Benton & Southern Railroad

Welcome to the Benton & Southern Railroad. We are an HO Scale Class 3 Shortline railroad serving communities in Arkansas and Louisiana. The railroad began in 1977 as a 12-mile line operating between Benton and Sheridan, Arkansas. When the Rock Island shut down in 1980, the B&S grew to a 300 mile system with the addition of the former Rock Island mainline from Little Rock, Arkansas to Alexandria, Louisiana, with a branchline diverging near Benton, Arkansas running southwest to serve the communities of Hot Springs and Malvern, Arkansas.
The modeled portion of the railroad covers the line from Little Rock to Benton, and the branch to Malvern and Hot Springs and is set in the early 1980's.
In addition to B&S trains, Arkansas Valley Railroad trains are seen regularly as the AV owns the line between Hot Springs and Malvern with the B&S tying in at Butterfield Junction. The AV also interchanges with the Benton & Southern at Biddle Yard in Little Rock and an AV Transfer is seen most mornings.
So enjoy your visit to the backwoods of Arkansas. I'll try to regularly post progress photos as the layout comes together. The railroad occupies a 13'x17' room in the basement of my home. It is a double-deck, around the walls style layout with a helix connecting the two levels.

   www.facebook.com/BentonSouthernRailroad

Layout Owner

Brian Sopke

Location

Sandy, OR

Scale

HO

Layout Size

13 ft x 17 ft

Mainline Size

40 ft

Era

Early 1980's

Crew Complement

1 - 2

Completion

Track: 100%
Scenery: 0%
Electrical: 100%

Control System

NCE - No Radio

Dispatching Method

Verbal/Mother-May-I

Car Forwarding

Switch Lists

Pets

Yes - Dogs