Model Railroader’s famed 28 x 54-foot, HO scale staff layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy, is no more. The layout, which celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2024, began as a concept in Kalmbach Media’s downtown Milwaukee offices in 1975. I won’t attempt to write the full history of the layout; indeed, there is likely no single, complete epitaph which can be written that could capture the life and memories of the beloved MR&T. It is a layout which was, over the course of its life, many things to many people, from Model Railroader staffers with tales of legendary after-hours operating sessions to readers around the world who have seen the layout in the pages of MR for decades. Bryson and I set out to create a Milwaukee, Racine & Troy retrospective gallery to write, at least in some small way, a history of the layout as we remember it. If the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true, then perhaps the images below can at least tell a story of the layout in its recent years.
Click here to see a track plan for the 2024 iteration of the MR&T.
Click here to see a video from the engineer’s perspective for a final ride on the MR&T.
Certainly glad I was able to visit the MR&T and have collected several MR&T cars through the years. A true work of craftsmanship over 35 years.
Will you have a video of teh MR&T getting demolished, I know some of us have missed it, but it was great wile it lasted.
Yes. Thank you.
Thank you.
Gary S Swimeley