OperatingSessions.com | Progressive Rail in Minnesota

Layout Description

Progressive Rail in Minnesota is an HO scale contemporary prototype of my favorite Minnesota shoreline. It fills the entire 650 sq. ft. finished family room on the lower level of our home in Central Illinois. A crew of seven operators run three-plus hours on the Eagandale, Jesse James, and Lakeville Terminal Railway jobs, while a footboard yardmaster handles UP and CP traffic originating or destined for St. Paul, South St. Paul, and Mason City, Iowa.

Progressive Rail in Minnesota

operators guide to PGR.pdf

Layout Details

Layout Owner

Alan Saatkamp

Location

Normal, IL

Scale

Layout Size

25 ft x 26 ft

Mainline Size

138 ft

Era

Contemporary

Crew Complement

5 - 7

Completion

Track: 100%
Scenery: 100%
Electrical: 100%

Control System

Digitrax - Simplex only

Dispatching Method

Verbal/Mother-May-I

Car Forwarding

Car Cards/Waybills

Fast Clock

4:1

Health and Safety

Pets

None

COVID-19 Vaccine Policy

Vaccine recommended

Northfield job crew finishes a cup of coffee before assembling the Jesse James Line which will take 15-16 cars north to Lakeville. An SD45 is the lead unit with an SD39 trailing.

PGR's owner, Dave Fellon, is generous allowing fans cab rides, which I enjoyed in 2023 on the Eagandale Line, my third cab ride dating back to 2014.

The Eagandale crew spots an empty covered hopper for plastic pellet loading at Resource Plastics. They ship the byproduct from adjacent Gopher Resources, which recycles used auto batteries.

PGR sw1500 No. 38 pulls a string of empties from the Malt O Meal complex in Northfield. MOM is the biggest consignee on the railroad, generating a wide variety of commodities used in the cereal making process. UP and CP interchange with PGR here.

Lakeville and the Airlake Terminal Railway in this St. Paul suburb is the home of PGR and their famous Freight House No. 1.

PGR crew use the Rosemount depot as a freight office prior to their departure on leased GMTX gp15-1.