About the Meridian Speedway

The Meridian Speedway freelance model railroad concept is Home Shops' Owner and Founder Christopher Palmieri's very own contribution to this niche! Having grown up in the southern railroad gateway city of New Orleans, he was able to learn much about railroading by watching the eastern railroads and western railroads exchange traffic in the Big Easy!

With the influence of his father Michael who was plugged into both the regional railroading scene as well as the model railroad community, he had exposure to many aspects of the hobby that gained his attention. Ultimately it would be his experiences on Georgia Pacific's many short line railroads, the transformation of the prototype Meridian Speedway from Illinois Central to Midsouth Rail to Kansas City Southern, and his own professional railroad career that would lead him to go the freelance route!

The art of making a freelance model railroad concept take on a believable persona often involves real-world inspiration. The Meridian Speedway is no exception.

Before getting into the more modern forms of social media, Mr. Palmieri created a website at www.MeridianSpeedway.net to showcase the railroad. There are many there which dive into every detail and is highly worth a visit.

The Meridian Speedway System

A synopsis from www.MeridianSpeedway.net

Being a professional railroader for over 20 years and a model railroader for most of my life, I have a vision that defines my Proto-Freelanced railroad network: to create for the visitor a credible and exciting operating experience. The details and storyline will adhere to the adjusted "what-if" variables so that the audience can become immersed in and enjoy the time, place, and culture of the railroad. While I have big plans for my Meridian Speedway layout, starting HomeShops LLC has been a serious diversion and takes up all of my spare time; so for the time being, I have to make do with a shelf layout running around the walls of my home office – and HomeShopS headquarters – about a foot below the ceiling!

The Meridian Speedway was the nickname of the former MidSouth Rail main line between Meridian, Mississippi and Shreveport, Louisiana which served as a short-cut for traffic moving between the southeast and southwest, by-passing the long-established gateways at Memphis and New Orleans, and I adopted it for my system of railroads. These are the Gulf & Ship Island (GSI), Mississippi Central (MC), Natchez Trace & Orient (NT&O), Texas & Great Northern (T&GN), and Yazoo & Mississippi Valley

(Y&MV). There is also a Mexican subsidiary, the Chihuahua Rio Fuerte y Pacifico - later shortened to Rio Pacifico. A hump yard at Fort Stockton, Texas builds trains heading into and out of Mexico.

The Meridian Speedway story involved adjusting the dates and details for some of the significant events (deregulation, etc.) that took place in North American railroading during the last 30 years of the Twentieth Century. The first of the Meridian Speedway roads was formed by Georgia Pacific Corp. in 1972. GP already had a railroad department and owned several short lines, so its expansion into the regional railroad business was a logical development as the North American rail network evolved after 1970.

The largest of these railroads is the Natchez Trace & Orient, nicknamed the Meridian Speedway, running from Nashville, Tennessee and Myrtlewood, Alabama on the east to Presidio, Texas, on the Mexican border. This NT&O incorporates the original Meridian Speedway. The next largest is the Texas & Great Northern, which operates in Texas and Oklahoma and connects with the NT&O at Irving (the headquarters of the Meridian Speedway system) and Longview, Texas; while the other, smaller railroads operate in Mississippi.

My railroad is set in 1996. This year is significant as it was the last year that North American railroading had variety. It is the year the Southern Pacific was folded into Union Pacific. Though 1996 is the year after the BNSF was formed ending the classic legacies of the Santa Fe and the Burlington Northern, the Santa Fe and Burlington Northern identities were still in place. The Santa Fe Warbonnet fleet was at its height and there was still a Conrail.

MERIDIAN SPEEDWAY WEBSITE