The Mosquito Hill & Deerfly Falls RR is located on a high ridge known as "the Ledge" near the city of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Surrounding our home are dairy farms. We call the MH&DF RR a "Ledge & Dairy "Railroad. The insect namesakes for this garden railroad do often bite, leaving large welts. At times they have stopped operations. Tom is a retired Fond du Lac police captain. We enjoy running and sharing our layout with others. We have hosted over 1,000 persons in each of the last five years of operations. Our guests range from pre-schoolers to nursing home residents. Our visitors and their comments make our labors worth the effort.

Our layout has 306 feet of brass mainline track that remains out the year around. Our temperatures range from near 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer to -35 F in January and February. Snow ranges from windswept bare to 3 feet. The track is laid on compacted ground over a weed barrier. We use chicken grit for ballast. We have an LGB track cleaning locomotive that is a great help in keeping the track clean. We use power through the rails and keeping the track clean is a must. We have one 3% grade and are working to reduce it. Widening the curves over the years has helped in operations. Tip: using wide radius curves lets you run longer trains and appearance is improved.

The trains we run are steam and diesels. We have a sound system installed in a boxcar. We change the sound chips for the different sounds of each engine. By installing the system in a boxcar, one can use a large speaker and have better amplification of the chuffing, whistle, and bells.

The rolling stock is mostly boxcars with a few passenger coaches. We collect boxcars with Wisconsin City names or Wisconsin products. This was a common advertising practice until the late1920's. We replaced the plastic wheels with steel ones. The cars roll better, keep the track cleaner and the click clack sounds are great. Nine of these cars are beer cars. The most requested train is the 13 car Circus Train. Nine flatcars carry old-time circus wagons constructed by Tom and decorated by Margo. There is a tape player and two speakers in other cars that plays circus music as the train makes its way around the layout.