The JLS Railroad is a large, 40' by 42' layout. It consists of 4 independently controlled lines (Main, Second, Third and Trolley Line). There are also 3 large, independently controlled yards, the E-yard, M-Yard and H-yard. They function as the main staging yards. The H-yard also includes a 10 stall RoundHouse, 2 stall engine shed and full engine servicing facility modeled after the Laramie Yards in Wyoming including a backshop, coaling area, ash pits, water towers, sand depot and diesel fueling point. The layout is comfortably controlled by 3 or 4 people, all on their own line or yard. Check out the Operations page for a complete description of how the railroad is operated.
At the present time, the layout is comprised of approximately 1500' of track. We estimate that we have about 2 real world miles of wire on the layout. The ground lines are located on the floor, the reason being, it allows you to get very close to the trains, plus, I'd rather be stretched out on the floor then standing up or sitting in a chair. It really is surprisingly very comfortable. The H-yard is on a 10' by 15' table 3' off the ground. As we ran out of storage space on the ground lines, and space to expand on the floor, we constructed the table and yard atop the table. To get to the yard, we designed and built a 110' long, 3 tiered helix of variable grade to climb the 3' to the yard. The ground lines controls are located in the control circle on the floor, the H-yard and helix's controls are located on a small control panel attached to the table, elevate the 3' off the ground, the same height as the yard. The entire Helix and H-yard (the table) is located in the back left corner of the room, occupying a 10' by 15' area. Suspended beneath the H-Yard is the M-Yard, otherwise refered to as the Hanging Yard. This 7 siding yard is used mainly for the storage of rolling stock and locomotives between runs, it is accessable only via the Helix. Beneath the table on the floor, we have parts of the ground line (E-yard, F-yard and some Main, 2nd and 3rd line trackage). If you look at the diagram below, the red outline in the top left corner represents the 10' by 15' helix and table in relation to the rest of the basement.
Some Stastics:
1500' to 1600' of track (LGB)
140' long 3 tiered helix
estimated 2 real world miles of LGB wire used
79 LGB switches
7 Control Master 20's (MRC)
3 Train Power 6200's (MRC)
50 LGB control boxes (5180, 5175 and 5275)
20 signals
This page is my attempt at allowing you to see every part of the layout. First you have the large schematics below of the layout. Click on ANY area of the layout schematic to go to a picture page of that zone. For example, if you click on the RoundHouse in the H-yard schematic, you will arrive at a page with a photo and description of that section of the layout. If I have more then one picture of a given area (from different perspective points), then more then one picture will appear on the page of the area you clicked. For more pictures, visit the JLS Railroad Picture Archives.
