Here are a few pictures of Mike and Mary Eiden's layout.
A fire has broken out and the fire department is busy. People attending a wedding are watching at the church next door.
The Milladore Rudolph and Eastern Railroad
The story behind this railroad is an interesting one in that if you don’t have the space
to build a decent permanent layout, you dig up your entire backyard and turn a
10 ft. by 25 ft. crawlspace into a layout room! The Milladore Rudolph and Eastern
HO scale railroad is one of 4 private railroads on the layout, along with a bit of prototype
(Milwaukee Road and Amtrak). The MRE railroad, “The Dairy Route”, serves a number of industries
including Dairy State Farm, Wimme Cement, Mill Creek Country Club, Dairy State Cheese,
Protech Plastics, Hughes Ford, and it’s major industry Champion Packing. Besides the MRE railroad,
there is the Mosinee Biron and Eastern, and short lines Rocky Run, and Custer Central.
The MRE interchanges with the Rocky Run and Custer Central, and will also interchange with the
MBE. The MRE is on the lower level, and the MBE is on the upper level. The MBE serves Consolidated Papers,
Walton and Sons Lumber, Invincible Furniture and three interchange tracks; Soo Line, GBW,
and Badger Central. A three turn, 24” radius helix connects the upper and lower levels,
which has been made to look to like a rock quarry. The layout extends out into the main part
of the basement. By throwing a turnout inside the helix, the train will go out into the
main room and go to a 2 ft. by 27 ft. extension that is Milwaukee. Actual photographs of the Milwaukee skyline
were used to make the backdrop. And some of the buildings that are on the Milwaukee section are buildings
that are in Milwaukee or they used to be, such as Cutler-Hammer, Rexnord, Reinke Sheet Metal, and a part of Allen Bradley,
all serviced by the Milwaukee Road. Amtrak has a large station there with 4 tracks
for its passenger trains, which includes the Badger State Flyer. A 4 ft. by 8 ft. area
extends off of the Milwaukee section, Hales Corners, which contains North American Ethanol
and a sawmill. Another extension off of that is Oak Creek and has Capital Graphics and Washington Salvage.
The layout is DCC with the Digitrax System.
