ALCANEX layout--the beginnings

Here is the existing layout for my LS model, aka ALCANEX (Alaska-Canada Northern Expo Consolidated Railways System, which includes elements of the Copper River & Northwestern Railway, the Alaska Railroad, the Atcheson, Topeka and the Santa Fe, the Great Northern Railway, the Northern Pacific Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Milwaukee Road Railway and AmTrak.
I anticipate that operations this year will be particularly intense because of tourist activity that will likely be directed this way from the local Copper River Princess Wilderness Hotel.

The original layout was overhead and inside the CRD (upper left, green track). Work on that section began in 1997. By 2000 I was beginning plans for an extended outdoor layout that would include a 36-foot-long building that would be designed to house my Kennecott model that was then under construction--mostly 1:24 scale structures. That track was in place and operational by May 27, 2001 when we had a dedication ceremony for the historic model railroad. In attendance were an estimated 400 people for the event.
By 2006 I was beginning constructed on an entirely new segment, then known as the "Phase II" section. It was built at a lower level than the original Phase I CRNW Railway. This began as a railway parking area above the backbar. By 2007 the new section, then renamed the Great Northern Phase II segment was operational. In that year a new model town was created based on the fictional Alaskan town of Cicely from the television series "Northern Exposure."

--to be continued--

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The large scale model railroad layout at the CRD:

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click image for larger one