Construction is underway on another layout here in Germany. Here’s a first look at the layout I’m calling Karlberg Junction.

Like most modelers, I struggled for months on a layout plan. I studied every town on my preferred line–the Milwaukee Road’s Hastings & Dakota (H&D) Division, circa 1950–but I wasn’t able to make a layout plan that worked in the available space.

First, I looked at Farmington, Minnesota, but I felt the prototype was too long to fit into my 13-foot space. 13-feet lengthwise isn’t enough for the crossing and junction, plus the yard and the connection to the Mankato branch south of town. I think I can greatly truncate it and still keep the operational potential, but still I’d like more room to do it right.

Second, I looked at Lakeville, but I think I over-thought modeling it. It could be done by just modeling the large mill and that’s it, which would be entirely prototypical. While there’s a crossing with the MN&S, there’s no interchange and practically nothing else going on there.

Modeling the next large town, Shakopee, is also quite a challenge and one I’m not ready to tackle at this time. Half the terminal is on a shallow curve, with the main features being a crossing and a union depot shared with the CM&O and the large Rahr Mill. , with the CM&O crossing and the big mill. I’d like to model Shakopee someday but not today. Ideally I’d like to plan it around the inside of a corner.

Finally, there is Chaska. I like Chaska and it’s the most generic of all the towns on the H&D. My new layout follows the Chaska track plan with a couple of embellishments.

I looked at modeling Cologne briefly, but Cologne doesn’t scratch the itch. There was a seven-track yard there to organize traffic off the Minneapolis-Tacoma main line and some typical small town customers. It would make a good staging yard, because in a way that’s what it was on the prototype. Here’s a Vincent Martt photo below, from 1969, courtesy the Iowa State Archives. Minneapolis is to the left; Tacoma to the right.

Not satisfied I even tried track planning an even smaller town in just eight feet so I wouldn’t have to build adjoining modules. I wrote a post on that called “Planning Inside the Box” which was a fun exercise. That post can be seen here at https://railroadprototypemodeler.com/2025/12/21/no-212-layout-planning-inside-the-box/.

Decision Time!

By late summer I decided to return to the original concept of Karlberg Junction. Karlberg Junction is a generic Midwestern layout based on the Chaska, Minnesota track plan. It’s also a take-off on Clark Propst’s Karlberg layout which has been seen all over the model railroad press.

Here’s my simple track plan, which is a representation of Chaska without the curves. The actual junction is off-layout to the left like the M&StL connection in Chaska. Even without modeling the interchange I can still carry cars for the interchange on through trains. I am considering having a two-track staging yard on the left side of the drawing below, with one track serving as an interchange track. It’s better than nothing.

About the drawing above. My son was an architecture student and made this sketch. He made it a little more of a “concept drawing”, or a diagram, rather than measured, to-scale plan, and he stylized it a little bit too. I love it!

Here’s a basic industry list:

To get ahead, I built a lot of things in preparation for this layout over the last year. I built a dozen turnouts, signals from Showcase Miniatures and Integrated Signal Systems, telephone poles, station details, two Milwaukee Road depots from HRM Models, and scratchbuilt tool houses and various other things.

Work started on February 28th with initial cutting of lumber. I built the first of the two modules seen below on March 14th. The benchwork is a simple pine box with 3/8-inch plywood on top and pine stringers every 18 inches, and I drilled holes in the stringers to run busses through. After a long delay the second module was built on May 8th.

All the initial work is being done in the garage, including benchwork, roadbed, track laying, wiring, ops checking, fascia and backdrop installation, and other “heavy work”. When all that is done I will re-assemble the layout, do a final operations check and then move it upstairs to it’s fourth floor home. The target date for layout installation upstairs is 01 December.

Below. Testing track geometries. The track nearest to the aisle has a two-inch safety zone to catch any rolling stock falling off the layout. Additionally I will install a shelf below the fascia to organize car cards and provide an additional safety feature. This was June 15th, which I regard as the first work day on the layout.

Progress has been slow because I continuously run out of materials and have to have things shipped. Work, trips and vacations, family visits, and other things also get in the way of progress. I ran out of simple stuff like Elmers Glue-All and had to have that shipped from the US–that slows things down too. On the other hand, I can get wire from German Amazon plus a lot of other layout-building stuff and it’s usually here the next day. I’ll cover tracklaying and wiring in subsequent posts.

I hope I can make the layout look something like this, below. This scene is on the C&NW “Cowboy Line” across Southern Minnesota circa late 1970s. Yes, I want to model different eras including a late 1970s Milwaukee Road and a C&NW scenario. Photo courtesy Lake States Archive.

Below. Here’s the layout set up temporarily in the back storage room in the garage. It’s cramped but comfortable. This work should be done in a few months

Above. Karlberg Junction is starting to come alive. I wonder if I can ever get Barry Karlberg here to run his second namesake layout?

A Postscript. I’ve been horsing around with colorizing and sharpening old images I shot in the 80s. I don’t want to drown this post with AI-enhance slide shots but here is one I took in January 1990 in Nebraska. This is the original of a westbound stopped outside of Cheyenne. It’s a good view but over-exposed.

Below. Here’s what Duck.AI did with it. Now that’s what I’m talking about!

I had Duck.AI colorize another picture for me, this one a screenshot ripped from a Rock Island video on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yivS826nWy0. The original film was made by Ben Safourek in the 1970s and shows little Rock Island trains working on the line out of Iowa City to Montezuma and back. Here’s the screen shot cleaned up and colorized. I love the small-town appeal of this picture, with trains and community living in harmony.

Give AI a try. It’s a tool for your tool box. – John