Rialto, Diablo & Arizona RR Back to layouts
Owner: Rick Fulkerson

Scale: HO

Description:
The Rialto, Diablo & Arizona RR is loosely based on the Apache Railway that runs from the high desert at Holbrook, AZ south into the mountainous timber country of eastern Arizona. My freelanced version interchanges with the Sante Fe in Rialto (Holbrook) the same as the Apache but, theoretically continues farther south past the mountains to the lower desert and interchanges with the Southern Pacific in Benson, AZ. The time period is the mid to late 60's with a combination of both local and bridge traffic. There are two major industries, a large paper mill and saw mill complex both emulated with hidden staging, several small industries and two major interchanges as well as a logging branch.

It is an around the walls “point to point” layout designed for operation with one multi-level section in a dedicated 19' X 19' room with two adjoining store rooms. The store rooms allow for additional staging and a helix that connects the two ends of the layout thus allowing continuous running for display purposes.

Hand laid turnouts and track are used extensively to improve free flowing track arrangements. Also a keen focus on scenery and a vast amount of custom controls and signaling plus DCC control are combined to enhance operation in a realistic setting.