The Geologically Improbable Railroad, Mountain Division is an indoor large scale railroad built in the basement of a mountain cabin in Green Valley Lake, CA. This railroad started in 1990 with a Bachmann Big Hauler set and grew from there.
The time period is the 1920's or so, but some time warping is evident. All motive power is steam and mostly Bachmann. Almost all of the rolling stock is Bachmann as well.
The railroad consists of three lines on three levels interconnected at a fairly complex interchange such that a train can get from any line to any other line without fouling the third line. The "inner" and "outer" lines can be interconnected with the scissors crossover into a "twice around" configuration. Branching off the crossover is a branch that climbs a 1 3/4 turn spiral inside a plaster mountain to the "upper" line which is really a loop to loop arrangement.
The outer line, which goes around the perimeter of the basement, has a 6 track switching yard, a small engine yard, several sidings and a wye. The inner line circles the town and has two passing sidings, a hidden staging siding, a spur at a freight station, an industrial siding and two reversing cutoffs. The inner line is a folded dog bone with much of the trackage hidden. The upper line contains another 4 track switching yard, some sidings and another two reversing loops. There is also a standalone loop to loop automatically operating trolley line that goes into and out of the town to a hidden holdover stop under the scenery.
All of this track, about 400' including yards and sidings, is crammed into a 16' x 26' basement.
The layout is a work in progress, intended to be a never-ending project. All the track and wiring is in as is most of the hardshell and some of the basic levels of the scenery. I intend to be working on this one for many years to come.
26 Nov 00This page has been accessed times since 30 Oct 1999.
