The Layout
I have spent many days over the past couple of years photographing and viewing trains at the Rochelle Railroad Park in Rochelle, Illinois in the United States.
I am an intermodal railroading fan, so Rochelle was the perfect place for me, with the UP Railroad’s massive Global III intermodal facility just down the road. Unfortunately I am a BNSF fan, so when it came to planning my railroad I decided to change things slightly…my layout therefore features a BNSF intermodal yard near Rochelle…slight abuse of modeller’s licence! 
At present my layout consists of two 4ft by 2ft modules which contain the intermodal yard itself, along with two end boards (the one 45″ by 36″ & the other 41″ by 36″) which contain loop tracks, thereby enabling me to have a continuous layout.
So, in total the layout is about 15ft long. However as this is a modular layout this will change over time as I am planning on adding another two modules (already built but not wired or scenicked) which will add another 8ft in length. I am also planning on adding a yard with a loco facility. The only problem now will be space! But the joy of a modular layout is that it is just that…modular…which means I can put the modules in any order and in any configuation to suit the available space.
The layout is built around the Bendtrack modular system, which is an improvement on the NTrak modular system in that it only has a double main line as opposed to triple, and is double-sided, which makes it a lot more flexible with setup choices. More details on the Bendtrack concept can be found on the Bendtrack website.
I am using the Digitrax DCC system, running a Super Chief command station with a DT400 throttle as well as a UT4 throttle. I am also using Digitrax BDL168 and BD4 block detectors, and a Digitrax SE8C signal controller which enables me to have realistic operating signalling and block detection. For point control I am using Digitrax DS64 quad stationary decoders as well as CML Electronics DAC10′s.
I run the excellent JMRI PanelPro software on my PC which enables me to have a layout schematic on a panel on-screen showing the location of all the trains and the status of the turnouts & signals. I am planning on adding transponding hardware so that I can see the actual train number on the schematic as well.
I also have the Railroad & Co. software which I will be using in the future to enable automatic operation of the trains for shows.
