While visiting our home layout tours in the Ball Ground and Talking Rock area, consider stopping in to see the two model train layouts (and much more!) on display at the Tate Depot, in Tate, GA. They will be open 10:00am-2:00pm. (It’s Free!) For more information, contact Ben Read at bensread@aol.com, or call Ben at 770-530-7565. See also the club's website below.
The El&TCo. is a 1947-era backwoods railroad featuring logging, sawmilling, steel manufacturing,
coal mining, and many of the ancillary industries necessary to make this all work. The scenery
and scratch-built structures and motive power are my specialties.
The heavily wooded sawmill peninsula includes an engine servicing facility, river, log dump and
sawmill. The scratch-built sawmill is 12" x 32" x 15" high. The mill complex includes the powerhouse,
slash burner, conveyors, lumber stacks, water tanks, and the small village. The steel mill
complex covers an area 30" deep by almost 17 feet long. The highly detailed harbor scene,
including numerous boats and small freighters, at the layout entrance, covers an area 7' by
8' (see the photo section!).
The layout has been featured in the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette and the On30
Annual as well as Scale Rails and Model Railroader.
My scratch-built On30 Shay won lst place at the Piedmont Division and the Southeast Region
train shows in 2000; it won 2nd place at the NMRA National at San Jose with 113 points.
The 336 sq ft Elkhorn expansion features a fully automated interchange with the original 560 sq
ft purpose-built layout room. Both spaces feature double deck railroading. The expansion
includes several waterfront scenes. The approximately 7'x3` Upatoi Creek includes a boatyard
scene with a shrimp boat in for repairs and maintenance as well as an automated shuttle
train serving the numerous scratch-built extensively kit-bashed enterprises along the
Creek. A 6'x3' rail-served riverfront scene includes extensive docking facilities capable of
handling 4-6 craft simultaneously.
The expansion spotlights a highly detailed (they are all highly detailed ) 2'x4' welding shop,
welding services and scrap metal salvage complex.
A well-detailed 3-stall engine house with turntable and machine shop is the next planned construction project.
Scale / Gauge
On30
Size of Layout
17'X32' plus 14'X27' Expansion
Prototype
Freelance
Location Modeled
Southern Appalachian Mountains
Era
1947
Style of Track Plan
Other
Length of Main Line
250'
Layout Height
34" and 50" Double deck"
Benchwork
Open Grid
Roadbed Material
Styrofoam
Track Manufacturer
Micro Engineering
Turnouts
Peco
Minimum Main Line Radius
22"
Maximum Grade
2.5 %
% Scenery Complete
95 %
Backdrop
Painted drywall, with coved corners, mountains and clouds
