I like sharing my hobby with a wide range of people, some with plenty of railroad knowledge and some with very little. This is an introduction to the layout for the latter.
First, the basics: my train layout (which is quite a bit different from a “train garden“), is in N scale and resides in the basement of my house. Overall, I attempt to accurately represent the real world with it, both in appearance and in operation.
The layout attempts to recreate portions of the real Northern Central Railway line between Baltimore Maryland and York Pennsylvania as operated by Conrail in the late 1970s. The subject differs from reality in that the line was actually largely destroyed by the flooding from Hurricane Agnes in 1972, and while some of it has been rebuilt or repurposed (the current Northern Central Railway in southern Pennsylvania and the Baltimore Central Light Rail Line), my models represent it as if it had continued as a viable rail line.

I model a time in railroading that has a lot of “grit”. The railroad industry entered a period of general decline after World War Two that posed significant challenges for the national economy. By the early 1970s, all of the railroads serving the northeastern United States were in very bad shape, with all either in, or near, bankruptcy. Conrail was created by the Federal Government to provide a way out for the struggling railroads and preserve the critical service they provided. It began operation in 1976, taking over many other lines, and its appearance demonstrated this. Equipment wore a mix of the former lines paint schemes (often “patched out”) and its own. My model fleet reflects this aesthetic along with the rest of 1970s railroading which was, in many way, a mix of old and new parts of the industry (massive and modern 86′ boxcars were in service with diminutive 40′ boxcars that were built in the 1940s).

My layout, somewhat unique amongst model railroads, is set in December. Most modelers choose the more verdant summer months to model but I enjoy being a booster of trying to recreate this seldom modeled season.
My layout, additionally, is not meant to just be looked at. As someone who’s interest in railroading includes the industry itself, I aim to recreate the way that Conrail of the late 1970s functioned. The layout is a canvas on which to do this through “Operations”, or the running of model trains in ways that mirror the real thing. This means that cars move around the layout just as they would on a real railroad: they represent cars that might be loaded with specific loads for specific shippers, traveling over routes that make sense in the context of the real world. Trains have specific jobs to do, for example the train named “BAPI” travels from Baltimore to Pittsburgh while “WHYK-10” is a local train picking up and setting out cars at sidings around York. When us model railroaders have an “Ops Session”, people are assigned jobs and carry out their work around the layout. This can all get quite complex, but it’s all a bit like Dungeons and Dragons with models.

The layout itself is built on foam insulation sitting on plywood and is mostly supported by shelf brackets screwed into the studs in the wall. It is powered using a Digital Command Control system that allows me to control each locomotive individually using wireless throttles, a computer, or even a smartphone.
The scenery is a mix of commercial scenery products offered by companies like Woodland Scenics and some other materials from the hardware store (like sanded grout). I have written quite a bit about my scenery techniques on this site and on DeadSeasonModeling.net.
The scenes currently represented on the layout primarily focus on York PA. They include Windsor St. Yard, the area of downtown York (across from the baseball stadium built on the site of the Duke St. Yard) and the stretch of tracks in the middle of Pershing Ave. My plan is to eventually include another level of the layout below the current one which include more of the line from York south to Parkton MD. Until that’s completed, however, I have built a temporary return loop to allow me to run the layout. That loop is sceniced to represent typical scenery along the NCR.
This is the current layout plan.