Eight Dollar Canyon 3.5mm/HO
Our layout is set in the Pacific Northwest of the USA and most trains will tend to belong to the Milwaukee Road, with probably a few extras from time to time.
It is octagonal in shape, on eight boards (hence the name, which is a real place, though the similarity ends there), and is about 16 ft in diameter, viewable from all around the circuit. It is mostly operated from the outside, with a fiddle-yard operator on the inside, so 4 operators can be kept busy.
Building started about 2005, and evolved slowly, and, like most layouts, it still gets changed from time to time. The main objective is to see long trains running round, so there will be plenty of those, but there is also the opportunity of shunting on the inner loop and its associated industry sidings. There are crossovers to the fiddle yard which is in the centre of the circle, to allow trains to be swapped over as required.
Scenery is a mixture of desert scrubland and a spectacular rocky gorge with trestle, typical of the western USA. There is also a small town scene with some industries to give an excuse for switching cars. As it really is a club layout, it’s mostly a case of anything goes, although we have managed to concentrate on the steam/diesel changeover period of the 1960s/1970s, but will still run any trains that members want to operate. It is now fully DCC sound with all the benefits that brings.