The Marcola Branch: Part 1 - Introduction
Over the past 3+ years, with life taking me away from my family home and the Cascade Sub Layout, I've focused primarily on weathering locomotives and rolling stock for myself and others. However, the layout building bug has bit again and I am very near to starting my next layout build. Introducing the Marcola Branch! The Marcola Branch will be a modular switching layout representing UP's industrial spur in Springfield, OR. The railroad serves numerous customers both directly off of the mainline in Springfield and off a branchline that formerly extended to Marcola, OR. Customers include Arclin and Borden chemical manufacturers, Rosboro, Sundance, and Swanson Group lumber mills, Kingsford Charcoal, International Paper, and Amerigas Propane. UP runs a daily local, the "Weyerhaeuser," from Eugene to service the line. The layout: My layout is designed to be built in phases, adopting "The One Module Approach" (TOMA) popularized by Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazin...
