2022 Layout Design and Operations Meet

Steve Davis' KCS 3 ^rd Sub in Coweta, OK is a 30' x 60' HO scale layout modeling the Kansas City Southern RR between Watts and Heavener, OK, in 1982.  It is mostly single deck but has a raised "mushroom" section along one portion.  Work started in March 2009.

This is a CTC operation (as was the prototype) with signals and a dispatcher except on the branch lines.  The goal was to follow the prototype as faithfully as possible, so in each town the spurs and industries are laid out as per the KCS SLIC and track charts from the era (courtesy Frank Bryan) as well as resources like Sanborn maps.  Key bridges and features (such as the bridge over the Arkansas River near Gans, OK and the tunnel on the Ft. Smith branch, the only RR tunnel in the state of Oklahoma) are also modeled.  The MOP crossing and interchange at Sallisaw are modeled with some MOP traffic.

Operations are likewise based on the actual trains and operations in 1982 as gleaned from lineups recorded by Frank Bryan and other research thanks to the Kansas City Southern Historical Society.  Most locomotives are equipped with sound.  Switching is with computer-generated switchlists or RFID for Yard work.  There are slots for 10 operators: 2 in Heavener Yard, 2 Sallisaw Yard, 2 branch line engineers, and 4 "pool" engineers who run a switch job and some road trains (+2 as conductors if we have a crew of 12).  Dispatcher and Train Master provided by host.