Layout owner: Mike Armstrong
Scale: HO (1:87.1)
Size: 30 x 40 feet
Prototype: Rock Island
Locale: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn., to Kansas City, Kan.
Era: 1964 to 1970
Style: multi-deck walk-in
Mainline run: 750 feet
Minimum radius: 30″
Minimum turnout: no. 6
Maximum grade: 1.96 percent
Benchwork: open grid
Height: 40″ to 60″
Roadbed: cork on 3⁄4″ plywood
Track: Micro Engineering code 83 flextrack (main) and code 70 (industries, sidings, and yards); ME and Walthers turnouts
Scenery: Plaster cloth and joint compound over cardboard strips
Backdrop: commercially available and hand-painted
Control: Digitrax Digital Command Control