SIOUX VALLEY

Sioux Valley is based closely upon Archer Hill, a Control Point just east out of Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Union Pacific’s mainline from Chicago to all points west, notably Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland.

The country the layout represents is near flat, with few if any trees growing along these great wide plains. In some places, the railroad is the only civilisation, the only company being the miles and miles of telegraph and power lines that follow the “Iron Road” across the country, with the occasional set of snow fences, erected in some places for miles, to counter the effects of the harsh US winters.

Over the years, many different passenger trains and freight trains have operated over the section of line represented here. When the layout is out on exhibition, we try to duplicate the trains that ran over this section, including the long coal drags and manifests, fast double stack and reefer blocks, or some of the longest passenger trains in the world. Powering some of these trains are some of the largest locomotives the world has ever seen, including Union Pacific’s Big Blow Turbines, Big Boys and Challengers, and, of course, lash-ups of multiple diesels of varying types.

One of our members had visited this area, and his photos of that visit were used to ensure that the feel of the area was incorporated into the layout.

The layout uses Atlas track on the visible section, and Peco code 80 in the fiddle yard.

Sioux Valley was initially displayed at the 2026 Rosehill exhibition.