Georgia Northeastern | thomasklimoski

Georgia Northeastern Model Railroad

This layout is based on the Georgia Northeastern Railroad (GNRR), a short line that operates in North Georgia. Numerous industries served by the GNRR are located around Marietta and cities north along the line which include building materials, cement, plastics, metal coating, grain, chemical processing, aircraft manufacturing, and marble products.

I began construction on the layout in 2013 and continue to work on it today. The layout is proto-freelanced, that term means that it is based on the GNRR but is not strictly prototypical. Industries have been moved to accommodate them on the layout and distances have been highly compressed, but the operations plan is very similar to the one used by GNRR.

The layout is operated with a two person crew, one member as engineer and the other as a conductor. With a two person crew, it allows each member to concentrate on their assigned role and closely follow the prototype practices. Crews use a prototype based switch list to determine what cars are picked up or set out for each train. There are three separate switch jobs, the North Local, Elizabeth Yard Turn, and the Marble Hill Local. Operating sessions can last from an hour to over two and a half hours depending on the number of trains run.

An article about the history, planning, construction and operation of my Georgia Northeastern layout appeared in the 2016 issue of Model Railroad Planning.

The layout at a glance

Name: Georgia Northeastern Railroad

Scale: HO (1:87.1)

Size: 10’-6” X 9’-2”

Prototype: Georgia Northeastern Railroad

Locale: Georgia

Era: 2012 Spring/Summer

Style: linear walkaround

Mainline run: 36’

Minimum radius: 24”

Minimum turnout: Micro Engineering no. 6 turnout

Maximum grade: none