The C&NW Peninsula Div. is set in the 40’s and 50’s and is basically free lanced. I chose this time period because like many others I like to run steam and also first generation diesels. Most of the locomotives have sound and all are equipped with decoders. The layout in controlled by “EasyDCC” from CVP Products. We use radio throttles for all road crews and have two tethered throttles in each of the yards.

The Chicago & North Western System is a walk around shelf layout with a large peninsula. The layout fills a 29 foot x 32 foot area in my basement with a 6’ x 13’ separate room that has the Ashland Yard located in it. The bench work is sectional style and is constructed with ¾” furniture grade plywood. The sub roadbed is ½” Homasote laminated to ½” plywood. Code 100 track flex track is laid on cork road bed. Turnouts are operated with Tortoise slow motion switch machines. The switch machines are operated by toggles with Red & Green LED’s to show position and are mounted on local panels at all towns.

The system is approximately 75% sceniced and has 300 feet of main line track with numerous industrial sidings, two yards each with a turntable, a full service Engine Terminal with an operating indexed turntable. There is a branch line that runs to the lumber mill at Hardwood, MI. and 10 additional towns. All of the towns are actual towns in Michigan’s UP and Northern Wisconsin, with the exception of two which are named for my daughters “Loriville” and “Kim Creek Junction”. One other town on the system is named for my son “Scott Lake”, but this is a real town in the UP.

Construction of the train room and layout started with a totally unfinished basement, in July of 2002. With the help of our Friday night round robin group the “RailGang” walls, ceiling, lighting and bench work progressed very quickly. In mid February of 2003 the bench work was started, and by June track laying and basic scenery had begun.

Structures on the layout are and will be a variety of kits. Some will be kit bashed, some scratch built and others are straight from the box but repainted and weathered with added details.

A steel dispatch panel with magnets shaped like locomotives with the train number to show its location on the system is utilized.  Radio head sets are used to communicate back and forth along with typed Train Orders of a simple “like car for like car” pickup/setout system of car forwarding.  In the future I will be switching to a Card Card/Way Bill operating system.  The layout is operated as a continuous loop, but it can be run point to point.