UPDATED 1/9/2022 We are located in a manufactured home in Aurora OR - south of Portland. It features a 24'x42' Basement.
It also has an additional 10'x27' Basement.
Needless to say, we have started construction of a large double deck layout.
It will be approx 425' point to point.
It will have a elevator connecting the 2 decks at the half way point in the smaller basement.If you live in the greater Portland-Salem-Vancouver area and would like to help build or operate this layout - Call me. Our Goal is to have an operating layout by Xmass 2022. History: Started with American Flyer in the 1950's. Built a 7x8 layout called the Colorado Flats and Imperial (CF&I). Still have some remnants (cars and track) from that collection which I will put up for auction in the up coming months. In the late 1980's I discovered N Scale and was excited by what you could do in a large space. Built a large layout in my apartment in La Habra, CA. It featured a 250' double mainline. It had a central dispatcher control panel plus 9 operator cabs. It was fully block-detected. We communicated with radios and the dispatcher had his back to the layout. It was a fictitious railroad connecting Oakland to Stockton. We operated around the Amtrak schedule for the San Joaquin runs. We used a fast time clock at 6:1 = 4 hour operating session. We had a shelf storage system and the 1x4 shelves would act as cassettes to build trains with. Locomotives were stored on the eating bar between the kitchen and the living room. Cassettes would then be placed on the bar and attached to the layout. The railroad was run point to point, but continuous operation was available. The layout covered most of the living room and dining area. We had a large yard in the middle of the layout approx 4x10. At that time, I was a member of the Rusty Rails. It was a group of men and youth that were interested in both rail fanning and building and operating model railroads. We met weekly and I would have the group run my railroad when it was my round robin turn. Also during that period, I would sell at the LA Area swap meets. In 1991, I dismantled the railroad and stored my collection. I moved to Sepastopol CA. where I started on a new railroad that meandered through a 1 bedroom apartment. Got the benchwork built, roadbed, lights and backdrop, but never laid any track. That layout got dismantled. In 2007, I moved to the Portland Oregon area. In 2011, I started building a new layout. It was a double decker in a 1 car garage. Bench-work was built including backdrop and lighting. I did not finalize the track plan yet but had a general idea of how it would be. I started constructing the helix to connect the layers. - This layout was dismantled in Sept 2013. In February 2012, I started the N Scale Shop. We buy and sell with eBay plus our own online store. I will be selling off most of my collection of vintage locomotives and cars along with new merchandise that has been in storage for the past 30 years. Also, if you live in the Portland Oregon area and are interested in helping to build and operate my railroad, please give me a call. Thanks - Ed McNamara | 