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McClennan Street

My original American layout was called McClennan Street and was somewhere in the North-eastern USA.
The main problem with the layout was that it had a 6' long board that was not exactly easy to transport.

Below is a copy of an article from Continental Modeller from October 1996.

The layout was scrapped during the construction of Southside Yard and many of the buildings re-used on that layout.

the "black" bridge

The sawmill and pickle factory

exiting the main factory

A visitor

McClellan Street was built as a direct result of moving into my own house from my parents.

It is based on a plan in an old copy of Continental Modeller from about 1986 for minimum space shunting layout. Due to the cost of European models it was decided that a move to the more reasonably priced American scene. A decision was made to set the layout in the 1960's.

The layout is set in a small city somewhere in western Pennsylvania and the fictional history is as follows, the McClellan Street and Southern Railroad (MCS) built its original depot on the site, before moving to larger premises. As time passed a variety of industries grew up and the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore & Ohio gained running rights. By the 1960's the area has become congested and is
becoming to become rundown though still busy with freight and workings to the MCS's new diesel works.

Originally just 6' by 15", experience at a local fete, caused a rethink with a first extension board bringing the length up to 9', in this form it was exhibited at Southend in 1993. However problems with this board resulted in a new fiddle yard board and an extra scenic board, bringing the layout up to it's present size of 9' and up to 18" in which form it was exhibited at Sudbury in October 1995.

Construction
Construction is contiboard on a 19x38 timber frame, with Peco track and points operated the wire in the tube method. Electrical control is based on the " one engine in steam " principle, with phono - plugs used as connectors between boards. A full lighting circuit also provided, though the two original Bachmann crossing lights have had to be replaced after they melted, by brass Model Power examples.

Scenery and operation

The buildings on the layout come from a variety of sources from scratch built and DPM walling to Airfix. The Oil Depot is made from cardboard tubes covered with computer labels to represent the sheeting involved and the large cement silos are an old poster tube cut-up and redesigned based on an article in Model Railroader.

Road vehicles are from a variety of sources from repainted Matchbox to Herpa and Praline. The roads were built by laying fine glass paper over suitable cardboard bases and then painted to represent tarmac. The population is Prieser and virtually all possible sources have been used to provide small scenic details, the local model shops and swapmeet's junk boxes are perfect for this kind of thing.

A number of small detail points have been added for the younger members of the public such as a black cat on the girder bridge and several cowboys (yes I know that they shouldn't be there but children love it!). Also much effort has been made to convey the period with posters covering the entire decade and from Kennedy to Nixon via LBJ and the Beetles.

Due to the length of the headshunt trains are restricted to a loco and two cars. With the principle that something is moving at all times, the normal operating procedure is to cycle through the entire freight stock in about an hour, locos tend to not change as much as operators prefer certain machines to others.

 Conclusion

 The main problem, which I have not repeated on my new Swedish layout, was to construct a layout without regard to portability, and the main board due to the 3 way point needed is 6' long. If I had used a Fleischmann 3 way possibly it would have allowed a longer headshunt and for two 3' boards. The other real problem is the need to consider carefully how the points are set or the layout will cease operating due to a short circuit. The layout has been a learning experience and as my first exhibition layout has taught me a lot about constructing portable layouts. Finally I must thank Harry Dunnett, Adrian Allum, Ian Hearfield and John and Helen Reynolds for helping me exhibit the layout over time and exhibition organisers for inviting me.