#1
THE GARAGE
This picture shows the garage from outside. The backdrop goes all the way around and is lit up with florescent lights hidden behind a plywood shield. Underneath the layout is hidden by heavy brown flat denim cloth with pleats and openings at key places. The cloth is tacked to the edge of the plywood, and a strip of brown landscaping strip is tacked around over the cloth. It gives the layout a professional look, and actually looks much better than straight plywood walls that most model railroad clubs have. Back

#2
HARBOR
The harbor section has been modified with an inside N loop, roads going from the HO to N level and from the N to Z level. Pieces of dock and warf are ready to position, and the HO scale Queen Mary has been replaced by N scale ships and docks. Back

#3
VALLEY PULLOUT SECTION
This picture shows the valley pullout section being pulled out. It is hanging by a wire, showing the bottom of the section, as well as the hole it fills. This is a fairly big pop up hole in the inside HO loop, making easy access to the N scale (Sunset Strip) loop and Z scale (Hollywood) layout on top of the mountain. Back

#4
SUNSET STRIP & HOLLYWOOD
Popping up in the valley popup hole, we see the N scale road winding up and around the left to Z scale Hollwood. This will be the Sunset Strip, and is pullout section itself. (note the white wire). This popup section allows upclose work on the Z layout. Back

#5
THE CASTLE, WINDING ROAD, & HOLLYWOOD
Moving around to the right, we see the "winding road pullout", note white wire. This pullout also allows upclose work on the Z layout, as well as all scales along the wall behind it. The castle is a self pumping waterfall, between HO and N scales, and sits above an HO tunnel. Back

#6
HOLLYWOOD
Upclose view of the Z scale Hollywood section shows the two loops of the top figure 8 and the ramps and loops leading down. The white wire it to pull up the Sunset Strip pullout in front for easy access. The Hollywood sign is barely visable on top of the right peak, and the Hearst Castle sits on top of the left peak looking over the harbor to the left. Back

#7
WINDING ROAD PULLOUT
Here's the "winding road pullout" suspended from above leaving the popup hole. It is hanging next to the castle, and in front of that and slightly below a Burnington Engine HO scale is approaching the crossing of the HO road going up from Laguna Beach in the foreground. The wooden boardwalks on the beach are cut from a larger dock and ready to position. Back

#8
ROCKY MOUNTAIN CORNER
This shows the Rocky Mountain corner in full. THe foreground is the beginning of the HO yard to the right. The road behind it winds up to the N scale yard, which has 5 visable lines and one hidden. Behind that a road winds up to the Z scale layout on top, which is kind of a figure 9, wrapped by the Z mainline. There is just enough space in the corner behind the Z layout to get your head and hand up and retrieve derailed car if necessary. Both of the winding roads leading upwards are pullout sections for easy access inside the mountain, where many curved tracks are hidden. Back

#9
DOWNTOWN CORNER
Looking into the downtown corner, we see the new levels for the N track and the Z track. There will now be 3 scales of downtown, with the N scene visable over the rooftops of the HO buildings, and the same for the Z scene. At the left, we see a road going from N scale down to HO scale, and another from N scale up to the Z scale. These roads help blend the different scales, and I look for cars halfway between the scales for these transition roads. At the bottom is the beginning of the HO yard at left. Back

#10
PULLOUT SECTION IN THE CURVE
On the curve approaching the St Louis loop, we see a section suspended. This is the curve section and allows easy access to this side of St. Louis. The arch in the distance is Z scale St Louis. The hanging airplane, temporarily balanced with a bolt, is HO scale Back

#11
ST. LOUIS
From inside the Bigfoot Lake popout, we see the N scale loops going around N scale St. Louis. above that is the N scale St. Louis layout, witch is still in the blue styrofoam stage. Notice the road winding up the hill from right to left and from N to Z scale. Also notice the middle St. Louis pullout section with a white wire going down to the middle of it. This allows up close access to the Z section. Back

#12
BIGFOOT LAKE PULLOUT SECTION
This shows the pullout Bigfoot Lake section. At first I didn't think it was necessary to suspend this lake, merely pull it out by hand, but soon found it fairly difficult to pull it out by hand, and that the boats on it had to removed, and then I had to find a place to put it, and it was much easier to merely pull it up and hang it temporarily. This view also shows the HO road in the foreground which winds up and around the left pullout section and then right and up to the N scale loop of the middle level. Back

#13
ST. LOUIS PULLOUT SECTION
Here's the N scale, St. Louis pullout section being pulled up to allow access to the Z layout behind it. Bigfoot lake is at the bottom and the circus is on the right. Back

#14
ST. LOUIS, Z SCALE
Up close view of the Z scale St. Louis layout. The Z mainline loop goes around the outside, and ramps lead to the middle, double figure 8, loop. It is still in the blue styrofoam stage and awaiting completion. Back

#15
THE CIRCUS PART OF ST. LOUIS
And moving around to the end of the St. Louis loop, we look down the wall and around the back of the garage. In the foreground we see the World's Fair, with circus, has come to St. Louis. This is N scale. The top small loop is Z scale and the lake and left bottom loop is HO scale. Back

#16
UNDER THE TABLE TERMINALS, WIDE ANGLE
Looking underneath the layout, underneath the Rocky Mountain corner, we see the terminal strips for the N and Z scale lines and switches. This is where all wires from the control panel switches connect to the layout. This is where a lot of testing is done easily whenever there is an electrical problem. This will be hidden by the brown curtain. Back

#17
TERMINAL STRIPS, UP CLOSE
Looking up close at the terminal strips, yet unfinished, we see 8 terminals per number. each number is one switch. The first four terminals are for the turnout power, and the second four are for the lights for that turnout. There are 5 terminals (switches) in a row 7 rows. That makes 35 turnouts. The wires at the right are coming in from the control panel in the middle of the room. They are cut to fit exactly so as to avoid excess wire confusion. The wires going out to the switches are not yet wired up. Each wire is labeled with white electrical tape tags. This if very important. Do not use cloth or masking tape as they only last a year or two. Back

#18
UNDER THE LAYOUT WORKBENCH
Underneath the left side of the layout, we see the homemade workbench. This is low (29") to get under the 48" layout, and the bench is build same as the layout. 3/4 inch top, 2 x 4 legs, cross braces, and three custom drawers. There drawers rest on 2 x 4s attached to the inside of the legs and slide out. The bottom two are cut away so your legs can fit underneath, and the edges are 1 x 2s. Note the front two legs are braced with 1 x 2s to the edges of the table top. This workbench can be pulled out easily, or left in place, and is easily hidden by dropping the brown curtain in front of it. The drawers are designed for easy visability inside without opening. Back

#19
CONTROL TOWER, NEW
And finally, here's the updated center-of-the-room control panel tower. The control panels, HO, N, and Z are mounted to the podium, and guard rails of 1 x 2s surround the podium. The shelves underneath the thick seat holds many cars on both sides, and the platform is accessable from either side of the room. Notice the many wires coming out the bottom left of the platform. This platform allows elevation above the layout for better visability by the controller, and up to 20 guests can walk around it without blocking his view. 2 or 3 people can stand on the platform. Back

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#0
CONTROL PANEL
A straight on photo showing the HO scale control panel with two lines, (inside and outside) and the N scale control panel above that with only one line. both the HO and N layouts are simple dogbones (loops on each end). Back

#0
THE PODIUM
This picture shows the podium, upon which are the control panels. This podium was built for our annual Rock City News awards show, but works in the railroad the rest of the time. It can be easily pulled out, leaving all the inside power units and bare wires visable and hanging from the frame. When in use, the wires are hooked to the podium and the frame is completely free, so that movement from the supporting frame (with hand rails) does not move the podium or control panels. Back

#0
THE CONTROL TOWER
This shows the center-of-the-room tower with the step up and the shelf of cars and benchtop. This allows the controler a better view of switches and turnouts looking down on the layout. 2 or 3 people can easily stand on the tower, which is about 3 feet tall. About 20 people can move in a circle around the tower, with a wide entrance to the backyard (provided both garage doors are open). Back

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Contact Ruben Mac Blue, chief engineer of the Rock City Railroad Co. at 213-461-6600.