Alton Model Railway Group

In Brief

Section: American
Members: Five
Layout name: Pine Bluffs & Ceda Falls Railroad
Layout scale: HO
Layout setting: 1950's Colorado, USA
Layout status: Exhibiting, extensions in the planning/construction stages
Layout contact: Mike Stent, 01252 547326
Website: www.pinebluffs.co.uk

The section

The American Section of the Alton Model Railway Group was formed in 1992 and currently has seven members. The section is dedicated to the furtherance of American Model Railroading in the Alton area. The section created the Pine Bluffs & Ceda Falls Railroad, and currently has its own 'HO' layout of Pine Bluffs Depot.

From its very first days the section has followed the Group philosophy of trying to mix a relaxed atmosphere together with serious modeling whilst always maintaining a sense of humour. A good deal of this humour is evident on the Pine Bluffs layout, and in the background and history of the line (as well as in the color of the section polo shirts!)

The layout

Begun in 1994, the Pine Bluffs & Ceda Falls Railroad was created by the American Section of the Alton Model Railway Group, and evolved out of the design criteria the section set down for construction of a modular American exhibition layout. Our aim was to create an easily expandable design, that would allow members and the section to build and exhibit a variety of models, based on the same basic design and construction methods.

The final design had two and a half metres of 'display' area, and included a depot, water tower, local store, flour/grain warehouse, diner, petrol station and garage, and a furniture factory.

Construction on the layout began in mid 1994, and the layout attended its first exhibition in 1996. Since then it has attended an average of eight exhibitions per year.

Apart from general maintenence, little was done with Pine Bluffs Depot until 2001, when the section decided to make an end-to-end version of the Depot. This involved making a new fiddle yard and new one metre board to be used instead of the short half metre board. The new one metre board includes an Oil Depot, Railway Express Agency building and a Scrapyard. This new board was completed in the summer of 2002, and had its first exhibition at Alton Limited 2002.

The section will shortly begin work on two new modules, due to be ready in 2005, which will finally enable us to exhibit a full round-and-round version of the layout. Details of our progress is available on the Pine Bluffs website, www.pinebluffs.co.uk.