This layout was completely freelanced. It featured a set of connected tables, each two feet wide, constructed out of 3/4" plywood tops, 1x4 pine side boards, on 2x4 legs. Half of the layout was on a second level. The layout design was a loop-to-loop with a branch line. I experimented a lot with the blue insulation foam on this layout. The photos on this page were taken on December 10th, 2000, about a week before the layout was taken down. The closet walls were painted blue and then hand-painted clouds were added. This first view was when you entered the room. The Hershey Industrial Park is in the foreground, and the city of Hershey in the background.

Hershey Industrial Park to the right, and the city of Hershey to the left. The two multi-story apartment buildings acted as covers for two above-ground Tortoises. The turnouts were too close to the back wall to be able to install them under the layout.

In the photo below you can clearly see "Closet Mountain", with Hershey on the right (out of camera view), Bears Paw mountain on the left. Most of the mountain where you see some of the pine trees was removable; all foam construction. There was a lot of hidden track in that mountain and so the removable section allowed access to the track. As mentioned before, the clouds were hand-painted directly on the wall.

This was the view inside "Closet Mountain". This photo was taken much earlier than the others on this page, because there are no trees, and if you'll notice there is no ballast, and no bridge under the track! Yes, N-scale engines are light enough that they can cross a flextrack-only bridge!

Bears Paw mountain on the right, North Ogle and North Ogle Pass (upper area) on the left. The idea was to build a trestle bridge in between these two sections. The layout never progressed to that stage. Again the top part of Bears Paw mountain was removable blue foam so that I had access to the lower-level track running through the mountain.

Bears Paw mountain in the foreground, with North Ogle and North Ogle Pass in the back. North Ogle was the staging and maintenance yard of the railroad. That area had most of the basic scenery completed.

This is a close-up photo of North Ogle in full gear.

The final track plan. The track was code 70 Micro Engineering flextrack and #6 turnouts. All turnouts were controlled via Tortoises, by means of toggle switches in locally-installed control panels. This was a fun layout to come home to after a stressful day and just watch the trains run around. Because of the grade, the trains had to be very short. Even though the layout was fully operational, the problems eventually made me decide to tear it down and start over again.