Port Huron & Northern RR. - Introduction

    The Port Huron & Northern Railroad is an S Scale model railroad set in the 1957 - 1960 time frame. The layout features landmarks and stations well known to model railroaders and rail fans familiar with the Thumb area of lower Michigan.

    The first PH&N RR was started in 1977 at our Shelby Township residence and existed well into the 90s. We moved to Imlay City in 1997 and a new layout was started in 2000. Today, 90% of the track work is complete as is 50% of the scenery (December, 2011).

     Designed as a point-to-point railroad, the PH&N RR main line runs from Detroit to Grindstone City with a branch line running to Bay City from Milwaukee Junction. There is a wye at Tappan Junction (Port Huron) and reverse loops at Bay City and Grindstone City.

     Power for the layout is supplied by Digital Command Control. Switch machines are either pneumatic or hand operated ground throws.  Ther are also (3) Tortoise Switch Machines used in unique areas. Mainline track is code 100 flex track with hand laid code 83 in Grindstone City and the engine terminal at Port Huron. Main line turnouts are from Shinohara and Tomalco. I've also used many Eshelman kits from the first PH&N and scratch built several turnouts to fit unique track requirements on the layout.

Construction Progress (or lack of)

Construction began in January 2000 and after 7 years 95% of the track is in, scenery has been started and trains are running on a regular basis.

Presently, our efforts are concentrated on specific areas building structures and completing the scenery. There is an effort to finish modeling the Detroit Fort Street Union Depot area and the hills around Jan's Canyon south of Bad Axe.

New Technoligy

The railroad is controled by wireless DCC (Digital Command Control). The system is made by Digitrax using a DCX100 5 amp command station, one DB100a 5 amp booster and one North Coast Engineering 10 amp booster. The NCE booster is divided into four seperate power blocks.