Looking for advice on an interesting segment to model

[NW Mailing List]

I know this title looks "model" based, but what I'm after is opinions on an
interesting piece of the railroad from the folks that have been there and
understand the operations.

 

I was planning to model the Radford Division from Narrows to Bluefield in
N-scale, but the more I look at N-scale models the less convinced I am that
they are big enough for me to work with.  Since the eyes will only be
getting worse from here, I'm going back to HO scale.

 

A major yard and double track main won't fit my space in HO so I need to
pick a new location - not to mention the New River which would eat up a huge
chunk of the real estate on even a N-scale layout.  I'm looking for
something in the VA/WV mountains, single track, nice mountain scenery, a
minor yard and a decent traffic rate.  I'm interested in the early 70's just
before the N&W switched to buying low hood diesels.  Right now I'm leaning
toward the Clinch Valley  District.  My thinking is that the connections at
the southern end (or is it western?) will give me an excuse to mix in a
little variety rather than running 100% coal.

 

Any info on what traffic patterns looked like on the Clinch Valley in the
70's would be very helpful.  I'm also open to advice on a branch that might
be more interesting to model.

 

Thanks

 

Carl Woods

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20130926/29ba6052/attachment.html>