A group of HO model railroaders formed the York Railway Modellers club in the spring of 1992 to build and operate a combined Mainline and Wayfreight layout, with emphasis on the prototype practices and operations of the Canadian National Railways and the Canadian Pacific Railway in Southern Ontario during the Golden Age of Steam.
As a guideline we follow the standards of the National Model Railroad Association, and the prototype practices of the Canadian National Railways and the Canadian Pacific Railway as they were in Southern Ontario between the years of 1953 and 1957.
The layout (still under construction) is over 1600 square feet in area ( 40' x 40') and has around 11 ( HO ) scale miles of mainline track with 2 major yards and 8 wayfreight towns. In each yard there are 3 industrial areas plus a roundhouse, turntable and engine facilities.
The mainline is set up to run end to end from CPR Lambton Yard (West Toronto) to CNR London Yard (London) on a single track with passing sidings in each town. The towns are serviced by only one rail carrier each (either CNR or CPR) and are divided evenly as well as alternately so that no particular railway is favoured and wayfreight traffic would flow from one side of the layout to the other.