Friday, June 27
6:00 to 10:00 pm

“Dad, Dad, Dad, we need mountains, tunnels, and bridges. Come on Dad.” Those were the words that bridge design engineer Sherward Farnsworth
heard in 1988. Today you will marvel at the Rutland and VTR - Goshen Bend Mountain Division, a Hi-rail fully scenic free lance line, set in Vermont running from Brandon to Stockbridge that is located in his basement (non-handicap accessible). You will find Rutland, Vermont Railway, and Central Vermont Railway diesel and steam engines hauling and switching freight on this DCS command control layout using Atlas and MTH engines. The layout (11’x 38’), which encompasses two rooms with 115 feet of main line GarGraves track and Ross Custom & GarGraves switches, is a switching layout with 14 industrial sidings and two yards. You will find carcards in use in moving Lionel, MTH, Atlas, Weaver, and KLine cars typical to New England. The trains travel across and under scratch built bridges and around painted DPM, Lionel, MTH, Plasticville, Buildings Unlimited, and Atlas buildings when not stopping to deliver or pickup.

Richard Moesch’s beautiful layout was designed by Don Cardiff, designer of many scenic layouts in Model Railroader magazine over the years. The layout is approximately 31’ x 21’ and occupies the upper floor above his two car garage. It is a Hi-rail design consisting of four distinct areas. They are: An
engine yard with a 32” Bowser turntable; a round house and Coal Tipple built by the late Tom Kerrigan; a passenger terminal with a model of Boston’s South Street Station (also built by Tom Kerrigan); a scratch-built train shed; a freight yard, consisting of seven tracks along with a kit-built control tower, manufacturing building and an oil loading facility; and a logging area consisting of a log mill and pond on the lower level and a logging camp on the upper level.

The road names featured on this layout are from the Vermont area: Rutland and Boston & Maine. The motive power is a mixture of Steam and Diesel, with Steam being the predominant power. As with any model railroad, other “visiting” engines include Pennsy GG1s, N&W Challengers, and of course Lionel’s new Legacy Big Boy. The engines are an assortment of Lionel, MTH, K-line and Williams. The passenger cars are mostly Williams and the other rolling stock is a mixture of all the manufacturers. The control system for Richard’s layout is a combination of conventional and TMCC with a traditional schematic control panel consisting of many toggle switches for power and switch operation. The scenery for his Railroad Empire is continuing to evolve
with the creation of about 150 trees presently ready for “planting.”

Fare: $30