Author Archives: Dan Bourque

C&O Quinnimont, WV track plan HO

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Track plan C&O Quinnimont, WV HO scale - Upper
  • Size: 20′ x 22′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 24″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

C&O Logo PlainThis layout is designed to fit into roughly half of a standard two-car garage.  It oozes over the centerline a little, but you may still be able to squeeze your wife’s Volkswagon into her half 😉

The Layout

Let me start by saying I have never been to Quinnimont, and I have never seen track diagrams of Quinnimont.  This plan is based on a few pictures and topo maps of the area.  Quinnimont was an important spot on the C&O’s New River line in West Virginia.  It was where coal … Read more →

INT East End track plan HO

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Track plan INT East End HO scale - Phase II
  • Size: 19′ x 33′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Interstate Logo PlainThe east half of the Interstate Railroad featured multiple branch lines, dozens of coal loaders, interchanges with the L&N, N&W and Clinchfield, and the railroad’s only two tunnels.

The Layout

This track plan is designed as a “progressive” layout with construction an operations starting in one half of the basement and oozing over to the other half at a later date. The entire track plan covers the east-end operations of the Interstate, including three major … Read more →

INT Dixiana Branch beginner track plan HO

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Track plan INT Dixiana, VA beginner HO scale
  • Size: 8′ x 20′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 18″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 40″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Interstate Logo PlainThis beginner’s track plan is designed for one half of a long garage, and it’s designed to use commercial switches and flextrack laid on cookie-cutter sheets of plywood. The subject is the Interstate Railroad’s Dixiana and Glamorgan Branches north of Norton, VA.

Track Plan

I designed this plan with enough of the prototype’s tipples and associated switching to keep a couple of operators occupied for a while.   However, because most beginners (and most non-beginners … Read more →

VGN White Oak Branch, WV track plan HO

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Track Plan VGN White Oak Branch, WV HO scale
  • Size: 11′ x 18′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 27″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

VGN Logo (plain)The White Oak Branch originally started as the White Oak Railway which served the mines at Lochgelly and Summerlee.  The White Oak interchanged with the C&O at Carlisle, WV, and the Virginian at Oak Hill Jct., WV.  The White Oak was sold to both the Virginian and C&O in 1917.  Even though it was sold to both railroads, in reality the C&O would interchange cars at Carlisle, and the Virginian (later the N&W) would move them to the mines.

The Layout

This bedroom-sized layout represents the Virginian’s … Read more →

VGN Stone Coal Branch, WV track plan HO

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Track plan VGN Stone Coal Branch, WV HO scale
  • Size: 12′ x 14′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 27″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

VGN Logo (plain)The Virginian’s Stone Coal Branch near Mullens, WV served many loaders for both the Virginian and the C&O. This branch was worked by mine runs out of the Virginian’s large yard at Elmore. Typical power during both the VGN and early N&W eras was one or two Fairbanks-Morse Trainmasters. Stone Coal Junction was an active interchange point with the with the Chesapeake and Ohio. Although the C&O had trackage rights over the Stone Coal Branch, they opted to interchange hoppers bound for Stone Coal Branch loaders with the Virginian. The … Read more →

C&O Hawks Nest, WV track plan HO

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Track plan C&O Hawks Nest, WV HO Scale - Main
  • Size: 10′ x 14′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 46″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

C&O Logo PlainThis layout packs a lot of track into a relatively small bedroom.  It focuses on the C&O’s Hawks Nest Branch, a small steam-era coal branch near MacDougal, WV, and a small portion of the mainline from Thurmond to Charleston, WV.  The branch was only three miles long.  This track plan is based on 1921 track charts and contains the three mines listed.  None of the mines were listed as active by 1966.

Main Deck

Track plan C&O … <a href=Read more →

C&O Cabin Creek Sub, WV track plan HO

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Track plan C&O Cabin Creek, WV HO scale - Upper
  • Size: 17′ x 22′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″ (28″ on wye)
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 36″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

C&O Logo PlainThis layout is designed to fit into roughly half of a standard two-car garage.  It oozes over the centerline a little, but you may still be able to squeeze your wife’s Volkswagon into her half 😉

The Layout

This layout focuses on the C&O’s Cabin Creek Branch, a coal producing branch in the Kanawha Coal Field.  The branch exended from Cabin Creek Jct. on the C&O mainline just east of Charleston, WV.  There are several great pictures and a description of this branch in the December 2001 Trains Magazine.

… Read more →

INT Dream Layout track plan HO

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Track plan Interstate RR HO scale
  • Size: 62′ x 102′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 36″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Interstate Logo PlainBefore you say “you’re crazy,” this was just the product which emerged after I asked myself the question “what layout would I build if time and money were no object?”  What I settled on was modeling the entire Interstate RR as close to the prototype and with as little compression as possible.

Before I got started, I layed out some “must haves” and “wants.”  Some of the must haves were 36″ minimum mainline radius curves … Read more →

VGN Pemberton, WV track plan HO

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Track plan VGN Pemberton, WV HO scale
  • Size: 19′ x 33′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 26″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

VGN Logo (plain)Pemberton, WV was an important junction for both the Virginian (later the N&W) and the C&O. Pemberton lay in the middle of the Winding Gulf trackage for both railroads and was one of two interchange points in the area where both railroads crammed into the valleys (the other was Stone COal Jct. further south). Coal loaders surrounded both railroad’s lines in all directions.

The Layout

C&O Logo PlainThis track … Read more →

ABCs of Mine Run Operations

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Mine run basics - Diagram 5

by Dan Bourque

In order to effectively model coal operations on your layout, you first have to understand how a mine run works on the prototype. In this article, I’ve drawn up a make-believe yard and branch line that our mine run (known as a “shifter” on some railroads like the N&W and Clinchfield) has to work. Like tipples, no two mine runs are exactly alike, and each has its own set of operating challenges. Our mine run will take us through several of these challenges and how a crew might handle them.

Mine run basics - Diagram 1Our mine run starts in the yard with 2 … Read more →