Who can use parts of this layout?

Due to an international move I am dismantling my layout in Maine, USA.

I have already packed up all the rolling stock, cars, trucks, people, etc. and I will be taking those all with me.

I will also be taking my cathedral, butcher shop, book shop, signal box, housing row and probably also my big bridge, with me.

If anyone is interested in buying any 'chunks' of layout and will collect from my house in Limerick, Maine, USA then you should contact me directly at layout@mixmox.com

By 'chunk' I mean a section (even a large section) of the landscaped surface that I will separate from the rest of the layout preserving the landscaping and any detailing on it. It could be my winery hill, or the whole engine yard (Bw) or the long 'Paradestrecke'. The size of the chunks are only limited by the size you are willing to transport away.

If you want to buy all of it, ($2,000) I will include the big bridge too.

Feel free to make a reasonable offer on any of the parts of the layout. Note that the engine yard contains the Märklin 7286 turntable and the digital Crane which has been enhanced to allow slewing and raising the hook at the same time.

Alternatively, you can buy the complete running layout  in 2026 with a few trains (I will unpack some) and it comes with a 4 bedroom house, 2.3 acres of land on a 1000 acre lake for around $840k.

Below are some photographs of potential areas that could be harvested.

Valley

Parade track

Mainline and branch line 'Paradestrecke'

Hill 

Road tunnel, twin train bridge, and mountain

Farm

Farm on hill with sloping road - Hill hides a single track.

Waterfalls

Main valley with lakes and waterfall. Top lake with twin falls could be a chunk by itself. The bridge in the middle is just a prop for taking 'before the war' pictures.

Winery

Winery hill and vineyards. The vineyards will need to be split at the blue pole to get the two sides away from the pole.

Locomotive depot

Engine yard including two roundhouses with super detailed interior, a 3rd engine shed, coaling, storage tracks and turntable.

This section is about 48" by 69" and includes the Märklin digital crane with under floor mounting system plus enhancements described here. Completed auctions for the analog version (with box) on ebay are often $150 to $250. This is the digital version.

The Märklin 7286 turntable was serviced in 2023 and is connected as described here. Used ones sell for between $200 and $300 on eBay.

See here for interior images of the roundhouses.

Here is the guy in one roundhouse doing some welding

Vineyard

Vineyard with mainline and lake. Mainline has a gentle slope.

Extension parking area

Main station

Turning loop

Overview images

The basement is about 32' square and the layout is using up a good half of the basement - so it covers about 500 sq ft.

Other

Pieces that I do not sell, I will be breaking up and harvesting trees, tracks and signals, etc. from them, so offers must be worth my effort of cutting the parts out as best I can and giving up the trees, etc.  If a chunk includes a signal or track, I will separate the tracks at the next joint and leave the track/signal in place.

I also have numerous buildings and station platforms that are available.

Note the existing track is Märklin 3-rail HO K-track made of stainless steel, and you can relay it with whatever track you prefer.

Excluded: Rolling stock, model vehicles, control electronics and sensor modules.

Train signal

Update: In addition, I have a replica of a German Hp012/Vr012 signal that I could also be persuaded to sell. It has lived outside perfectly fine through 9 Maine winters! It runs off 120V and automatically cycles through various signal aspects.

I would be looking for around $280 for the signal.

Last running day on my layout - 2025-11-15

I had some train friends visit my layout for the last official running day:

(Photo credit: Erich Scherer)

Friday evening:

Ed, Boyd, me, Hing, Hein, Erich

Saturday afternoon:

Paul, Ed, Richard, Hein, me, Erich

Richard, John, Raman,George, Bruno, Boyd

On Monday Hein and I started packing trains away.

Bridge diorama

I recently dismantled a Märklin train layout which included some metal Märklin 7163 and 7161 bridges. The quality of these products from the 1960s is amazing, each bridge section is stamped from metal parts and has the Märklin M-track integrated into each section. I decided to make a diorama for my son to provide a way for him to display some of his trains, as well as show off the beautiful metal bridges.

I had some very warped 7064 bridge piers that were designed to support the bridges, so I decided to use those which still had a usable faces.

There were also some old analog signals and I decided to update one of the signals with LEDs, and drive it with a RemoteSign ESP. See here for how I convert signals to use LEDs

I had some pine planks which had been part of a bed for 40 years and decided to use them as a base, layering them so as to create a small valley.

I screwed the planks together and fastened the bridge piers in place.

The piers seem to have shrunk over the decades and needed to have the space between their lugs made wider to get the tracks to fit.

I smoothed out the slopes with drywall joint compound and added some dried chunks to look like rocks.

I added additional planks at the ends and raised the roadbed so that it was at the same level as the bridge.

I decided to add a small Blockstelle at one end which would house the small RemoteSign ESP controller, the classic Faller B-121. I made a hole in the top plank at the Blockstelle end and fastened it down with two screws that can be removed if wires need to be accessed later.

Installed the electronics...

Gave the valley a base coat of green and brown acrylic paint.

Added some vegetation

Added some EnviroTex Lite resin left over from my lake.

In order to get the epoxy water off the edges and clean up the sides of the diorama, I ran both edges through my table saw!

Added vegetation

Just in case he wants to sit an illuminated train on the bridge one day I wired up one track and threaded the wires into place.

Underside of one of the bridges:

I had some actual Märklin 7299 M-track screws!

There seems to be two versions of 7299, flat and Phillips, I used the newer Phillips ones.

I added some details such as a distance marker and added some ballast:

I then added my son's set Märklin 42751 and his BR 86 from Märklin set 29536

The signal and light in the Blockstelle are powered by a single USB cable. The signal goes green (Hp1) for 2 minutes and then goes back to red (Hp0) for 5 minutes continuously. They can be controlled over wi-fi too.