Ken McCorry's PRR the Largest Privately Owned Layout in the US

[Bfagan]

Ken McCorry’s PRR

Ken Mccorry's HO scale Pennsylvania Railroad is the biggest home layout in the US. It has three levels and  fantastic scenery.  Operating signals.  Mostly diesels with a few steam engines.  NCE DCC controls.  Ops sessions require 30 people to operate.  Layout is on the 2nd floor of a barn size garage with the dispatcher located on the 1st floor.  Ken was featured in Model Railroader in December 2004 and April 1999 and Model Railroad Craftsman in March 1988.

Mineral Springs YD to Enola Yard:   

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Newberry Yard to Shamokin:     

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Sunbury to Williamsport:   

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Hyner State Park to Brookville:     

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Renova Yard to Clearfield Yard:   

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Flyover:     

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Railfanning:   

/>Enjoy, Bill

Mineral Springs Yd in Buffalo NY.  Passed the following trains: South Buffalo Railroad in Babcost NY, PRR in Ebenezer NY, EL in Machias, NY, PRR in Keating Summit, PA,  PRR Drury, PA, Reading in East Allens, PRR in North Umberland and PRR in Millersburg.

Reading from Newberry Yd in Willamsport thru Sunbury to Reading.

Sunbury Yd in Reading crossing over the Susquehanna River met PRR at East Allens on to Williamsport.

Hyner State Park thru Renovo on Driftwood then Falls Creek to Brookville.

NYC West Branch Valley from Renova to Clearfield.

[Kisatchie]

Any idea what the width x length dimensions are?


Hmm... I'm more interested
in whether I could reach
the third level...

[Kisatchie]

I did a Google search, and the best I could find was that the layout is 3100+ square feet. Possible dimensions are approx. 40'x80'.


Hmm... Kiz's dream layout
was only 40x66...

[C855B]

56'X 112', 10,000 feet of track, 1500 feet of mainline run .

The assertion that it is the largest home layout is a "Well, maybe," but probably hard to prove. Largest "privately-owned", no. The big building is an addition to a residence in what looks to be a rural area. There are other privately-owned layouts in that size range, but when you start getting into buildings that large, zoning rules come to bear and several private layouts are located in business districts. Three that come to mind are: the Greeley layout (http://www.cmrm.org) which is technically privately owned via a managing foundation; the Wyoming Division Historical Society, which was or is owned by an individual, and from what I surmise, handed-off to a non-profit corporation (a/k/a "club") for tax purposes; and K-10's Model Trains, a private layout attached to a vestigial train store, which I suspect was opened as a ploy to buy layout supplies at wholesale cost (don't think I haven't considered that!).

When you get into that level of investment in toys, it's usually wise to find a way to leverage tax rules to your benefit, and that frequently entails opening your operation to the public. A monster pole barn attached to your house tends to work against this.

[Missaberoad]

Isn't Northlandz still privately owned?

[C855B]

Yes, that's another one. Like I inferred, there's a hazy line between a "privately-owned layout" and the large layouts operated as quasi-businesses open to the public or a membership, even if on an appointment-only basis. There can be a lot of money at stake (one article from several years ago quoted $100,000 for the McCorry layout, I suspect much more than that), so there is incentive to cross the line from private to public.

My interest in this particular large-layout thing is, from the get-go, I've been getting pressure about plans to be open, but have been steadfast in my "No!", even to the point of turning down city money for building improvements... even though others in my community have mislead the city managers about their intents, taking the money but never really opening their businesses. Opening the layout brings all sorts of miseries and rules down on my head, and increases the maintenance/repair needs exponentially. I had a long meeting with the administrator of the Greeley layout, and aside from the expenses of facility design for public accommodation, she related their biggest maintenance headache was damage caused by hamfisted in-house volunteers. By keeping it completely private I avoid all that, and in the long run there are more funds for building the actual layout.

[peteski]

By keeping it completely private I avoid all that, and in the long run there are more funds for building the actual layout.

And you are modeling in N scale with no plans to become a H0er! 

[jagged ben]

Maybe 'individually owned' would be more accurate.  Clubs are still 'private' in some sense. 

[John]

Howard Zane would be up in that range .. I think

http://www.zanestructures.com/