GL&W RAILROAD INFORMATION AND MAP

ABOUT THE GREAT LAKES AND WESTERN RAILROAD

The Great Lakes & Western Railroad captures the essence of railroading  in the American West in HO Scale. The imaginary route of the GL&W  runs from Superior, Wisconsin to Salt Lake City where separate lines continue on to San Francisco and Seattle. This route permits us to model an incredibly diverse array of scenery and industries including the largest HO scale model of an oil refinery in the world. Virtually every scene and structure is based on a prototype. The prototype information and modeling plans are kept in a permanent construction log.

The current incarnation of the GL&W has been under construction for more  than twenty years at its present location. The layout is about 2,000  square feet and features almost 800 feet of mainline.  As of the first of 2007 the whole layout has been DCC operating with hand held radio controlled throttles. We have no duck-unders or fixed mainline throttle positions, so mainline engineers follow their trains around the layout, simulating the closest thing to a real cab ride that a model railroad has to offer.

To further augment the GL&W's highly realistic throttle system, the LAMRS has installed a computer dispatching system.  Just like the dispatchers in the control  centers of today's major railroads, the GL&W dispatcher authorizes the movement of trains through the use of a computer by monitoring a track diagram of the GL&W mainline.  The GL&W dispatcher assigns mainline routes and clearances and controls mainline switches with the simple click of a computer mouse.  The dispatcher and all operators are in constant communication with each other using radio headsets. View the dispatchers computer.                                                      

Track authority is granted orally by the dispatcher using the headset radios.  This is model railroading the way real railroads do it every day.  To further enhance the realism of the GL&W, the LAMRS is currently creating the specifications and design for a realistic prototype track signal system which will be implemented over a period of time.

What follows is a map of the Los Angeles Model Railroad Society's Great Lakes & Western Railroad.

Click map to enlarge

Illustration by Rick Johnson, © MODEL RAILROADER Magazine 1996, used with permission.