Minneapolis International

Welcome to Jerry LaChapelle's Minneapolis International model railroad, an HO-scale model of what he describes as a freelanced version of a real road that once existed in northern Minnesota. The rails of the Minneapolis International wound through the landscape from the Minnesota town of Bemidji to Brainerd and north to the border town of International Falls. It ran through many small towns and settlements that sprang up because of the lumbering industry activity in the early 1900s. While the town names are accurate, the setting is Jerry's personal approximation of how the area may have looked during the 1940s.

After being absorbed by parent Northern Pacific Railway in 1941, the Minneapolis International began to change from a railroad centered almost exclusively on lumber. As lumbering activity dropped off, the towns that were supported by the lumber barons fell on hard times. The advent of World War II also took its toll. Despite these challenges, the people in the area still depended heavily on the railroad to provide the necessary supplies for daily living and for transportation to urban centers. The railroad also did a substantial amount of tourism-related passenger business during the summer months, as the numerous lakes in the area provided recreational activities and were frequented by the public from the more populated cites to the west and south. As the population stabilized and became less dependent on lumbering, the railroad helped spur some growth by providing entrepreneurial businessmen with a means to bring new types of commerce to the area. It is this transition period that Jerry chose to model.

Jerry's expert-level skills and hard work earned him an Achievement Program Master Builder Scenery Award from the National Model Railroad Association in 2006. The locations shown for the award include the towns of Nisswa, Brainerd, and Merrifield. The following pictures provide an overall view of the areas represented:

Nisswa, Minnesota, located north of the larger town of Brainerd. The tracks travel through a hill and head toward International Falls, the most northern reach of the road.

Brainerd, Minnesota. The rails cross over the tail of Rice Lake before entering this busy division point.

Merrifield, Minnesota, located a few miles north of Brainerd. Tracks continue through Pine River and on up to Bemidji, Minnesota.

Nisswa, Minnesota

Here is a closer view of the station at Nisswa and some of the ground contour and trees. The tunnel is part of a lift-out, which provides access to closet storage.

Standing on the outside of the main line (left), even with the maintenance building in the photo above, provides a view looking toward the fence of the Nichols Lumber Company – the only business in Nisswa.

The picture to the right is a view of the front of the Nichols Lumber Company.

The Rice Lake Trestle on the way to Brainerd.

Brainerd, Minnesota

A ground-level view looking across the tracks in Brainerd at Elliot & Sons Supply and the General Store and Post Office. Note the street lamp hanging from the utility pole.

A view of Main Street in Brainerd with the Post Office, Windsor Hotel and the Café.

LaPlante Feed and Seed is good for a couple of carloads a week during the growing season.

To the left is the Brainerd Depot and water tank. The 0-6-0 is doing some switching before the passenger service arrives.

Finn Bros. Warehouse is located at the far end of the Brainerd yard tracks. You can catch a view of the main highway in the rear of the building.

The turnoff to Main Street in Brainerd.

On the other side of the warehouse, carpenters are busy constructing more company housing for warehouse employees.

Merrifield, Minnesota

A view of the Merrifield Trestle with the highway and Finn Bros. in the background.

Where would we be without the good ole IGA! That’s Crown and Merrick Mercantile off to the right in the background.

The highway continues around the curve and on into Merrifield.

The forest is still pretty dense behind Crown and Merrick Mercantile.

Anderson & Sons is one of the newer enterprises in Merrifield.

Olsen Machining has only been open two years but is all ready a good customer of the railroad.

Our tour ends at the Merrifield Depot.

Construction & Technique

Due to the large expanse of flat land areas, the bench work is primarily tabletop construction. The layout uses Jerry's own brand of goop to model the variations in land formation. The goop is a mixture of sawdust obtained at a lumber yard, which is sifted into rough, medium and fine, depending on what he was attempting to achieve. White glue, real dirt and water are added to the sawdust in quantities that feel and look about right. Consistencies ranged from buttery to crumbly, depending how smooth Jerry wanted the finish to be. Areas that required an inch or less of variation were made using only the goop. Elevations in excess of an inch were made through combining various thicknesses of Styrofoam and goop. This mixture takes about three days to cure, so it afforded excellent work time and provided the ability to go back and change things if the overall scene didn’t look quite right.

The backdrop is a depiction of the heavy forests that still exist, usually reaching to the towns and even encroaching on the some of the buildings in the area. In the years to come these forests will be pushed back as more construction occurs, but for now and until after the war, the forest remains. Jerry used acrylic upholstery stuffing (black) that he rolled into various size balls, dipped into a 50/50 mix of matte medium and water, and then rolled in Woodland Scenic’s ground foam. Once they dried he fastened them to the backdrop using Styrofoam adhesive – using some of the balls as they are and cutting others in half to provide shape variety. After the adhesive set up, he placed bits of Woodland Scenic’s clump foliage (medium and light green) in and around the ground foam balls to give more depth and variety to the overall scene.

The roads are primarily gravel with some asphalt through the town of Brainerd. There is also an asphalt two lane a highway that folds in and out of the area as it winds it way from the south up to toward International Falls in the north. Jerry constructed highway the using masonite as a base and coating it with a layer of drywall compound. He painted it with a mix of water colors largely composed of a color called Elephant Grey. The highway is fairly new and it won’t be long before it is infringing on the railroad's ability to make money shipping freight. Jerry built the gravel roads over a base of goop or as in one location, cork roadbed. The gravel is fine sand obtained from an art supply store. The sand was spread on the base, wetted with a 50/50 mix of water and alcohol and then saturated with a 50/50 mix of water and white glue. Once dry, Jerry stained the sand with a mix of alcohol and India Ink.

The deciduous trees were made using Scenic Express Super Tree material. Some of these armatures could be used right out of the box, but many needed some work on the trunk, which were bent at odd angles. Jerry straightened these by inserting piano wire in the end and pushing it up until the tree was straight. He left about a half inch of the wire exposed to aid in planting the tree. He then added limbs by drilling holes, inserting additional material and using superglue to keep everything together. Sometimes he dipped the tree in a soupy plaster mix to give the trunk additional heft and stuck it in a piece of Styrofoam until dry. The plaster droops slightly around the base as it hardens and forms a very good-looking trunk.

Once the armatures were dry Jerry sprayed them with Camouflage color produced by Rust-Oleum. After the paint dried he dipped the armatures in a 50/50 mix of matte medium. He was careful to only coat the branches and not the trunk, and then he sprinkled it with Woodland Scenic’s medium and light green ground foam. After everything was dry Jerry lightly sprayed the trees with cheap hair spray to fix any loose ground foam and then planted them.

Some of the pine tree representations are from previous layouts and range from various handcrafted specimens to early Woodland Scenic’s metal armatures. The most simple is a sharpened wood dowel rod with Woodland Scenic’s foliage material shaped and glued to the rod. These produced a nice looking tree for background areas. Jerry reworked Woodland Scenic's products for most of the pine trees in the foreground. He found their trees to be way too heavy in foliage right out of the package. He removed excess foliage with his fingers or a pair of tweezers and then added back what he considered the right amount using Woodland’s Hobby Tac, and then he planted the trees in groupings. The shrubs were made using Woodland Scenic’s clump foliage in a variety shades, separated into small sizes and glued to the landform using white glue.

Jerry painted the scenery base material a believable bare earth color and let it dry. He then wetted it down with a 50/50 white glue and water mix, sprinkled on Woodland Scenic’s ground foam using brown, black, light green, burnt grass, yellow, and dark green in various quantities, depending on the look he wanted to achieve for the area. Once he was happy with look he sprayed the area with a 50/50 mix of alcohol and water and then added more white glue using a pipette to control application.

The water in Rice Lake was made using EnviroTex Lite, a two-part plastic resin product available at most craft supply stores. Jerry is not a fan of still water, which is so common on many layouts. It’s a windy day on Rice Lake. Once the EnviroTex had cured Jerry used Water Effects from Woodland Scenics to form rough water. He brushed on a generous amount using a paint brush and stippled it by dabbing the end of the bristles into the solution until he achieved the desired effect.

The railroad is set in daylight as Jerry is not a big fan of night scenes. Outside building and street lights are not functional but are placed as they would be in the prototypical sense.

Interested in learning more about Jerry LaChapelle's Minneapolis International model railroad or have a comment or question?