In the January 2025 issue of Model Railroader magazine, Contributing Editor Lou Sassi paid a visit to the Youngstown Model Railroad Association, located in its namesake community in Ohio. The club, which has been around for 68 years, has layouts in O and HO scales. Lou’s article focuses on the latter, a 24 x 47-foot freelance model railroad set in northeast Ohio between 1950 and the present.
The mainline run on the walk-in layout is 200 feet (double-track outer main) and 125 feet (single-track inner main). The layout has a minimum radius of 30” on the main and 22” in industrial areas. Turnout minimums are No. 8 on the main, No. 6 in the yards, and No. 4 in the steel mill and industrial areas. The maximum grade is 2%.
The HO scale layout, built with L-girder benchwork, ranges in height from 43” to 60”. It features Homasote roadbed on ¾” plywood and Atlas code 100 flextrack. The scenery is a mix of hardshell and extruded-foam insulation board. Trains are operated using direct-current cab control.
Downtown Youngstown is one of the signature scenes on the club’s layout. “The idea for modeling downtown Youngstown came about when we wanted to hide a set of holding tracks,” wrote Bruce Silvernail. “Our goal was to create a scene that would be of interest to both members and visitors.
“We modeled downtown Youngstown as it appeared in the late 1950s and early ’60s, before the closing of steel mills caused it to decline. The buildings surrounding Central Square are based on prototype structures.
“We researched long-lost structures at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, records of companies that had or still occupied the buildings, aerial photos from the city engineer office, and property records at the public library.”
To learn more about the Youngstown Model Railroad Association, visit the group’s website at ymra.org.
