Ron Phillips' Great Northern Railway

 

Ron Phillips’ Great Northern Railway is a 26’ x 36’ HO scale multi-level free-lanced prototype of the Great Northern. The layout has 600’ of double track mainline and follows the route from Chicago to Seattle. A large classification yard and engine terminal are located in Minot, ND with a 130’ turntable and 12-stall round house. Although the era is the late 1960’s, there are plenty of steam engines in service.

 

The railroad is operated as a point-to-point, but has the option to be run as a continuous loop.  On the east end of the railroad, Chicago and Minneapolis have visible staging yards, while on the west end, Seattle staging is in an adjacent room.

 

The railroad has six passenger stations and fourteen industries that require switching. Operation is controlled by Digitrax DCC, and a computer interface allows operation from a smart phone.

 

 

Ron's Great Northern Railway includes this impressive snow shed, 600+ (HO scale) feet in length.  The structure was scratch-built.

These are the lead-in tracks to the ash pit and turntable with the roundhouse in the background.

The busy ore docks in Allouez Bay, WI  on Lake Superior  are shown below left, while the photo below right shows the Empire Builder departing Whitefish, Montana station, heading east to Chicago. Crews and engines will get changed out at Minot.