History and Culture by Bicycle: central

At the Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa is the HO scale Smokey Mountain Central Railroad. Most people are only allowed on the main level of the building that houses the impressive layout.

The entire railroad layout is powered by DC with several controllers rather than DCC with only one remote controller. There are thousands of feet of wiring in the sub level that go to each section of the layout on the main level that requires low voltage power.

This blog author had the privilege of being allowed access to the control room. Not many people are afforded this privilege.

Previous articles in the series:
Spencer, Iowa: 2018 Clay County Fair, 1957 International Pickup, 09/11/2018
Spencer, Iowa: 2018 Clay County Fair, 1967 International Pickup, 09/11/2018
Spencer, Iowa: 2018 Clay County Fair, 1952 John Deere MC, 09/11/2018
Spencer, Iowa: 2018 Clay County Fair, 1953 Caterpillar D2, 09/11/2018
Spencer, Iowa: 2018 Clay County Fair, 1958 John Deere 420C, 09/11/2018
Spencer, Iowa: 2018 Clay County Fair, 1946 John Deere W-111, 09/11/2018
Spencer, Iowa: 2018 Clay County Fair, Beneath the Smokey Mountain Central Railroad, 09/11/2018

At the Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa is the HO scale Smokey Mountain Central Railroad. Most people are only allowed on the main level of the building that houses the impressive layout.

There is a sub level to the building where the workshop, storage and artifacts are located. The entire railroad layout is powered by DC with several controllers rather than DCC with only one remote controller. There are thousands of feet of wiring in the sub level that go to each section of the layout above that requires low voltage power.

This blog author had the privilege of being taken on a tour of the sub level. Not many people are afforded this privilege.