Railroad Prototype Modelers Valley Forge

March 19 to 22, 2026

Layout Tour railroads

Andy Hart

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Paul Backenstose WESTERN MARYLAND Ry 12:30PM to 4PM

Paul's NCE DCC controlled HO scale Western Maryland Ry. layout is based on the "Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Division" from a John Armstrong book and was operated as a PRR Pittsburgh Region 1955 layout for several years. It was then converted to the Western Maryland Ry. from Hagerstown to Connellsville and the Thomas Sub., also 1955. The era then changed to 1971. Several scratch-built coal mines by the late Alden Smith are featured. Paul's freelanced short line started in his teenage years, the Pennsylvania Northern R.R., was recently incorporated into the layout, running from an interchange in Cumberland , MD with the WM to Philipsburg,PA.

Ron Hoess - PRR 12:30PM to 4PM

The layout is a modest sized switching layout depicting the Pennsylvania Railroad at North Philadelphia circa 1958. Included are a portion of the mainline, the long forgotten Stifftown Branch and the first 3 miles of the Chestnut Hill Branch. All of the structures on the layout are scratchbuilt to better represent the buildings that were there. Major industries that are included are the Budd Company and Midvale Steel. Since this was electrified territory, much of the trackage was under wire. Thus far about 50% of the catenary has been installed.

Steve Salotti MMR NYS&W 12:30PM to 4PM

Set in 1949 in northern New Jersey, the railroad runs between Little Ferry (major yard) and Hainesburg and features passenger and mainline freight service, with many locals serving industries, both along the line and on the waterfront.

STARR Model RR Club 12:30PM to 4PM

The St. Albans Model Railroad (StARR) captures the essence of railroading and industry typical ofsouth-eastern Pennsylvania in the steam to diesel transition era (roughly 1930 to 1970). It is an HO scale model railroad thatmeasures roughly 30' x 60'. It has close to one thousand feet of track, 1400 cars, and 200 locomotives. Train crews and operators utilized digital command control to run and route the trains.

See the club website for photos.

Starr Photo Gallery

Bruce Friedman - CSX 12:30PM to 4PM

My HO layout is based on the CSX Philadelphia Subdivision. I model the current day. It is 42' X 56' in size and has 4 levels. The layout is completely finished and has 1000' of main line. There are 2 helixes and 3 staging areas which is one of the levels. Another level is the ESPN shortline that interchanges with CSX in Wilmington, Delaware. The layout is run with Digitrax DCC and is fully signaled with operating detection and is dispatched with Railroad and Company software.

The layout has wide aisles but you do have to use steps to get down to the basement.

Greg & Angel Shindledecker's Western Maryland, Thomas Subdivision in the mid-‘70s

Based on the WM’s Thomas Subdivision extending along the upper Potomac Valley into West Virginia during the years after the merger into the Chessie system; the layout is modeled from just west of 21st Bridge (east of McCool, MD) to Elkins, WV. Two large staging yards represent points east - Cumberland/Knobmount, MD and beyond; the other being coal branches radiating from Elkins to Durbin, Webster Springs, Dailey, and Belington. In between lies the Blackwater Canyon, in which the famed Black Fork Grade required multiple helpers on almost all trains moving coal eastbound.

Combinations of power using WM, B&O and the early Chessie schemes are seen. Online industries include coal load outs and mines, pulpwood and wood chip loading, the Westvaco paper mill at Luke, MD, coal-powered electric generation at Mt. Storm, a tannery, a Kingsford Charcoal plant, and car shops for maintenance and repair at Elkins. Railroad is dark but dispatched using manual block signaling unique to the prototype.

Location: Coatesville, PA 19320, (26.5 miles, or 37 minutes from the hotel)

Layout Scale: HO

Layout Theme: Western Maryland in the Chessie Era, mountainous West Virginia set in the 1970s

Accessibility: Not wheelchair accessable, but layout room is at grade, with restroom in an adjacent room

Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WMThomasSub

Train Dispatching System: Dispatcher authorized utilizing WM style manual signaling.

Car Forwarding Method: Car cards

Layout Control system: NCE DCC. NCE, WiFi enabled throttles or phones.

Joshua Blay

U shaped point to point switching layout based on the towns of Homer and Cortland, NY located along the Syracuse Branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad set in the Summer of 1957. Layout built with every effort to capture the prototype. Variety of scratch-built structures from field measurements and period photos. Waybill operation; off layout staging. First generation diesels with period equipment. DCC control (Digitrax).

An OO layout (English equivalent of HO) is in progress above.

Delaware & Susquehanna Model Rail Road Club 12:30PM to 4PM

Ken McCorry

Tom Jacobs

Reading Division

Tom models the Reading Railroad's "Reading Division" between Harrisburg and Allentown in the early 1970s, in a free-standing 20x36 building. Incorporating a mushroom design, the railroad has 7.1 scale miles of track between its end points, and changes elevation 5'4" across its 5 levels (3 mainline, 2 staging). Modeled locations(in the EARLY scenery stages) include Alburtis, Mertztown, Fleetwood, Temple, Reading Yard, Wyomissing Junction, Myerstown, Lebanon, Annville, Millard's Quarry, Hershey, Swatara and Hummelstown. The railroad operates via Digitrax DCC with wireless control, and is fully signaled with operating CTC powered by JMRI. Operations are based on the prototype Reading freight schedule and in addition to manifest and local freights, there's a significant focus on servicing Bethlehem Steel, which was the Reading's largestcustomer. Long trains move iron ore, limestone and bituminous coal east, and finished steel products west.

Greg Wiggins 12:30PM to 4PM

Eric Hansmann 12:30PM to 4PM
B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal

The HO scale, 10x16 layout follows much of the Wheeling, WV, prototype trackage, circa 1926. The operation focuses on sorting and moving inbound freight cars to the freight house and team yard, with outbound cars moved to the departure yard and classified for destination. About 100 freight cars move in the session.

A pair of two-person crews are employed for the session. The layout uses Digitrax DCC control with hand-held tethered throttles. One TCS Wi-Fi throttle is available and guest operators may bring their own. Scenery is not a focus but the layout has a finished appearance. A July 2025 op session is summarized in this blog post.

https://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/2025/07/30/july-2025-op-session/

Tony Rogowski 12:30PM to 4PM

CSX Philly Sub in the 1990s

This operations-based layout is under construction and is planned to travel from looped staging representing Philadelphia and Baltimore. Train control is handled by the new TCS DCC system, and the signal system is managed by LCC. Signals are under development with detection currently in place. About 60% of benchwork and 10% of scenery, including buildings, are completed. Major highlights will include several landmark bridges along the line. When complete it will fill a 2000 square foot space with 3 levels in some areas

David Adams - Reading Company 12:30PM - 4PM

This HO scale railroad depicts the Reading Company in late October 1953. The era of the steam engine is coming to a close and first-generation diesel-electric engines have taken over. Using a three level design with a 240 ft. double track main line, I am capturing the atmosphere of eastern PA where anthracite was (once) king and the Reading still served one of the highest densities of customers per mile of any railroad in the US.

Earl Paine Reading 12:30PM to 4PM

Representing the Reading Railroad's mainline along the Schuylkill River between Philadelphia and Reading in the early 1970's leading up to the Conrail merger. The modeled portion extends from Falls Yard through to Abrams Yard west through Phoenixville, Royersford, Pottstown, Stowe Yard, Monocacy, Birdsboro where the line diverges to the Belt line/Turkey Path and the Main line thru to Reading Yard. Operations involve heavy freight trains performing industrial switching with some commuter passenger trains. The section modeled was yard limits over half modeled distance in its day, that allows for interesting operating situations for general freight, coal, cement, steel and industrial switching.