John's Alaska Railroad HO Scale Layout V2.0

 

It took 18 years to completely build my HO scale Alaska Railroad layout. Long story short, we sold our house and had to tear it all down in one evening. Yes, in one evening! Unfortunately, I had to throw away the scenery, track, wiring, risers and cork road bed.

In November of 2016 my daughter Anne expressed a strong desire to have her son (my grandson) see my trains run at Christmas. I wasn't able to make it happen, but seeds were planted... read more.

And now to the details. The layout diagram is shown below and clicking on it will reveal a "super sized" image. The next section gives a blow-by-blow photo journal report of the work as it progresses. Enjoy!

Layout Design

Layout Design V2.0

 

Current Layout Overview (as of 2/6/25)
Overview Overview
Looking northeast: Whittier and Portage depot Looking southeast: Anchorage and most industries
Overview Overview
Unlabeled panoramic Label panoramic

And the movie

 

Here are the photos from past months:

 

And the current work in progress:

May 1, 2025
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As Rick opens up two new spurs in the Anchorage yard, John begins to bring out rail cars from storage. These three beautiful Athearn Alaska Railroad GATC 20,000-gallon tank cars are aching to get out on the rails.

Although these cars are ready-to-run, a quick check finds they are slightly under weight. The railroad is state owned, so it comes as no surprise when John states, "Close enough for government work."

 Two of the tank cars will haul petroleum from the North Pole refinery. The third is a fire suppression car. The ARRC converted nine 20,000-gallon tank railcars to hold water for fire fighting purposes.
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Rick used the RailPro AM-1 manual for reference in connecting the AM-1 to the Tortoise switch machines. The AM-1 provides both power and operational status. In regards to operational information, the AM-1 uses data sent from the Tortoise to display the position of the turnout on the handheld's display. Rick is not laying on his back moonlighting, but instead is finishing installation of the Tortoise machine for the southern stub (also known as 11-4). All four mounting screws are in place, the spring wire installed and power lines attached.

Video: F7A #1510 tests turnout 11-4 and determines it works correctly in both directions.
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Video: Rick repeated the same process for the northern stub (also known as 11-2); mounting the Tortoise machine, installing the spring wire and connecting power. This video shows the handheld controller wirelessly operating the turnout. Video: F7A #1510 tests turnout 11-2 and determines it works correctly in both directions.

Unused resources created two new stubs: two high speed turnouts (one purchased by accident and the other provided by the Steve Booth Foundation), two unused connections on AM-1 #11, and extra track (one section was surplus while the other was purchased by mistake).
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Video: Taz got a case of the zoomies tonight. Here is the tail end of his five minute burst of energy.

This bare area south of Eppley's Curve will be the future location for the Tunnel Section House with speeder. Here is your chance to vote for which section house will go here:

1. East Junction Section House

2. Section Foreman's House

Email your vote here.

 John added Woodland Scenics fine turf to serve as grass for the future section house.

 

May 8, 2025
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Video: A friend of Terry's found an old childhood train in her basement. She asked if we could get it running again. This train is a 1954 Gilbert's American Flyer S gauge set. John set up the track while Rick torn down and refurbished the locomotive. It was fun bringing this set back to life after 71 years.

John purchased 10 vehicles from the estate of Steve Booth. Sometime in the past, someone tried to remove this FedEx truck without releasing the wing nut in the bottom of the display case. This cracked the bottom plate of the vehicle in half. John asked master restoration expert Rick to do the critical repair work.

 The repair work was flawless and you cannot see the broken line on the bottom plate.
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Rick turned his attention to connecting the communication lines of the new Tortoise switches to the AM-1. Three wires are required and Rick paid careful attention to use the same color coding as the other 42 Tortoise switch machines. Now wait just a "hot" minute! It takes a real man to lay on your back and solder something overhead. Dripping solder will result in the painful "face catch." All joking aside, Rick made it look easy, soldering the communications lines to the Tortoise switch machine.

Here's Rick soldering the second wire. After the third wire is soldered in place, Rick will hook them up to the AM-1. Finally, he will check to see if the turnout status is correct on the handheld controller's display. If not, then the wires will be switched.
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The AM-1 #11 now supports four Tortoise switch machines in both operation and status. AM-1 11-3 and 11-4 are used for the new stub tracks. Video: Rick laid the first section of track for the AM-1 11-3 stub track. This stub will run all the way to the side of the diesel shop. Next week, the remainder of the track will be laid. Also, the track will be cut so it will be powered whenever the swing gate is close. This will enable locomotives to be stored on the track without concerns of overheating and possible fire hazard.

John put the final touches on the vegetation that will be placed beside the new southern portal. This will help to cover the gap between the portal wall and existing plaster rock scenery.

 

May 22, 2025
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Video: It's time again to run the track cleaning car around the layout. Two black and yellow heritage paint scheme locomotives pulled the cleaning car to make 27 passes around the main line.

John and Terry enjoyed a pizza dinner on the balcony just outside the train room. Blue and yellow patio furniture with blue and golden flowers in blue and yellow buckets made for a fun themed meal.

 Clayton's Alaska Railroad impressed visitors Mat and Cindi Heck. Both had train sets as children and operations brought back fond memories. Mat is shown here running a maintenance of way train.
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Rick continued working on the sub tracks in the Anchorage yard. He used a Dremel to cut a section of track that will store locomotives by the diesel shop. Now a time honored method, Rick used a pin vice to create the hole for the track nail. Next, he inserted the track nail and drove it home with hammer and punch.

Rick soldered the brass joiners in place to improve conductivity throughout the stub.
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Rick decided to tie the entire stub section to the swing gate. When the gate is open, power is cut to the stub section. Standard operating procedure says before leaving the train room, we open the swing gate. Since power is removed from the stub, locomotives and lighted passenger cars can be stored without any risk of fire. Video: Rick ran F7#1512 along the entire stub track to show all work was completed satisfactorily. He also confirmed when the swing gate was open, all power to the stub track was removed.

This photo shows four locomotives can be stored on stub track AM-1 11.1.
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Video: What would train night be without running a few consists? Two freight paint scheme locomotives brought a maintenance of way (MoW) train through the cut at Triple Peak Mountain. Video: As the maintenance of way train continued on the main line, it slowed through Canyon and into the tunnel.

John purchased a Northern Galaxy Light Aurora Projector to create northern lights on the ceiling of the train room.
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Video: The projector has 33 different patterns and stars can be added or removed. The unit also has the ability to play sound from a smart phone. Terry and Jackie spent train night taking Zeus back home. We were sad to see him go after having him for a two week visit.

 

 

 

 

 

Feel free to contact me at john@alaskarails.org
Page created 9/4/17 and last updated 6/9/25