AM Tours

Joe Sullivan’s Gainesville & Tennessee Subdivision (of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad)

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The G & T is a hypothetical L & N (Family Lines) branch line in North Georgia. The layout is built on two levels with storage above and below and some staging below. The layout features point to point operation (reverse loop to reverse loop for open house). The grade change between levels is mostly exposed (with a passing track) on a peninsula. The railroad serves carpet factories, a paper mill, a marble yard and chicken feed dealers along with typical industries (most structures are not yet in place). Operations feature mill turns, locals, through freights and interchange traffic with other L & N lines, SCL and Southern Rwy. Scenic terrain and trees are mostly complete, track is ballasted, most cars are weathered, many locomotives have sound, much work yet to be done on structures. The layout features fall foliage. The creeks have sound (Cicada and bird sounds coming). Twilight/evening lighting on one section. Turnouts are mostly Tortoise powered with controls (some dual) with LEDs on the fascia. Yard control panels are in place and there is a large combination panel for the Coosawattee Yard/ Staging Yard towerman.

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The Marietta Southern represents a fictional, free-lanced railroad purchased by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway and incorporated into its Georgia operations. Designed to loosely resemble North Georgia & the Western & Atlantic line from Atlanta to Chattanooga, it features NC&StL & Seaboard Airline equipment and other southeastern railroads that my sons have an interest in, such as B&O, RF&P and others. The line features a single track main with two passing sidings and a diamond lift-out crossover, along with a yard, various servicing facilities, and industrial switching. Having been originally built by Stephen Sprinkle & Scott Kelley, the railroad “went into receivership" back in 2018 due to a pending move and was facing abandonment. “Tarrant Family Lines” procured the line and various assets of the railroad, relocated it to our basement, and have been rolling back the scenery and structures to the glorious transition era of 1948-1952. The MSRR provides a manageable layout with an enjoyable combination of continuous running and operational switching, highlighting coal drags, mixed freight, and heavyweight and streamlined passenger trains in both countryside and industrial settings (kids, be sure to look for the silver-back gorillas along the way…)

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When designing this layout, the objective was to explore different geographies, different areas and a blend of industrial settings that reflected my interests. From a beautifully detailed steel mill to the waterfront River Street, in Savannah, each viniet tells a story of the time. Some of the top model builders and scale artists in the U.S. participated in the layouts construction, seeing its first full operational run in December of 2013. Surrounding the layout is a hand-painted mural depicting the four seasons and situated to literally extend the eye beyond each of the layouts scenic vistas. This year, we've added a new dimension to the layout, sound and lighting effects over the full layout. From the city to the country, to the mountains, sounds of activity will be felt, including a thunder and lightning storm over the mountains. In addition, hang gliders, blimps and balloons all add to the skylines activity.

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The layout has slowly expanded into four areas in its 4th home. I run a double track mainline that has a lower and upper level, plus a short middle section, for a total length of some 300 feet. A full lower and upper loop run takes about 7 minutes. The main room is 12.5 x 28. From there it goes through a wall on one end of the room to an area about 5'x5' at the bottom of the stairs, perfect for a harbor scene. Going through the wall on the other side of the harbor brings you to one of two helixes. The north 6'x6' helix hosts a ski slope. At the other end of the main room the layout also goes through the wall to access a staging yard, a coal mine, and a second helix (8'x4') which hosts a limestone quarry that I just began building this summer.

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Module of a shoofly (temporary track) while a new mainline bridge is being installed across a creek. Many of structures are themed to the musical "Pump Boys & Dinettes".