| SMRRC IN 1957 |
The History of the Stamford Model Rail Road Club In 1939 three individuals , one of which was a member of St Johns Church, formed the Stamford Model Rail Road Club. The original layout consisted of 25 ft of track and a Lionel Transformer Growth of the Club membership and the layout began after WWII. The Rippowam Valley Light and Traction Lines were also established, providing trolley and Interurban service. A round house and freight yard was also added. Throughout the 50s the Club continued to grow and occupied the entire basement with more trackage being added as well as freight yards. Starting 1964 the outside 3rd rail was removed and the entire layout was 2 railed and all equipment was also 2 railed, this was completed by 1967. In the Seventy's, the construction of many commercial and residential buildings began to fill the open spaces of the layout. Double tracking of the layouts mainline was completed in the 1980s. The electrical system that ran the RailRoad was rewired and converted from a battery operated system to a solid state system, We also increased the operating positions from 4 to 6 and began installing closed circuit TV to better monitor the operation of the layout. By 2001, due to an increased membership and equipment rooster, additional yards and trackage were installed along with corresponding controls, these new yards increased our yarding capacity by 100%. A further expansion of the yards was completed in 2009 increasing the capacity by another 75 % A large Industrial Park was added, known as Lockville Park, it was named after an area in Stamford that had serviced the Yale and Towne Manufacturing Co. The layout has expanded to the full basement area and is approximately 45' by 145 '. The Trolley and Interurban was expanded to travel the entire length of the layout and serves the several towns and areas of the layout. We operate many different railroad names on the layout, from the East Coast Railroads such as the New York Central and the New Haven, the PRR and many others, we also have the West Coast Roads represented with the Southern Pacific, Sante Fe, Union Pacific and Northern Pacific to name but a few. LAYOUT STATISTICS Trackage.............................................................................. Over 6000 ft RR Engines and Rolling Stock....................................1,700 and growing RR Passenger Stations........................................................................13 Commercial and Residential Buildings................................................124 RR Track Switches.............................................................................244 RR Yards..............................................................................................11 Vehicles..............................................................................................366 Explanation of O Scale & O Gauge This is an O Scale layout operating O Scale equipment. O Gauge is the distance between the rails and O Scale means that every 1/4 of an inch on the layout is equal to 1 foot of the real item shown as a model. Typically, it is expressed as a ratio of 1:48 or 1/48th. This means that the prototype is 48 times larger than the model represented. A 40 ft box car operating on a real RailRoad today is equal to 10 inches on the Stamford RR layout. OPERATION We operate the Railroad on Direct Current (DC) electricity, rather than Alternating Current (AC), with a capacity of 25 volts and 15 amps each cab position. We have 6 separate Main Line Cab positions in which we can operate 6 trains at the same time over the same trackage. This is permissible because the main line Railroad tracks are divided into 25 blocks or sections, each section is controlled by a separate control switch. The length of the sections can be a minimum of 15 ft or up to 75 ft or greater in length. All turnouts or switches are controlled by a central dispatcher. Since there are portions of the layout which are not visible to the operators from the control panel, we rely on a closed circuit TV system to view those areas. The round house, diesel shed and a few other areas are controlled by separate sub panels from which an operator can control that particular area. Some of our main yards, which store passenger and freight cars are also controlled by sub panels. Our freight trains can be up to 60 feet in length with as many as 3 diesel locomotives pulling 45 cars. The passenger trains are also quite long too, which will have 2 locomotives pulling 12 to 15 cars. Railroad Yards As viewed on our layout diagram, in the layout map page of the website, there are 6 major yards. They are the Upper and Lower Alcove yards, the Upper and Lower rear yards, the Upper and Lower Hidden Storage yards and the freight yard in front of the control panel. These yards contain many of our trains which we run during our annual show. The capacity of cars within these yards vary but can be as many as 200 to 275 cars per yard. The lower and rear yards total 56 ft in length. The hidden storage yards that handle the overflow of cars from the main line can hold upwards of 250 cars. Aside from the major storage yards there are several small sidings and yards for specific purposes such as MU and REA Freight, maintenance of way equipment and coaling facility's. SOME POINTS OF INTEREST Van Nest This town is located to your left when you first enter the layout. These buildings were kit and scratch built. There are 2 stations serving this town with the Diesel Engine Facility in the background. A large passenger yard overlooks the town from the hilltop. All of the buildings have interiors with lights inside. This area is loosely modeled after the Van Nest section of the Bronx in NY, complete with street names, a theater, police station and a Nativity scene come Christmas season. You can see many scenes of this area on the thumbnails section of the website. The Rippowam Valley Traction Co. Connects this area with the rest of the layout also with its tracks running down the middle of the street and overhead wires for power. STAMFORD STATION The Stamford Station is an exact replica of the original East bound Station before it was replaced in the early 1970s. It is built to scale with wood carved to look like brick. It was built by one of our members who went and measured the real station inch by inch. The fence dividing the East and West bound tracks is made from paper clips soldered together to replicate the original fence. THE ROUND HOUSE This is the engine terminal with its turntable and round house structure that services the steam locomotives that haul the freight and passenger trains across the layout. It can accommodate as many as 26 Locomotives. The roundhouse was built by students at the Riverside Court School in CT in 1943 as a class project. The structure has been modified and upgraded over the years and lighting was installed. Here is where the locomotives would be repaired, cleaned and serviced at regular intervals. There are ash pits to discharge the ashes from burnt coal, a coaling tower and water towers to refill the tenders, and a greasing, oiling and a sanding facility. The facility is controlled from a sub panel with access to the main line and Central freight yard. LOCKVILLE PARK Lockville Park is an Industrial area that is serviced off the mainline of the railroad, there are many small factories and the power generating facility located here. There is also a refinery serviced by barges. All of the Industries here are serviced by small switching locomotives that can be controlled by an operator with a hand held walk around throttle control. The power generating station is an original Lionel factory built in 1939. There is also a car float with a float bridge and tug boat located here right across from the base ball field where a game is being played. Lockville Park is a layout within a layout. Van Nest Diesel Facility Here is where the diesel and electric locomotives are serviced. The engine she can hold 9 engines inside where pits located between the rails allow the under body's to be serviced, and overhead gantry cranes can lift a loco off its chassis or pull a diesel motor if need be. The oiling and fueling facility's are here also. This section of the layout is controlled from a sub panel. |