Modeling the Mopac's Bagnell Branch

Layout design
HO scale Missouri Pacific Bagnell Branch is made up by running ‘point to point’ from the MP yards at Jefferson City, Missouri to the RI crossing at Eldon, Missouri. Both the MP and RI serve customers on their respective trackage in Eldon with some customers having reciprocal switching. Micro-Engineering Flex-track Code 70 is used on the mainline with Micro-Engineering Code 55 track in the sidings and industry leads. Turnouts are Lambert or Shinohara's code 70 and were made to be DCC 'friendly' by installing Caboose Industries 220S switch throws. Operating the layout is a NCE DCC system. The 18 inch wide upper deck runs railroad-north from Eldon (the end of the MP’s mainline and the RI yards) to Olean, Missouri. The top of the upper deck is 58 inches from the floor. The track then enters a helix (1.5% grade) that places a train on the 24 inch wide lower level where the track enters Russellville, Missouri and terminates in the MP classification yard at Jefferson City, Missouri. The top of lower level is 44 inches from the floor.

The MP’s Eastern Division's main lines are represented by the double track on the edge of the layout going from St. Louis to Kansas City. Industries in Jeff City include fuel and oil distributors, power house for the state capitol, commercial coal distributor and a text book publishing company. There’s a scale track where loads off the branch and the Eastern Division will be weighed. Company coal will be switched into the coaling station. The prototype branch (including the RI at Eldon) had poultry houses, fuel and oil distributors, feed mills, grain elevators, stock pens, coal distributors, cement and lime distributors, farm equipment receivers and team tracks so I had several industries to choose when developing the buildings on the track plan.

Jefferson City yard on the lower level of the layout. Yard office from Lake Junction Models.

Jefferson City had a long classification yard next to the Missouri River. There was a 12 stall brick roundhouse, coal chute, car repair shed, passenger station, freight house and yard office. Since the layout is centered about the branch operations I only modeled the class yard as several stub tracks so the loacl could be switched. Industries on the branch (within Jefferson City's populated area) included several coal dealers, oil bulk dealers, Von Hoffmann Press (text book printing company), Tweety shoe company and a men's clothing company.

City Classic's Market model in Jeff City. Click on the photo to go to their web site.

This model is a one evening build. This is built 'out of box' with 1950 pricing signs coming with the kit. The parking lot is wet/dry 220 emory paper.

Local coming by Randy Compton's trailer near Russellville.

Kent feed mill in Russellville in 2001

Model of Kent feed mill from Evergreen styrene

Russellville, Missouri; depot is on the right with the bay window facing the backdrop. The prototype of the large feed mill is still a working feed mill. Stock pens are scratchbuilt from Mopac's standard drawings. To the left of the photograph the train enters the helix and goes to the upper level where the train comes into Olean.

Local arriving Olean. Depot by Lake Junction Models.

Rock cut between Olean and Osage River on layout. Cut was built by stacking two 2" pieces of Styrofoam to 4" and then gluing rock castings to the vertical face. The castings were stained with acrylic paints, yellow orche, brown and black.

Local traveling northbound past the Olean feed mill. Locomotive is a P2K Mopac GP7 upgraded with a DCC decoder and sound. Telegraph lines are made from EZ Line.

Local is switching two Mopac stockcars into the stockpens at Enon on the top of the helix. Pens were scratch built from MP standard plans using scale wood. Mopac stockcars are from Westerfield. The one-story grain elevator is scratch built from ICC dimensions provided by Bill Hoss and from 2002 photographs of the structure. 4-6-0 is a Bachmann engine painted and decaled for MP.