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Early in the MSMRRE's history, the founding members envisioned having a dual-scale
club. Though HO scale appeals to many, the ability to pack a lot of N scale railroading into a
small area, and the ability to let the scenery dominate the trains are winning many more
to N scale. It wasn't until 1989 that N scale went from discussions among members to
building and running trains. The club now maintains two N scale layouts: one
permanent layout in the clubroom, and a modular one for public displays.
Though not very noticeable, the permanent N scale layout has undergone
many changes. Today's layout, the largest known N scale layout in Alaska, is double
decked layout with a four-turn helix joining the two levels. Over
12
scale miles of track connect towns with names like Portland, Freemont, and Vancouver.
Operations on the layout range from running single locomotives to fully-orchestrated
operating sessions. In these "ops sessions," members model the operations
of real railroads by assigning each car a "load" and a "destination,"
and then running the trains on schedule. Currently, Operating Sessions
will be held the first Saturday of each month starting around 2:00pm and the
second Tuesday at 7:00pm.
The N scale layout is run
using four MRC Control Master 20 walk around controllers for the main
line. In addition to the Control Master 20s there are several local cabs including two in each of the two
yards, and one in Portland. The layout can also be run with Digital
Command and Control at the same time. With DCC there is no limit, other
than the number of throttles, to the number of trains that can be run at the
same time.
In
the beginning...
  
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