box cars. Outbound no rail bakery goods shipped to grocer-
ies stores in the regional area.
Fort Wayne Electric (GE):
Manufactures electric motors and
parts for appliances. Inbound products for electric motors,
oil or coal for plant heating. Outbound finished motors by
rail and truck.
Broadview Lumber:
Local lumber company. Inbound lum-
ber. Outbound trucks only to local construction sites.
Rea Magnet Wire:
Manufactures copper wire for electrical
motors. Inbound copper ingots, oil or coal for furnaces. Out-
bound spools of copper wire via rail and truck.
- You have a $500 total budget.
- Assume basic tools: hammer, saw, drill, screwdriver, scis-
sors, single-edged razor blades, soldering iron.
- Assume advanced tools like a table saw, router, or lathe
are NOT available.
- Must design an operating layout or module (continuous
running optional).
- Include a shopping list not exceeding $500 - must cover
benchwork, roadbed, track, wiring, control system, rolling
stock, locos, structures, and scenery.
- Common items listed for sale on the web like eBay or Ya-
hoo train yard sale okay.
- Thinking outside the box encouraged.
Here are the rules for the MRH $500 Starter Layout Chal-
lenge Contest we ran from August to November of 2012.
$500 Starter Layout Contest Rules
Fort Wayne Union Railway - 4
Power:
Since at this point there is only room for one operator
and one train, I began with a beginner-style DCC system: the MRC
Prodigy. This is an inexpensive system for getting started. To reduce
costs even further, a standard DC power pack could be used.
Structures:
To keep the cost down, all of the structures are to be
constructed of mat board with photo overlays until additional
funds become available. If the modeler chooses, just temporary
mock ups could be used as a starting point.
Scenery:
I envision that most of the materials will be found and
therefore are free. Examples include sifted dirt, weeds used for
tree armatures, maybe even sifted stone for ballast. A few items
will need to be purchased, such as ground foam, paints etc.
Locos and Rolling stock:
Here is where I’m going to really
step outside of the box. During different searches of eBay and
Craigslist for items, I came across sales of large quantities of
rolling stock and locomotives.
While some of these had an asking price of $400-$600, my idea
is to purchase the lot, pick out the pieces that one would want
for the layout, and then put the rest of them back up for sale at
either a model railroad flea market or back on the internet.
With a little bit of luck and some good hunting, I believe that
some rolling stock and locomotives could be had for free or near
free. The key to making this work is to have the discipline not to
keep everything that was purchased.
Industries:
Bowser Pump:
Manufactures gasoline pumps used at ser-
vice stations. Inbound materials for manufacturing of gaso-
line pumps Outbound finished gas pumps by rail and truck.
Sunbeam Bakery:
A regional bakery for bread. Inbound
flour shipped in Airslide hoppers; prior to Airslide hoppers,
MRH-Jan 2013
