HO by Rodney Smith
The Missouri and Topeka Valley Railroad is a fictitious division of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. It is situated in central USA, I have modelled part of the very busy line between Kansas City & Topeka and centered around the town of Meriden in HO scale .
The layout occupies an area 16′ x 24′ in a dedicated outdoor building. The golden spike ceremony was held in 1997. The main line is a figure 8 folded over itself to form a large peninsular.
From the outset the anticipated actual heavy traffic warranted a double track main line. As previously mentioned Meriden is situated on the peninsular and is the centre of activity. On the outskirts of town are the loco facilities, freight depot and passenger depot. The town itself has an abundance of residential, retail, commercial and service industries. Also Meriden services an industrial park just outside of townThere are eight mostly large multi car industrial sites giving operators plenty of work to do.
There are two small branch lines, the first operating the White River crossing, Wheatley’s Mill and a large team track. This line passes in front of a hidden eight track yard (4 tracks west and 4 tracks east). The other operating to the Union Mining Quarry and Rock Crushing plant. Along the way it switches the grain silo’s at Rock Creek, a dairy and Rock Creek freight depot.
Some Specifications:
| Area | 24’x16′ |
| Length of mainline | 240′ |
| Minimum radius | 38″ |
| Track | Micro Engineering Code 70 Peco Code 100 (hidden yard) |
| Points | Shinohara Code 70 Peco Code 100 (hidden yard) |
| Point Motors | Mostly Tortoise |
| Height | 54″ to 58″ |
| Era | Post WW2 |
| Motor Vehicles | 133 and counting |