Say Ya to da UP dere, eh - Outstanding Modeling | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum

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gnnpnutOGR Forum Member

I have been researching the Gogebic Range and the iron ore operations of the Soo Line (Wisconsin Central) and the C&NW ever since Microsoft Train Simulator came out. I even got so far as to create the Soo Line trackage from Ashland Wisconsin to Montreal , Wisconsin, including the trackage to Montreal mine. I gave up on MSTS when it started consuming far to much of my time designing stuff in "Virtual Scale".

Recently, I started working on a layout design for a layout design article I am trying to write, and I stumbled on this absolute gem of a model railroad that models the "joint operations" of the Soo and C&NW between Hoyt, WI and Bessemer MI.

If any of you have spent time in the Hurley / Ironwood / Bessemer area over the last 50 - 60 years years, you will see scenes on this layout that absolutely NAIL this area, and the railroad operations that operated there (all the trackage is gone). The layout plan is brilliant, the workmanship is outstanding, and the operation potential of this layout is out of site. It will not take a large crew of people to generate a credible operating session.

There are two videos out there of the Gogebic Iron Range, as well as a discussion thread on "Model Railroad Hobbiest" (a free on-line magazine).

Here are two MRH links:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/12321

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/12303

Here are two videos:

The first is of the layout, and explains in detail, the history of the Gogebic range, the research behind how he designed his track plan, and great video of the layout, including a mine.

The second video is how he built the Newport mine, including shaft, and ore stockpiles created by the skips that bring the ore up from beneath the surface.