Model Railroad Hobbyist | February 2015 | #60 LITE AND NARROW column Larry Smith The New Merkle Connecting, part 1 | A small On30 project layout  that fits almost anywhere ... This is the first in a series of articles on building the New Merkle Connecting railroad. The railroad is based on an unnamed narrow gauge industrial railroad located on the Shelby-Jefferson county line in Alabama. Until 1994, most modelers didn’t know it existed. Using the information from 1994 and uncovering new information, Phillip Griffith is building a model of this railroad in his loft. We will follow it to completion. So how did we get to here? Our story begins in 1871, when the Elyton Land Company founded what would become the city of Birmingham. The company owned 41,000 acres of land and established the city at the junction of two railroads in the Jones Valley of north central, Alabama. The primary purpose of this land X X NARROW GAUGE AND LIGHT RAIL RAMBLINGS MRHMAG.COM • TABLE OF CONTENTS • INDEX