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:

July 02, 2025
image
image
image

Four Accurail 7500 series offset triple hoppers were sent to the Eppley Shops for assembly. The actual work was very involved, but the final result was exceptional. Two were returned complete and John added weights and coal loads. Rick added metal wheels for smooth running.

Rick spent a good part of the evening cleaning track with a two pass process of sanding and mineral spirits. All the main track was cleaned plus Rudd Spur, Usibelli siding, Anchorage depot siding and APU.

 Here is a photo of the Maintenance of Way train in the Anchorage depot yard.
image
image
image

Video: F7 #1512 showed extremely smooth operation through the newly cleaned track at the APU.

Video: F7 #1512 pulled the new 7500 series hoppers past the Maintenance of Way train in the Anchorage depot siding.

 Video: F7 #1512 pulled the new 7500 series hoppers past Jackie's flower field and the hobo camp. These new hoppers show exceptionally smooth running.
image image  
Video: Having completed their day's work, the Maintenance of way train pulled into Anchorage to tie down for the night. Here is Rick's photo of the Maintenance of Way train in siding behind the Dairy Queen.  

 

July 09, 2025
image
image
image
Video: Heading south with a heaping load of coal from the Usibelli mine, 181S passes through Anchorage at the diesel shop.

Video: Railfans were delighted to capture on video 181S Anchorage to Seward coal train crossing over top of a Maintenance of Way train at Canyon.

Video: Locomotive engineer Frank Dewey puts the SD70MACs in notch 8 to battle the elevation increase into Eppley's curve.
image
image
image
Video: 181S crawls through the divide at Triple Peaks mountain which the Maintenance of Way train crosses under the bridge at Canyon.

Video: A Maintenance of Way train passes along the main near Rudd Spur where a forestry team removes a long dead pine tree.

Video: 181S slithers through the cut at Canyon just as the Maintenance of Way train crosses the bridge heading to Portage.
image
image image
Video: At train night, the Eppley Shops released the second set of new hoppers. Unfortunately, one the hoppers was derailing. Inspections revealed the wheel size was 36" while 33" is required. The shop's stock of 33" wheels was depleted so John needs to order more. Additionally, the new hoppers are too light. NMRA weight standards are 1 ounce plus an ounce for each 1/2" of car length. John gave Rick some weight sheets he created. Rick cut them to the proper weight and fit. Now both cars weigh in at approximately 4 ounces.
image image image
Video: Test locomotive F7 #1512 pulled the new 7500 series hoppers past Jackie's flower field and eventually into the Anchorage yard. These new hoppers show exceptionally smooth running even through the Video: F7 #1512 pulls the new hoppers along with a freight consist downgrade through TwentyMile. Video: The Eppley Shops put #3015 back in service. The original problem began with the conversion to RailPro. Due to electrical conductivity, the motor couldn't be mounted to the frame so a layer of electrical tape was applied. This caused slight misalignment between the motor and the drive shaft. Therefore, four screws were used to mount the motor securely and the holes in the spacers were enlarged. The result was a perfectly aligned drive shaft.
  image  
  Plat mapping had begun in the APU region. The long building cut out is the Anchorage depot. Across the street is Eppley's Cycle Shop, Koole's Bike Shop, Mini Cooper Dealership and Dairy Queen. Stay tuned!  

 

July 16, 2025
image
image
image
Terry beat the heat at train night with her homemade ice cream sandwiches made with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Yum!

Rick is truly a top notch modeler, taking the John Deere tractors John and Terry purchased at the John Deere factory in Iowa and mounting them to a flat car.

Rick precisely cut miniature wooden chock blocks to hold the tractors in place. Next, he cut HO scale chains to anchor the tractors in place. Just like the real thing!
image
image
image
Video: F7 #1512 takes the new tractor consist for a trip around the layout. The flat car wobbles slightly, but this should disappear once other rail cars are attached.

Video: SD70MAC #4001 automatically turns on bell-bell-whistle sounds. Rick determine the problem was a bad LM-3S. John has contacted Ring Engineering to see if there is a way to reset it. If not then a new one must be purchased.

Video: An SD70MAC and a coal consist rolls downhill through TwentyMile.
image
 
Video: The coal consist is brought into the Anchorage yard to tie down for the night.    

 

 

 

Feel free to contact me at john@alaskarails.org
Page created 9/4/17 and last updated 7/17/25