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 V2.0

Current Layout Overview (as of 12/1/22)

Looking northeast: Whittier and Portage depot	Looking southeast: Anchorage and most industries
Unlabeled panoramic	Label panoramic

And the movie

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Here are the photos from past months:

Video: Last week Rick finished the excruciating repair to the curve under the mountain thus enabling SD70s to run the entire layout without derailing. So John thought if Rick could run 1 then he could run 2 linked together. After succeeding, he thought if I can run 2 then I can run 3 linked. After this victory, he thought if I can run 3 then I should be able to run all 4 tied together. Success!

Video: Next, John ran 4 SD70s pulling 12 coal hoppers. So John thought if I can run 12 then I should be able to run 24. Success! So John thought if I can run 24 then I should be able to run 48. Victory! Heck, the 4 SD70s hardly broke a sweat. So John upped the ante and built a 74-car train which can be seen in this mesmerizing run at the double crossover.

Rick cut offset expansion joints on the curve under the mountain. He then added jumper wires between these rails. Each jumper wire had a pig tail loop to allow for its expansion and contraction.

Rick used the hot wire to remove a sliver of the foam board. The beauty of the hot wire is it leaves almost no mess to clean up.

The final product looked great! Next week Rick will continue adding the black cardboard lining around the rest of the tunnel.

Video: Rick ran his GoPro/MoW consist through the tunnel to grab some video. Last week's black cardboard tunnel wall (at left) is about 40% complete.

Video: Here is a rare interior mountain view of a passenger train entering the north portal of the tunnel.

Rick brought in cut, creased and painted cardboard for the tunnel wall interior.

Crawling under the layout, Rick prepared the cardboard for mounting.

Although working conditions are awkward and tight, Rick made the mounting effort look easy. Next week we will have the video to show the end result. He also stapled the train catch clothes under the track.