The DRI Line is an HO layout, loosely modeled around the Davenport, Rock Island and Western Railroad operation in the Quad Cities. The layout starts at Clinton, Iowa and ends at Muscatine, Iowa. Staging is Chicago and Kansas City. The layout operation is centered around switching, with trains arriving and departing from staging only to supply the cars needed at all of the different industries.

 

The layout is a 2 level around the wall layout using 3/4 of a 30 X 25 foot basement, featuring four towns, three different industrial switching areas, a main yard, eight transfer runs and two locals. A third level is home to the staging area. Nahant, the main Milwaukee yard at Davenport will switch two thru trains, build and break down three way freights, six transfers and do local switching. They will handle over 150 cars a session. They interchange with the Burlington, Rock Island, DRI Line and CNW.

 

There are three main line operators and a dispatcher. The yard has an Operator and five people involved in switching operations. You will need to bring radios. To separate the main line from yard operations we use two different radio channels. The sessions use an eight to one fast clock. All trains and transfers run on a schedule, all switching is done by shifts. The customer has designated the ideal time or shift, when their industry should be switched. Some industries, like John Deere, are switched more than one shift and have several different tracks to spot.