Tag Archives: helix

Layout Design with Nelson Moyer, part 6

The Helix – Around and Around and It Comes Out Here

The eleven car 1952 California Zephyr climbs out of Denver staging Eastward with two E-7s on the point.

Nelson Moyer has been busy building his CB&Q layout. His latest adventure has been building a helix. Here’s Nelson with his tips and techniques. Click on any image here to review a larger size.

Multi-level layouts are becoming more popular as they permit longer runs with more towns, sidings, industries, and thus more switching opportunities in a given footprint. The Burlington-Washington Subdivision of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad ran 53 miles Northwest from Burlington to Washington, IA, with trackage rights on the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific from Burlington to Mediapolis, IA, and on the former Burlington and Northwestern tracks from Mediapolis to Washington. The branchline passed through seven towns more or less equally spaced along the route. My goal was to model as many of those towns as I could accommodate in a 13 x 16 foot room.

Continue reading Layout Design with Nelson Moyer, part 6