The Snake Bend Railroad has been evolving since 2001. It was started as a way of getting different members of our group to take part in building a layout as a group, not necessarily to be exhibited. Each member had different experience in modelling, but none of us had an American layout, so an American railroad it would be.

The group decided to build a modular system that was easy to adhere to but flexible enough to allow it to be attached to other standards, this allowed us to build our own bits at home and then bring it together for the bigger layout.

We based our standards on the oNetrak system but slightly tweaked it to make it easier for British modellers to follow. We also agreed that this layout would be entirely DCC throughout - another new experience for us - and Digitrax was the chosen manufacturer.

Where possible each module or pairing of modules represents a different industry or location, mostly fictitious.Each member chose a railroad company to base their rolling stock on, so you will see a mixture of liveries - Union Pacific, Burlington Northern, Chessie System, Pennsylvania and others - serving civilisation, grain silos, coal mines, paper mills and other business's.

The modular system is flexible to allow us to adapt it to fit any space and with the recent purchase of infrared sensors we don't have to worry about tripping over throttle wires any more. One of the aims of this layout was to inject enthusiasm into our modelling, and it did this to such extent that other modelling plans have taken a back seat until this layout is finished, but of course being modular it never really will be.

The layout already numbers 36 separate modules (most 4ft by 1ft) with more planned, in its minimum form it is 22ft by 6ft, but it can at present extend to 32ft x 40ft. We are only glad to answer questions so please ask, or pay us a visit to take a look at the layout and learn more about the group.