N&W Clinch Valley District, VA track plan HO
- Size: 19′ x 33′
- Scale: HO
- Minimum Radius: 30″
- Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
- Designed by Dan Bourque
This track plan was designed to fit in a previous basement of mine. It models the west end of the N&W’s Clinch Valley District from Boody (St. Paul), VA to Norton, VA. In all, it represents about 20 miles of mainline and 2 miles of branchline. This was a very busy area with heavy minerun and interchange traffic. In all, there are four railroads represented on this layout: N&W, Interstate, Clinchfield, and L&N.
The Layout
This layout includes most of the coal loaders along the line and … Read more
Many railroads tangled in the Appalachians, but few areas featured as many railroads coming together as southwestern Virginia where the L&N, N&W, Interstate, Southern and Clinchfield all interchanged within a few miles.
The N&W’s Pocahontas Division was full of small branch lines serving numerous coal tipples. The Pond Creek Branch was one of the smaller of these branches and makes a great subject for a bedroom-sized layout.
St Paul, Virginia, was a unique piece of railroad. The N&W, travelling from East to West, and the Clinchfield, travelling from North to South, intersect and run parallel through the town with wyes at either end. The CRR and N&W interchanged at Boody, and there were a few small industries in town. St Paul offers a lot of variety in operation depending on the time period modeled. Up to the 60s, the N&W and CRR were the only game … 