Welcome to Bill Bentgen's Website

Model Railroad

Published in 1970 in "Nine N Scale Model Railroads by John H. Armstrong & Thaddeus Stepek for Atlas, The Gulf Summit & Susquehanna Valley Railroad, layout N-109, was designed for Atlas Code 80 sectional track. I have adapted the layout for Atlas Code 55 track and made the following changes:

Used different radii and turnout sizes as they are not the same for Atlas code 55 rail as they are for the Atlas code 80.
Used larger radii wherever possible.
Used transition curves wherever possible, starting turns with a larger radius before going to a smaller radius for the center of the curve.
Extended the length of the layout from 74" to 8 feet. This was done primarily to reduce the two grades that go to the upper level.
Revised the way the plywood was cut, so that the ramps remained intact with both the top and bottom, and all plywood joints are on the bottom level.
Flex track was used to replace the sectional track that the layout was designed with.

Trout Lake, Moran, & Allenville Railroad

(Formerly the Gulf Summit & Susquehanna Valley)

(Click on image for larger view)

Drawn with RTS for Code 80 rail.

Redesigned for Code 55 rail and extended to 8 feet.

Redrawn with XTrkCad. Green area is upper level, pale yellow areas are ramps.

Legs.	Pocket Holes hold legs together.	Leg leveler from Woodworker's Supply.	Plywood temporarily in place.
Transition curve drawn manually.	Transition curve cut out for template.	Transition curve transferred to plywood and track being applied.	XtrkCad comes to the rescue.
First turnouts.	Site of future train wrecks.	Four 90° crossings cut to make quadruple crossing.	In place.
Head Gandy Dancer.	Viaduct and river placement worked out and plan updated.	Flex track was used instead of the sectional track used to design the layout.	With track placement final, underlying grid can be built so as not to interfere with turnout machines.
Upper level cut free.	South ramp.	Top & ramps are all one piece with bottom.	Top lifted to lay out underground.
Working out distances for truss bridges.	River cut.	Working out top height to fit viaduct.	Thomas awaits viaduct completion.
Working out level heights for viaduct, river, & tunnels.	East end.	Top level anchored and viaduct assembled.	South end of viaduct.
North end of viaduct.	Ready for cork roadbed.	Railroad moved to its permanent location.	Cork in place
Viaduct in place - from the East.	From the West.	Double crossing.	Bridges in place - from the North.
From the East.	Bridges & viaduct.	Bridges & Tunnels.	3 Bridges.
3 Bridges & Soo Loco.	Last bridge in place.		Turnout control and indicator LED circuits. Blow up to full size so you see all of the wires on your monitor.
Crossing is wired on all legs.	Underside of crossing before wiring is connected.	Buss bars made from ¾" aluminum & #6-32 x ¼" screws.	Control Panel.
	Panel Interior	Panel connected to layout with printer cable.
The project is on hold at this point. We are considering revising the plan as follows: 6' x 8' Hand-built Fast Tracks turnouts. With the following plan:

Suppliers - testimonials all unsolicited.

Mainline Hobby Supply in Blue Ridge Summit, PA. - Nothing but trains and absolutely everything in stock. A fantastic store.

Brooklyn Locomotive Works. Really speedy service and a great website.

N Scale Supply. Really helpful service. If they would go to a cart system instead of their order form, they would be fantastic.

McFeely's Square Drive Screws. Excellent products and Excellent service. All bench work is held together with McFeely's screws. Also screws for electrical buss-bars and turnout motor mounting screws.

Miniatronics. Good selection of wire and switches at good prices.

Mouser. $1.80 apiece for 8 position terminal blocks. The same blocks were over $4.00 each at Radio Shack.

Quickar Electronics. Bi-color LEDs for 25¢. Also panel mounts.

Newark Electronics. Spade connectors,

Please send any comments about these pages to