B&O Lost Creek Branch, WV track plan HO

B&O Lost Creek Branch, WV HO scale track plan
  • Size: 10′ x 12′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: N/A
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

B&O LogoThe lines around Clarksburg, WV were home to many of the coal loaders served by the B&O including the short Lost Creek Branch. This branch left the B&O’s old West Virginia & Pittsburgh line between Clarksburg and Weston, WV at the small town of Lost Creek and traveled about 2 miles up Lost Creek to serve a pair of large tipples near Rider (“Righter” in old B&O mine listings).

Layout

This track plan depicts the Lost Creek Branch as it appeared in the mid-1950s. Aerial photos show three active loaders on the … Read more

C&O Kayford, WV Track Plan HO

C&O Kayford, WV HO scale track plan
  • Size: 18′ x 12′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Mainline Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 36″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

C&O LogoThe C&O’s Cabin Creek Sub was one of several large coal branches extending south from the C&O mainline along the Kanawha River in the heart of West Virginia. At the end of the Cabin Creek Sub was Kayford, WV, home to a maze of track work serving a handful of tipples including the large Truax-Trauer (later Oglebay Norton) Shamrock Preparation Plant. The C&O hauled loads of raw coal up the steep 2.4% grade (up to 3.4% in places) and then hauled clean coal … Read more

INT Dixiana Branch, VA 3 track plan HO

INT Dixiana Branch, VA HO scale track plan
  • Size: 20′ x 15′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Mainline Radius: 27″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 26″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Interstate LogoThe Interstate Railroad built the Dixiana Branch in 1954 on top of an old narrow-gauge right-of-way from Addington (Holton), VA to Dixiana. At the end of the long branch was a five-track tipple that was transplanted from another coal mine far away. Along the branch, smaller loaders popped up at various sidings and spurs making this a busy branch served by two mines per day after the Southern took over operations in 1965.

The Layout

This layout depicts … Read more

SOU Monarch Branch, VA track plan HO

SOU Monarch Branch, VA HO scale track plan
  • Size: 15′ x 20′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 27″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: N/A
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Southern LogoThe Southern Railway’s branch to Monarch, VA was a leg of the coal-producing St. Charles Branch west of Appalachia, VA. The L&N had (and CSX still has) trackage rights on the branch, so mine runs from both railroads worked the major mines on the line including Blue Diamond’s Monarch Mine, Benedict and Kemmerer Gem.

The Layout

L&N LogoThis track plan represents the Monarch Branch and Kemmerer Branch of the St. Charles line as … Read more

INT Dorchester Branch, VA 2 track plan HO

INT Dorchester Branch, VA HO scale track plan
  • Size: 20′ x 15′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Mainline Radius: 27″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: N/A″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Interstate LogoThe Interstate Railroad had four primary branch lines that served the coal fields of southwestern Virginia. The shortest of those branches was the Dorchester Branch which split from the L&N and crossed the Interstate mainline at Dorchester Jct., VA. Its profile crossed a valley via a trestle before descending and then ascending a grade to Dorchester, home of a medium-sized tipple and two banks of coke ovens along with a couple small truck-dump docks at the end … Read more

LEF&C, PA Diesel Era track plan HO

LEFC, PA HO scale track plan
  • Size: 19′ x 12′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Mainline Radius: 24″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 27″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

LEF&C LogoThe Lake Erie, Franklin and Clarion Railroad was a 15-mile long coal hauler in northwestern Pennsylvania. Like other PA short lines such as the Montour, Cambria and Indiana and Pittsburg & Shawmut, the LEF&C ran its operations with a handful of diesel switchers. With its simple track arrangement, compact motive power and a number of industries in addition to the coal loaders, the LEF&C makes a great subject to model even in a modest space.

The Layout

This track plan depicts the LEF&C … Read more

MTR Montour Railroad, PA track plan HO

MTR Montour Railroad, PA track plan HO - lower
  • Size: 14′ x 40′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Montour RR LogoThe Montour Railroad existed to serve the coal mines along a semi-circle southwest of Pittsburgh, PA. By the 1970s, the railroad’s operations consisted mainly of four major raw coal loaders, the large Champion Prep Plant, and interchanges with several railroads. A few small non-coal industries broke up the monotony of endless coal hoppers, but black switchers and hoppers still ruled the line until its closing.

The Layout

This track plan began as a challenge to design an HO-scale layout … Read more

Book Review – Appalachian Coal Mines and Railroads In Color Vol 3: Southern West Virginia

By Stephen M. Timko
Morning Sun Books 2016
ISBN 1-58248-522-4

Review by Dan Bourque

Book Appalachian Coal Mines and Railroads in Color Vol 3Stephen Timko’s latest offering in his Appalachian Coal Mines and Railroads in Color series is Volume 3: Southern West Virginia. Like Vol 1 and Vol 2, Timko has teamed up with photographer Everett Young to provide another up-close and “in the hollers” look at the coal fields, this time in West Virginia. … Read more

Father’s Day = Bonus Photos

SBD Lost Mountain Mining Co coal loader at Sigmond, KY

Happy Father’s Day to those of you who are fathers, and to those who aren’t, you still get to enjoy today’s update.  ARRM has recently added more than 60 new model and prototype photos from our contributors.  First, Stuart Thayer has added more than 30 new photos of tipples on the former L&N Eastern Kentucky (EK) Sub. The photos show loaders of all shapes and sizes in the mid-1980s and are a great study for those modeling this area or just interested in loaders.  You can find them on the Seaboard System, SECX and CSX prototype photo pages.

Next we have several new model photos.  Brent Johnson has added more to his Clinchfield portfolio along with a few … Read more

B&O West End Cumberland Div, WV track plan N

B&O West End Cumberland Div track plan N - upper
  • Size: 26′ x 31′
  • Scale: N
  • Minimum Radius: 21″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

B&O LogoThe West End of the Baltimore and Ohio’s Cumberland Division was home to some of the most serious mountain railroading in the U.S. The B&O’s crossing of the Appalachians through West Virginia required four long grades of around 2% or more between Keyser, WV to the east and Grafton, WV to the west including 17-Mile Grade, Cranberry Grade, Cheat River Grade and Newburg Grade. To move the heavy traffic and coal through this corridor required a double-track main and helpers gallore. In the steam era, there were multiple helper bases including … Read more