Great Northern An HO Scale Railroad by Ed Klein
The GN Mesabi Division is proto-freelanced, based on the iron ore traffic of the GN, with ore traffic from the DM&IR and NP as well. General freight traffic is also represented at several points between Bemidji and Duluth / Superior. Jobs on the layout consist of dispatcher, yardmaster and 2 switch engine crews at Cass Lake, footboard yardmaster at Orr yard, Orr Dock job, foreign road crew, and road pool. The double deck layout occupies approximately 1200 square feet, with 695 feet of main line. EasyDcc, using 10 Wireless throttles and 4 tethered throttles allow for lots of operation. Dispatching is done using C/MRI CTC. Communication to the dispatcher is done using phones. Car cards are used for traffic management on general freight, ore traffic uses colored pin identification.