Themes:

Non-permanent layouts: Grandson Derek and I have used Bachmann HO EZ track for floor layouts since December 18, 2004. Temporary layouts varied from 1 room with 1 track level to 6 rooms, foyer, and hallway with 3 track levels. Derek constructs challenging and imaginative trackwork. We now (2024) have 1000 feet of HO track, representing over 16 prototype miles, 3 O-Scale floor loops, 1 G-scale floor loop, 8 N-Scale tabletop loops, and 3 Z-scale tabletop loops for a total of 73 themed HO trains and 17 themed trains in other scales.

Power is DCC wired & wireless MRC 10 amp Elite, 3.5 amp Prodigy Advance Squared with 8 amp & 3.5 amp boosters, 4 DCC Bachmann EZ Commands & 5 amp booster, 6 DC MRC/Piko/Bachmann power packs, and 3 AC MTH Z-1000s as needed.

When my wife Joanie (Derek's Grandma) gets tired of stepping over track, we stop, pick up, & store equipment. Very supportive of our railroading hobbies, she regularly took our grandson railfanning before I retired from the Air Force and we got into model trains and railfanning.

Passenger: Free-lance Norfolk Union Southern (NUS) operations use 1/87 models of 60 real railroads, over 120 locomotives, and over 350 passenger cars associated with family birthplaces, homes, military assignments, and travels before and after our marriage in 1968. My wife and I were both military brats and I'm retired Air Force/Air National Guard. We traveled separately or together to 46 states, D.C, and 16 countries! Thirty-seven model aircraft of family significance, most 1/100 or 1/144 scale, will also be on land and in the air as appropriate for locale and era. Aircraft are listed under Accessories.

The N and S letters of the NUS logo are taken from the Norfolk & Western (NW) and the Southern Railway (SOU) circular logos of the 1940s, representing the era and locations of my birth in Ohio and my wife's birth in South Carolina. Our daughter was also born in South Carolina while SOU still ran passenger trains. Twenty-two NW/SOU locomotives and @70 NW/SOU passenger cars are available for layout trains, including many gifted to us by Joan's brother Ed.

Union Pacific (UP), represented by letter U and shield in NUS logo, is on the layout because I traveled to Kansas State on UP trains and our son was born in Kansas. The red, white, and blue colors of Amtrak (AMTK) are represented in the logo shield because it has been the only major passenger railroad in the USA since our son and grandchildren were born. Thirty-seven UP/AMTK locomotives and 100 UP/AMTK passenger cars are available for layout passenger trains.

When we build a semi-permanent layout, a scratch-built St. Louis Union Station (SLUS) model will be the centerpiece with 22 themed trains on terminal tracks representing 22 different passenger railroads that the historic SLUS served at its height in the 1920s and World War II years. The actual SLUS had 42 terminal tracks which we can also model. We lived in St. Louis for 11 years and three of our grandsons (one deceased) were born there. Our daughter has lived in the St. Louis area over 45 years.

Fourteen more model railroad stops with 22 themed passenger and 12 themed freight trains will be modeled in US places with special memories. Two additional stops with 5 themed passenger and 5 themed freight trains will be modeled in Europe.

Freight: Grandson Derek Alexander Walsh, 2013 BS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois, is the freight guru of the layout. His modern day and historical 100+ railroads, 60+ locomotives, and 400+ freight rolling stock preferences are colorful, big, unusual, and complicated! Primary freight yard - Queensgate Yard - Cincinnati Union Terminal (CUT) - Tower A which closed in 2020. Primary railfan area - Fostoria Iron Triangle, Ohio.