This page contains photos of the layout as it appeared on 10/12/99. No special lighting was used and realistic camera angles were ignored as well. What you see here is exactly what you would have seen if you would have visited me on this date. As work progresses, I will update this page with new photos. I must tell you though, that I work slowly, so don't expect to see constant change.

Tour Stop # 1

Today's tour begins, where else but at the front door. Well, actually just inside the front door. If you don't see anything that looks like a layout yet, your right. This photo shows the swinging bridge that we move into place to span the door opening when we want to run trains. To your right will be the town of Harlowton, MT., and to your left is the staging yard. Our tour will go from right to left, so we'll start at Harlowton and end at the staging yard.

Tour Stop #2

OK, so this is a boring tour so far. This is temporary trackage installed to allow me to complete the "circle" and run trains. The new and improved town of Harlowton will soon occupy this area. At least you can see that I don't spend a lot of money on fancy TV antennas.

Tour Stop #3

Now it starts to look a bit like a layout. Here is the west end of Harlowton showing the turntable. Work has stopped on the Harlowtown section for now. I built this town before researching the prototype thoroughly. I have since had several friends supply me with good drawings and photos that I will use to make a new, more realistic Harlowton.

Tour Stop #4

Here is the present Harlo roundhouse. I plan to scratchbuild a new roundhouse in the future. The backdrops that you see in this section are made by Faller

Tour Stop #5

Harlowton locomotive servicing facility. The sand tower was scratchbuilt using Evergreen styrene structural shapes.

Tour Stop #6

This photo shows the new, full sized station that I built for Harlowton. As you may be able to see, it is still waiting for shingles. The hand held throttle in the foreground is part of the Digitrax Chief digital command control system that I use.

Tour Stop #7

Still in Harlowton, this is the Con-Agra elevator. When the "new" Harlo is finished this will become Montana Flour Mills.

Tour Stop #8

Well,this is the only part of the layout that is finished, although layouts are never really "finished". This of course is Eagles Nest Tunnel. The rock face is just a bunch of plaster castings made with Woodland scenics molds, and the bridge is made with Micro Engineering kits. The catenary is .015 music wire with small strands of copper wire taken from stranded speaker wire for the catenary hangers. Everything is then soldered together.

Tour Stop #9

This is the east siding switch at Three Forks. You can see a little corner of the stock yards there in the lower left corner as well as the partially finished Teslow elevator. Of course, the cattle truck backed up to the stock pens is much newer than my 1973 era, but I have a fettish for well done truck models. This one is by Lonestar Models.

Tour Stop #10

Three Forks yard is in the background while the track in the foreground is the mainline curving around the corner into Avery. You're probably wondering by now what all that pink stuff is. No, this is not a Mary Kay layout. I use pink styrofoam insulation board for my benchwork. It is supported by 1" x 4" boards cantileavered out from the wall. Then I build a foam box on top of that using 1" foam. The roadbed is 2" foam. When I lay track, I just use small finishing nails stuck in the foam to hold the track in placewhile I glue it down with Elmers wood glue. When the glue dries, I pull up the nails and use a razor blade to cut "ditches in the foam on either side of the foam. It's really very quick and simple.

Tour Stop #11

After rounding the curve heading west out of Thee Forks, we come to Alberton (on the left). The mainline then continues through the wall and comes around on the other side (see Tour Stop # 13) down the St. Paul Pass grade into Avery. Avery yard is shown at the right in this photo.

Tour Stop # 12

Before the mainline passes through the wall into St. Paul pass, it crosses the Clark Fork River and US highway 10 at Cyr. This bridge is made with Central Valley trusses and Micro Engineering girders. The piers are made from foam that has been painted with a latex, concrete colored paint.

Tour Stop #13

From the bridge at Cyr, the mainline passes through the wall, makes a broad curve, and comes down the hill (1.7%) towards Avery, through the Bitter Root Mountains. That is what will eventualy be in this scene. The branch to the left heads to the Morton, WA branch that will be above the staging yard. This branch lead will eventually be under Bitter Root Mountain scenery. This scene , when finished, will include 2 more steel trestles and 2 tunnels.

Tour Stop #14

This is the east yard lead at Avery. The white foam core cutout that you see is the "footprint" for the substation that will be there. The photo in Tour Stop #11 shows the rest of the Avery yard.

Tour Stop #15

This is another shot of the Bitter Root Mountains/St. Paul pass area. The bridge in the foreground is Moss Creek bridge. It still needs it's towers added. Now it is being held up by pink foam. In the background the Morton branch is visible above the staging yard.

Tour Stop #16

This is the staging yard with the Morton branch above it. It is a double ended, six track yard. The longest track can hold about 30, 50' cars and the shortest track can hold about 10. The track coming out of the west end of Avery yard is in the far background.

Tour Stop #17

This is the other end of the staging yard. The photo in Tour Stop #1 was taken just to the right of this photo.

Tour Stop #18

This is the work bench. To the un-trained eye, this may look like a big mess. That, however, could not be further from the truth. I know where everything is (just don't quote me on that).