Current Layout by Joe Coen

Layout Name:

"Texas Southern Switching District"

Layout Status:

active

Track Type:

Layout Space:

10' x 20'

Layout Style:

U-shaped

Track Manufacturer:

various flextrack, Shinohara turnouts

Rail Size:

code 100

Min. Turnout Frog:

Min. Radius:

32"

Ruling Grade:

Track Height(s):

56"

Mainline Track Length:

100'

Completed:

benchwork: 100%; track: 100%; scenery: 5%

Era:

late-1970s/early-1980s

Setting:

small town Texas Gulf coast

Railroad(s) Modeled:

MKT, Texas Southern Lines (TXS freelance)

Control System:

Battery-powered

Featured In:

NASG Dispatch, Sep. 2021

Overview of the layout. The empty oatmeal containers will eventually become a rice mill. The operational idea is to build up trains in the yard on the right, travel to the left to switch the various industries, and then to return to the yard. Note that this is an older photo, as the yard on the right is pretty much finished now.

Left side close-up. This will become the industrial area. Placement of the structures is just temporary.

Arlen Yard is featured in the next few photos. This is along the right-hand side of the layout, and is a joint-MKT/TXS facility.

The yard office at Arlen Yard.

The freelanced TXS car shows its history.

Another car lettered for the TXS.

The crew of freelanced Texas Southern NW-2 takes a break while sorting grain loads in Arlen Yard. The NW-2 is from S-Helper Service. The freight cars are all from American Models. Joe didn't fully repaint any of them but rather just wet-sanded off the heralds and reporting marks and applied custom decals. All the cars are equipped with Kadee couplers. The track is flex track from Tomalco and the turnouts are from Shinohara. Joe used dirt and a mix of commercial ballast from various manufacturers that he had on hand for ballast. The weeds are Heki pull-apart mats and carpet fibers and fuzz his cats scratched off their scratching post glued in place! Joe used stock photos he found on the Internet, sized them appropriately, and printed them from his computer to be applied to the backdrop. The truck in the foreground is a re-worked, weathered, and decaled Mattel Hot Wheels model. The figures are from Hobby Lobby (unknown manufacturer). Joe's photo appeared on the inside cover of the March 2023 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman in the NASG promotional ad campaign.

Joe has the ability to make equipment look well-worn. This S-Helper Service NW2 was not repainted, but rather Joe wet-sanded off the original heralds and reporting marks, and then applied custom decals for his freelanced Texas Southern. A recent update to his layout has been the addition of painted backdrops, such as this sunset setting.