Layout Operating Sessions – Wednesday Evening April 22nd, 2026

We will take names on a first come first serve basis
For additional layout information, click the provided link

For those who have expressed an interest in the Wed night op sessions, we will use the same procedure that last year’s symposium utilized. Why fix what isn’t broken!  We will keep track of your registration order and jobs will be assigned accordingly. A notice will be emailed once you are assigned, you will again be emailed the particulars of the assignment and location. This will happen in before the start Symposium.

Layout Tours

For additional layout information, click the provided link. _(future)

North Layouts

Mike Trent – On3 – Colorado & Southern
As a working diorama depicting Dickey, CO was a junction on the C&S Mainline connecting the Keystone Branch through Dillon to the mainline between Como and Leadville. The site is now under Dillon Reservoir. The layout features a large, accurate Locomotive Roster, freight and passenger rolling stock, Rotary Snowplow, and Flanger. Several are award winning models, including 537, #74, #75, #76 and Rotary #99200. The layout also features structures of several notable builders, Todd Hackett, Joe Crea, Bill White, and Bob Stull. Included are the 12 pocket Dickey Coal Dock, Engine house, and Station. Several C&S artifacts are available to see as well as some other models on display.

Jim Eaman – Sn3 – Colorado & Northwestern
The Colorado and Northwestern Railway (C&N) was built to serve the mines, mills and people of western Boulder County.  The C&N was nicknamed the “The Switzerland Trail of America” and had sharp curves, steep grades and lots of history which make it an ideal prototype to model.  Jim is attempting to recreate C&N in its entirety as it existed in 1908 with the intention to model most every station, all major features, every locomotive, every piece of rolling stock and every passenger car.  Prototypical operation is planned.

Ron Keiser – Fn3 or 1:20.3 – Silverton Branch
Ron has built an impressive model railroad layout in Fn3 or 1:20.3 called the Cascade and Silverton. It’s in his basement because he doesn’t have a garden. The layout shows a part of the Silverton branch of the D&RGW.  Cascade was a construction camp where they cut ties for the railroad in 1880. Ron rebuilt the town of Cascade as the basis for his model railroad. The trains and cars he used are accurate for the Rio Grande and the RGS, even though the RGS didn’t actually run on this branch. He chose them so they could run on his model railroad. The layout is complete and looks great. It has over 100 trees and 130 small figures of people. Ron used locomotives from Accucraft and Bachmann Spectrum, as well as rolling stock from Berlyn and Phils Narrow Gauge. The equipment is slightly weathered to make it look more realistic, but not too much because it represents the year 1942 when most of the real trains were in good condition. The room is lit up with dimmable LEDs, and there’s also some blue night lighting for a cool effect. If you search for “Cascade and Silverton” on YouTube, you can find a terrific video of the layout.

Jim Gray – HOn3 – D&RGW
This D&RGW railroad is not a historical re-creation of any actual location. The goal was to simply create the feeling of high mountain isolation somewhere in Colorado, and sometime in the fall of the late 1930’s or early ’40’s.  This is not a railroad designed for complex operations.  The layout provides an impression of a single lonely track, with narrow gauge steam locomotives struggling up through the forbidding rocky cliffs, passing worn and weathered towns, mines and mills, all perched in narrow gaps or on steep slopes. This layout has been published in both the Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette and the HOn3 Annual.

Gary Young and Joe Crea On30 – The Big “O” Railroad
The Big “O” Railroad is a retirement community-based layout created by model railroad enthusiasts with a variety of skills. It’s a general plywood tabletop model railroad with a very special feature. Joe Crea has made over 250 different “paper” buildings. These buildings are made from empty cereal boxes using Evans Designs software that provides an impressive 3D effect. Joe is going to give a guided tour of the layout and share tips and tricks on how to build cereal box buildings. The best part is, after your tour, you will be collecting empty Fruit Loops cereal boxes for your model railroad!

Doug Geiger – HOn3 – Granite Mountain Railway
The Granite Mountain Railroad is a huge layout that must be able to fit into the small space that Geiger is able to provide. The room in which the railroad resides is a meer 43 by 23 feet. To deal with this lack of space, Geiger made the tracks of his model run in three tiers or levels. The operation and production of such a massive layout also create its own set of difficulties.

South Layouts

David Varney – HOn3 – The Varney SpeedLines The Varney Speedlines occupies an 8 x 24-foot space with depictions of mining in a Colorado setting. Utilizing equipment from all the famous narrow-gauge lines there is something to see for everyone.

Bill White – 1/2″Scale – San Juan Southern
The San Juan Southern depicts a narrow gauge short line in southwestern Colorado right after World War II. While there is limited passenger capability, the railroad is mostly a freight operation with an emphasis on mining, general freight, and a limited amount of logging. The layout is about 800 square feet and features many highly detailed scenes. Most of the buildings are scratch built or craftsman kits while all of the locomotives and rolling stock are highly modified ready to run models. The layout also features a mine to mill tramway using G scale equipment running on O standard gauge track. There are two towns, a yard, engine facility, five bridges, one tunnel, and lots and lots of spectacular scenery. This an incredibly detailed layout!

Jim Trowbridge – On3 – Colorado & Western Railway
The Colorado & Western Railway is an On3 railroad that occupies a 25′ x 32′ basement. The C&WRy. has approximately 300′ of mainline and another 200′ of yards, sidings and stub tracks in a double level configuration using a Dead Rail operating system. he layout is 100% complete, although it continues to be enhanced with additional scenery and clutter. Since the 2017 National Narrow Gauge Convention, surface vegetation has been increased at least 500% and “clutter” has been increased nearly the same. Another feature added since 2017 is 165, scratch-built, four insulator, fully strung telegraph/telephone poles, stretching around the whole layout.  Recently, a decision was made to eliminate foreign engines and rolling stock. Thus, all locomotives and rolling stock carry the C&WRy. paint scheme. The basis for this railroad was my love of the Colorado Midland. The company logo is reminiscent of the Colorado Midland’s “Pike Peak Route” which has been changed to the “Ute Trail Route.” While the railroad still inter-changes with the C&S and D&RGW in Gunnison and the D&RGW and Colorado Midland in Aspen, it is rare to see any foreign engines and rolling stock on company tracks.  The route itself was inspired by a proposed railroad called the Taylor River Railroad which was to run from the Aspen area to/and over Tin Cup Pass to interchange with the C&S in St. Elmo. One can find remnants of this forgotten railroad at the Tincup Pass tunnel excavations. Like the Taylor River Railroad, the Colorado & Western Ry. is a mountain railroad running north/south from its main terminal in Gunnison to its terminal at Ute, Colorado (Outside of Aspen proper).

Gary Myers and team – HO and HOn3 – D&RGW Third Division
The Lockheed Martin Club layout features the D&RGW Third Division from Salida to Gunnison and beyond.

Art Lort – HO/HOn3 – D&RGW Gunnison Division
The standard gauge portion of the railroad runs between a hidden east staging yard representing Pueblo Colorado and a west staging yard representing Minturn. Leaving Pueblo, the visible portion of the standard gauge curves through a segment of the Arkansas valley and passes through Howard, an agricultural town with several industries switched by local freights. Continuing west, the standard gauge mainline enters Salida, a large dual gauge division yard. Leaving Salida, the standard gauge curves out of sight to west staging at Minturn. The narrow gauge curves across the Arkansas River and begins the climb up the east side of Marshall Pass. Enroute the line passes Mears Junction where a branch to Alamosa leaves the mainline. Between Salida and Gunnison there are four stations with a passing track and various small industries. From Gunnison, the narrow gauge curves through the Black Canyon, Cimmaron, and into Montrose, the west narrow gauge staging yard. Normal narrow gauge traffic consists of a passenger train and a local freight in each direction. Coal, limestone and livestock are generally handled in separate trains. With a couple of exceptions, most areas of the railroad have at least basic scenery in place.

Mark Shifter – HO – Franklin Southern Murphy Subdivision
The Franklin Southern is a multi-level walk-around layout in HO scale in a 12’x32’ basement room. This proto-freelanced road takes place on the old Southern Railway’s Murphy Branch, which ran from Asheville, NC, to Murphy, NC. It is a modern day, fictionalized version of this area, creating a bridge line from Asheville to Atlanta, GA, as well as local freight operations and a scenic excursion train. The layout represents a portion of this 114 mile line from Sylva, NC, to Murphy, NC, with a branch line from Sylva to Franklin, NC. This is an operations-oriented layout that depicts actual scenes in the Smoky Mountain region of North Carolina. There are many scratch-built and kit-bashed structures that represent present-day buildings and industries in this area.

Central Layouts

Keith Hayes – Sn3 Colorado & Southern
The layout models the Colorado & Southern ‘South Park’ between Leadville and Breckenridge over Fremont Pass during the early 1930s at the height of the molybdenum boom.  It features many scratch-built structures of prototype, including the Leadville Depot. It has very good rolling stock and a forced-perspective scene.

Randy Rieck – On3 – Colorado & Southern/Chalk Creek Branch After the Alpine Tunnel was closed on October 24, 1910, all service between Hancock and Quartz was discontinued.  This left the east approach to Alpine Tunnel between Buena Vista and Hancock, a 22-mile-long branch line. The trains had to turn on the wye at Hancock.  In August 1915, a turntable was installed at Romley to eliminate the 2.5 miles to Hancock.  The operation on the Chalk Creek branch was on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  The railroad carried coal, mining supplies, cattle and household supplies inbound/ore outbound. The trains trailed a 30 ft combine to handle passengers. Only 1 locomotive at a time was on the railroad.  This is a beautiful 100% completed layout.  Please Note: “The layout has two large duck-under to enter the layout”.

Don Vancil – On3 – D&RGW Ridgway to Ouray
This layout depicts the town of Ouray and Ridgway Colorado in the 1940’s, featuring passenger and freight service. Future expansion will include beyond Ridgway and other RGS towns. Several On3 RGS buildings will also be on display on tables. The layout has photo backdrops, LED lighting, marine plywood fascia, foreground trees and bushes, battery power, and radio control. The benchwork is cantilevered, so there are no legs. All structures are prototypical.

Dennis Hagen – Sn3 – Wolf Creek Southern
The free-lanced Wolf Creek Southern is loosely based on the Rio Grande Southern’s Telluride Branch. Set in autumn, 1930, traffic on the line is far heavier than anything ever seen on the prototype. Designed in autumn, 1930, traffic on the line is far heavier than anything ever seen on the prototype. Designed primarily for way freight switching, the Wolf Creek Southern serves nine towns that are home to six large mines or mills and forty-six industries. Traffic follows handwritten switch lists. A full schedule includes twenty-four defined trains that feature passenger, mine service, a stock extra, and several switch jobs. A 160-mile main line runs from Derango on the south to Ute Mountain on the north, but it is represented only by a small visible staging yard at Vann’s Junction. A branch simulates a 20-mile run from Vann’s Junction to Pyrite, in reality spanning approximately 160 feet. Three extensions radiate from Pyrite much like the three short lines that once ran out of Silverton, Colorado, though in this case the Wolf Creek Southern owns all three. These extensions provide an additional 180 feet of operation. Approximately 75% of the railroad’s rolling stock and most of the completed structures are scratch built. Many industries are represented by fairly detailed mock-up structures that will stand in until replaced by something scratch built. Construction began on this double-deck layout around 2010 and has proceeded slowly in fits and starts ever since. Virtually everything on the layout was created by the owner. Despite 36-inch curves on the branch and 32-inch curves on the three extensions, the railroad still relies solely on small, C-class locomotives supported by two 10-wheelers. Operating sessions have recently begun and typically occupy five operators.

Dave Ferrier – Sn3 – Westside and Kaslo – Timber & Ore of the High-Country A dual-themed 10 x 25 Sn3 layout inspired by West Side Lumber Co. (California) and the Kaslo & Slocan Railway (British Columbia) The layout blends logging, steep mountain railroading, ore operations, and interchange traffic—all in a footprint that feels spacious and purposeful. Even though two lines were not historically connected—this layout treats them as two railroads interchanging in a single mountain region with geared loco and small rod engines through switchbacks & steep grades, short ore and log trains creates a great setting for believable operating interaction between two railroads.

Stay tuned more to come