The N scale SP&TV

In 1994, while living in student housing, we began an N scale model railroad, a 2-1/2 x 4 foot loop. In 1997, in an apartment with a spare room, we added a 10 foot extension. This lasted until late 2001, when we changed to a 2x4 foot loop in anticipation of moving.

This is more of a schematic than a scale drawing, showing the layout of the 2001-2006 SP&TV.

1 = Walthers grain elevator	6 = DPM Department Store
2 = Walthers feed mill	7 = Bachmann Engine 9 Firehouse
3 = Walthers Red Wing Milling	8 = Blair Line church
4 = Walthers Hardwood Furniture	9 = Bachmann modern house (church office)
5 = Office block: DPM corner drugstore,	Reed Books, Otto's Parts

The major industry, housed in the "milling" and "furniture" buildings, is Bearly Berries, which makes jellies and juices preferred by Teddy Bears all over the world. Tours of the facilities are a major source of excursion traffic. There's also a grain elevator and feed mill. The layout uses standard DC control with a single power pack. Turnouts are Peco with selective branch powering, so a train can be parked on a siding while another runs the loop and switches the other siding group.

This is a conceptual plan for expansion by adding another 2x4 foot section. It includes a car ferry or dock with a yard (10); a passenger station (11); and a sand mine (12). The plan includes lengthening the spurs at (3) to the edge of the section. We decided, however, to build N-trak modules incoporating similar ideas.

revised 17 May 2012
The various kit names are trademarks of Walthers, DPM, Bachmann, and Blair Line.
SP&TV railcar image source: S70 LRV (CC-SA)