The Guilford & Tristate Railroad is a freelance model railroad depicting New England in the late summer. The layout is contained in two rooms in a walk-in basement—the Guilford Railroad in one room and the Tristate Railroad in the other. The layout is HO scale.

Modern railroading is featured on the G&T with current-day diesel locomotives and freight cars. Most traffic is mixed freight trains, both through freight and local freight, with an occasional passenger train thrown in for variety. With a main line length of 280’ a train takes considerable time to go from end to end. There are 76 industries in 24 locations to provide interest and switching activity for local train crews. Industries are mostly kits with some kit-bashed and scratch-built structures along the line.

Power and train control are provided by an NCE DCC system. Signals have been installed but are not yet active as a CTC system is being installed using the CATS system. Car movement is managed using switchlists.

Scale: HO

Locale: New England, late summer

Prototype: Guilford and fictional Tristate

Era: 1980 to 2010

Layout Size: 42’ x 24’ and 18’ x 25’

Layout Design: single and double deck with connecting Nolix on 2.5% grade

Trackage: Commercial code 83

Construction: Around the room, L-girder and open grid

Control: NCE DCC

Scenery: 60%

Accessibility: No stairs. Enter through arch, to gate, to back of house, door under deck.

Parking: Maximum 8 cars in driveway

Layout Visits: Yes

Operation Sessions: Yes

Website: No