Concept The Manitou & Southwestern Railway (M&SW) depicts the Western Division,
Hobart Subdivision of the Frisco during the period 1920-1939. The layout, operating like
the prototype, begins at Snyder which serves also as the Enid staging area. One of
Snyder's points of interest is a crossing of the Frisco's Southwestern Division (Lawton,
OK to Quanah, TX) and the Western Division (Enid, OK to Vernon, TX).
South from Snyder is the small farming community of
Manitou, the next stop on the layout. A few miles down the tracks from Manitou is
Frederick, the heart of the M&SW. Frederick was a major agricultural center with light
manufacturing and many grain elevators, oil tanks, and cotton agricultural businesses. The
Katy (Missouri Kansas & Texas) interchanged with the Frisco in South Frederick (to a
hidden staging area). Further South of Frederick is Vernon, TX the end of the line
(another hidden staging yard).
History The Manitou & Southwestern began as a vision in late 1989 and became a
reality in 1994, when my wife offered the upstairs TV room for a layout. It took me about
fifteen nano seconds to create the first design and hurry to the lumber yard for
materials. The layout room is 12' by 22' with 9' by 16' usable as layout space. Because of
political boundaries: windows, a closet, a wet bar, and a balcony/hallway, the layout is
an enclosed box standing in the middle of the room.
