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The railroad centers around a double track oval, which serves steel mills, light industries, and a ships basin. The inside track is an industrial lead, which connects to steel mills. The outside track is a loop track, which allows for easy movements around the busy mills to the rest of the industrial district.
The Portage Lake is prosperous because of the wide variety of industries it serves. Central Casting, Superior Steels/Republic Can, Kola Coke and Coal, and Heritage Boiler Plate provide half of the railroad's revenue. The other half is provided by Octopus Publishing, Right-Wing Snake Oils, Powder Milk Biscuits and several breweries. Light industries include a cannery, sawmill, warehouses, and scrap yards. If one source of revenue falls on hard times, others pick up the slack.
The P.L. Ry. & Nav. Co. is an HO gauge system which occupies a 12' x 30' basement room. It has been under construction (and reconstruction) for over six years incorporating many structures and rolling stock from previous layouts. The builder, John Hanks, has been in the hobby for over 40 years. His industrial layout provides a hands-on urban escape for a resident of Laramie, Wyoming - a backwater university town.
Track is code 100. The mainline radius is 30". The era is steam to diesel. There are over 300 pieces of rolling stock and over 25 locomotives. Most of the buildings come from kits, while some are supplemented by scratch built projects. Tether control and hand thrown turnouts are used throughout.
An unusual feature of the Portage Lake layout is that many businesses and commercial signs express some form of political satire. There is the Water Snake Plumbing Company with R.M. Nixon as proprietor. There is a Bible thumping Sermon First Mission, and the Gayety strip joint, run by Kenneth Starr. Heritage Boiler Plate pokes fun at Hollywood. According to Hanks, "My hobby provides a good avenue for self-expression including a way for me to express my feelings about right wing America. I can poke fun at it on my layout. I even have a billboard with real advertising from the Ku Klux Klan!"
There are four harbor scenes on John's layout. Two basins serve a grain elevator and a car float in the Port of Milwaukee. The other two represent Southside basins connecting with the Menomenee River. There are many nautical features, including swing bridges, lift bridges, car float facilities, derricks and cranes. Water craft including barges, coastal freighters, tugs, utility vessels and tourist boats. Seven barges hold a collection of 1/72 military equipment waiting to be scrapped.
