This week at the CSME:

New trestles are being installed on the upper mainline.

Pink foam magma is growing a new peak above Big Wood Canyon

Jerry, Gene and Randy workin on the railroad

Concrete work has begun around the new trestle bridges

More concrete supports

Lonnie is working on ballasting the main yard in the north room.

Beaver Falls will soon have a new service station, Mobilgas.

As Beaver Falls expands west, new roads are being built to support new businesses. The foundations have been poured for a new “fast food” restaurant that will revolutionize the industry (keep in mind, this layout is set in the 1950’s).

A look down Main Street in downtown Beaver Falls. New businesses are popping up, including: Grinnell’s Pancake Corner, PB&N Trains, Doug’s Toys, Bergemann’s Market, Kester & Landrock, Attorney’s at Law, Jeff’s Food to Go and Jordan Music.

After a long day of work, things get a little blurry

Beaver Lumber and Supply

Watkins Paints, a distributer of fine colors

Unleased and yet to be completed industry in Beaver Falls.

H. Sherwood fruit processing.

Waiting for the evening train. Even Gnomes need transportation

UP track cleaning crew round the point

UP – Dependable Transportation

The original bridge is just a plywood base.

An arched culvert is added to the scene

Cardboard is used as a base for plaster

Plaster is applied

As the plaster sets, the stone is carved

Jerry works on carving details in the stone

The finished product, a stone arch bridge.

Several of our bridges were installed as basic plywood and roadbed, knowing that we would come back someday and upgrade them to more prototypical versions.

The old plywood bridge and roadbed have been separated from the rails and dropped out of place.

Doug inspects the new bridge for a smooth rail transition across the gap.

Rolling stock is tested for smooth operation

Rock work added to support the scenery and abutments

Rock has been painted and the first train crosses the new bridge!

Doug decommissions the old bridge by eating McDonalds fries with ketchup.

Doug is making progress on the water front. This shipbuilding scene is highly detailed and will be an eye catcher for visitors.

Work continues on the town of Beaver Falls. Some new details have been added. Street improvements have been made. And, unfortunately, crime is on the rise.

Officer Landrock frisks “Doug”, the local town hooligan, outside the Green Door Tavern.

Chief Brock gives a treat to the firehouse dog, while local hounds harass Gene the mailman.

Citizens of Beaver Falls line up for the matinee showing of Cinderella

Annoyed at the local deputy for her jaywalking ticket last week, Miss Violet takes her time crossing the street while he waits in his car.

Doug, the town hooligan, is sent on his way with a bus ticket to some other town far from Beaver Falls.

Gene sets up train for operation in the yard, while on the other side, Randy works on some electrical issues

Some rock patching has begun on a spliced section of layout

Basic cardboard is being used as a base for the rock wall along the upper mainline

Is it a double-deck bridge? Jerry is working to upgrade the upper mainline bridge. His new bridge sits below its future installation site.

Amtrak 375 rounds the point

An unexpected meet as Amtrak 375 rounds the corner. This is what happens when there is no dispatch and the Western Pacific crew decides its time for a pizza break.

Work continues on the CSME railroad. Several members (the retired ones) attend work sessions on Mondays and Tuesdays. The rest of us attend on Wednesday evenings. Quite a bit of progress has been made. The lower and upper mainlines are now operational and members have begun to run some trains. We still have electrical work to do, mainly connecting switch machines and power to track sidings.

Larry and Dan figuring out a fascia project on the helix.

Landrock Shipbuilders in the making

View of the north room

View of the south room

Amtrak 375 makes a test run through the helix tunnel

It’s been a long time since we have been able to update this page. A lot of work has continued on the layout, despite Covid. We chose to cancel our November Open House weekends and have high hopes to be open to the public in 2022.

We hope to do our best to do weekly updates.