Looking for advice on an interesting segment to model

[NW Mailing List]

Carl-

I am modeling the Clinch Valley District in N-scale, and I think you will find it a great section of the N&W to model. Depending on your space restrictions, I suggest you consider modeling  Norton to St. Paul/Boody or Norton to Richlands. Norton was the interchange with the L&N and the Interstate/Southern which will give you a variety of railroads and rolling stock to model. During the time period you are interested in the L&N had trackage rights over the CV from Norton to St. Paul so that the L&N could interchange coal trains with the Clinchfield at Castle (just south of St. Paul on the Clinchfield).  At Boody (just east of St. Paul) the N&W interchanged with the Clinchfield. Between St. Paul and Coeburn are a series of tunnels and trestles that would be great to model. East from St. Paul there was a small yard and the AEP power plant at Carbo,  and Richlands had a small yard and some industries to switch. Of course there were numerous coal tipples and loaders along the CV.

To get started I suggest you take a look at the three part series on the CV that Bucky Wilson and I published in  The Arrow in 2004 (volumes 20-2; 20-3; and 20-4), and I published  an article about Richlands in the January-March, 2011 edition of The Arrow (volume2 7-1). (Sorry for the personal plug. )

Official Guides and N&W employee timetables show the through freight schedules on the CV for any time period you are interested in.

There are some HO track plans based on the CV at the Appalachian Railroad Modeling website: www.appalachianrailroadmodeling.com<http://www.appalachianrailroadmodeling.com>.


Hope that this helps.


Paul Mandelkern
Winter Park, Florida



From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2013 9:22 AM
To: 'NW Mailing List'
Subject: Looking for advice on an interesting segment to model

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

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