combination for a single siding that is 56' long!
   
• 4 staging yards with 25 staging tracks
   
• 2 nested 1-1/2 turn helixes under Mount Willie
   
• Approximately 100' of HOn3 narrow gauge line
   
• All HO Scale track is Atlas Nickel-Silver Code 83.
   
• Turnouts are a mixture of Walthers/Shinohara Code 83, custom hand laid and BK Enterprises. All turnouts have been modified to a DCC friendly format as outlined in the Allan Gartner's "Wiring for DCC" turnout pages.
   
• Switch machines are a combination of Circuitron Tortoise and Switchmaster slow motion machines. Many of the Tortoise machines were modified per Don Crano's web article.
   
• The bench work is an open grid design fabricated from 3" wide
  strips of ripped 3/4" furniture-grade plywood, fastened together with pocket screws. Two different types of plywood were used - Baltic Birch and Chinese Birch. Both types have 13 layers, so they are very stable. A jig was used to fabricate various size modules, however, most of the modules measured 5' x 30". We had to stick with 5' long modules since the Baltic Birch is only sold in 5' x 5' sheets.
   
• The roadbed is made from 1/2" thick Homasote cut from 4' x 8' sheets into strips slightly wider than the track. For curving the Homasote strips, kerfs about 60% of the strip width are cut about every 3/4". The Homasote strips are then glued to the 3/4" sub-roadbed with Pliobond II adhesive and then painted with an earth-toned flat latex paint to seal.
   
• The Layout is entirely DCC, controlled through a Wangrow System One Command Station, and is equipped to support NCE wireless cabs, using a Hypergain^®  Model HG908P flat patch antenna to enhance coverage of the NCE RB-01 radio base.
   
• A separate programming track where decoders can be programmed with a "Dog bone" cab or via mouse-clicks on a PC using the Decoder Pro software program and its easy to understand graphical interface.
   
• An 18 foot DC test track to test run engines to tune their performance before converting them to DCC.
   
• The layout has occupancy detection on the main line and is connected to a PC using Bruce Chubb's Computer/Model Railroad Interface (C/MRI) system. Ultimately the layout will be completely signaled through this system.
   
• Via the C/MRI system, signaling and main line turnouts can be controlled and train locations can be monitored from a PC at the Dispatcher's Desk using a modern CRT based dispatching system written by Scott Kurzawski, one of our members. (A version of this program is available for download at the Yahoo CMRI Group site - look for the APN folder in the Files section)
  
  With simple mouse clicks on the two display screens, the dispatcher can change signal aspect, throw turnouts, or relinquish control of a selected turnout back to its fascia mounted control panel, allowing an engineer to locally switch a siding. Click here to view the program's readme file
  
  Click here for a screen shot of the display off both monitors showing the Trains dispatching program running the All Points North Model Railroad.

Dispatcher's Screen.  Click on it for a larger view.

The Layout is located in a climate controlled 2500 sq. ft. building that was built specifically to house our layout. The clubhouse sits on 2 acres, and in addition to the 1500 sq. ft. layout room, it has a meeting room/library, a 23' wide multi-station workbench with a vented paint booth, an office, kitchen and full bath.

All Points North Model Railroad Association