The basement is finished. The layout room is ready. The first section of benchwork has been started.
The primary purpose of my layout is to create an accurate representation of the Chicago Division of the Pere Marquette Railway as it existed in August of 1946 between Grand Rapids (milepost 0) and Holland (milepost 25), Michigan. My reasons for choosing to model the Pere Marquette, the particular section of railroad, and the particular time period are not all that unique.
I grew up in Jenison, a town at milepost 7 1/4 of the Chicago Division between Grand Rapids and Holland. I've spent a lot of time along the rail line between Holland and Grand Rapids growing up. I have family Hudsonville (milepost 12) and Holland. Holland is a wonderful place to go to spend time on the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan.
My grandfather worked for the successors of the Pere Marquette, the Chesapeake and Ohio and Chessie System at Wyoming Yard from 1952 to 1984. Wyoming Yard was the primary locomotive shop for the Pere Marquette and located at milepost 3 of the Chicago Division. The shops and roundhouse will have a prominent position on my layout.
Even though steam locomotives were long gone from revenue service well before I was even born, the powerful machines fascinate me. I want to have a layout that is primarily steam. August of 1946 is perfect because the railroad only had a few diesel switchers and just acquired its first pair of E7s for its new streamlined trains, the Pere Marquette's, between Grand Rapids and Detroit.
| Scale | HO (1/87.1) |
| Room Size | 38 x 28 feet |
| Room Area | 810 square feet |
| Minimum Aisle Width | 36 inches (32 inches at one spot) |
| Minimum Mainline Curve | 40 inches |
| Minimum Curve | 28 inches |
| Minimum Turnout | No. 8 |
| Maximum Grade | 1.2% |
The layout is a quadruple deck affair. Half of the highest deck and all the lowest deck are for staging only while the middle two decks and half the upper deck are the scenicked portion of the layout. There are raised floor sections for comfortable viewing and operation of the non-staging portions of the upper deck. The layout is in the "no-lix" style. In other words, there is no tight spiral helix to elevate the track from one deck to the next. The entire mainline simply climbs gradually around the room. I don't like the idea of the trains being hidden for so long inside a traditional helix. The track levels at each town so the sidings are on level ground as HO scale freight cars have no brakes.
The Detroit staging yard is essentially a big one-way balloon track. The staging yard has 12 20 foot long tracks.
Plaster Creek is a tower that controls the eastern half of Wyoming Yard.
Wyoming Yard is halfway between Detroit and Chicago and is the location of the main shop facility for the Pere Marquette Railway. The shops consist of wood car shops, steel car shops, warehouses, and a large erecting bay with machine shops. The modeled version is compressed quite a bit to fit into the available space. A large 42 stall roundhouse with a 115 foot long turntable with a large coaling tower served the locomotives at Wyoming Yard. The yard itself consists of 17 tracks plus the mainline. Each yard track is about 20 feet long. The track plan was developed from plans of the shops in the book Pere Marquette Power and aerial photographs in the book Chesapeake & Ohio's Pere Marquettes.
Lamar is the location of East Tower, which controls the west end of Wyoming Yard and the junction with the New York Central. (I wish I knew why the tower that controlled the west end of the yard was called East Tower.) Lamar is the location of several industries and where the short GR Belt spur leads away from the mainline to Reynolds Metal and a GM plant. The track plan for the area was designed based upon 1953 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and an old railroad engineering drawing published in the C&OHS magazine.
Ivanrest is not even shown in 1946 Pere Marquette timetables. All that is located there is a medium sized bulk oil depot. The track plan at Ivanrest was developed following 1953 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.
Grandville is a typical midwestern small town that is the end of the double track from Grand Rapids. The track plan at Grandville was developed following 1953 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1950 track diagrams, and my familiarity with the town.
Jenison is a small farming community. It used to have its own station, but it burned and was not replaced. The track plan was developed from 1950 track diagrams and my familiarity with the town I grew up in.
Hudsonville is a typical rural midwestern farming community with a small station and grain elevator. Hudsonville calls itself the "Celery City" due to the large quantity of muck fields that produce celery, onions, and other crops. Hudsonville is the location of a long passing siding. The track plan at Hudsonville was developed following 1950 track diagrams and my familiarity with the town.
Zeeland is known for the production of chicks. A large quantity of these young hatchlings were shipped on express cars from the station there. Like Holland and Grand Rapids (Furniture City, USA), Zeeland is the location of several furniture manufacturers. The siding in Zeeland is not used as a passing siding by the railroad. It is there simply to service the large amount of industries in Zeeland. The track plan at Zeeland was developed from 1950 track diagrams and 1944 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.
Waverly is the junction of the Chicago Division with the branch to Muskegon and a small yard that services Holland and the Allegan Branch. (Freight trains to Muskegon were sent directly from Wyoming Yard.) The track plan at Waverly was developed from 1950 track diagrams.
Holland is a large city and the junction of the Chicago Division and the branch to Allegan. Holland is situated at the southeast end of Lake Macatawa, a navigable inlet off of Lake Michigan. Passenger trains from Muskegon were scheduled to meet the passenger trains between Chicago and Grand Rapids at Holland. Holland contains quite a few industries, including several that just will not fit in the available layout space. Many of those industries are situated on the two mile long dock spur that follows the south side of Lake Macatawa, including several furniture factories and a large Heinz pickle factory. Other notable industries in the Holland area are Holland Furnace and Hart and Cooley. The track plan at Holland was developed from 1948 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and 1950 track diagrams.
The Allegan Branch is a lightly used branch to the small town of Allegan and an interchange with the New York Central. There is a one track balloon staging track to hold the small train to Allegan.
The staging consists of 12 20 foot long tracks. For mainline traffic to and from Chicago, the staging yard is one-way balloon track. Trains to and from Muskegon must still be turned between operating sessions.