Category Archives: Bedroom-sized

L&N Defiance, KY track plan HO

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L&N Defiance, KY track plan HO scale
  • Size: 11′ x 14′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 27″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 35″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

L&N LogoThe L&N’s Eastern Kentucky (EK) Division ran through the eastern Kentucky coal fields. It consisted of a long line between the L&N mainline and the heart of the EK at Hazard, Kentucky. From Hazard, lines went up a number of streams and hollers including the Carr Fork of the Kentucky River. The Carr Fork Branch served more than a dozen tipples in the several miles between Jeff, KY and Anco, KY. Defiance, KY was about halfway up the Carr Fork Branch. A short … Read more →

NYC Kanawha & West Virginia, WV track plan HO

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NYC K&WV HO scale track plan
  • Size: 12′ x 18′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 27″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 27″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

NYC LogoThe Kanawha & West Virginia was built beginning in 1903 to connect Charleston, WV with the rich timber and coal resources of the Blue Creek Valley. The K&WV was 34 miles long, and after a brief spell hauling oil after a boom in the early 1900s, the K&WV settled down to hauling coal for its parent, the New York Central. Though the mainline from West Charleston to Blue Creek was cut in 1967, the Penn Central and Conrail still operated this branch until … Read more →

B&O Lost Creek Branch, WV track plan HO

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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 … Read more →

C&O Kayford, WV Track Plan HO

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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 →

LEF&C, PA Diesel Era track plan HO

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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 →

P&S Widnoon Branch, PA track plan HO

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P&S Widnoon Branch track plan HO
  • Size: 10′ x 14′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 35″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Mahoning Yard on the Pittsburg & Shawmut in the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania was where the three-mile long Widnoon Branch (formerly Tidal Branch) split from the mainline along Mahoning Creek. Mahoning was also the dividing point between the two locals that worked the P&S–the Kittanning Local from the south and the Brookville Local from the north. During the 1970s, the branch served two loaders reached via a three percent grade. Additionally, a shorter branch across the creek to Carpentertown served a bank of modern coke ovens later converted to a trump dump tipple.

The Layout

This track plan represents the … Read more →

Winifrede Railroad, WV track plan HO

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Winifrede Railroad track plan HO scale
  • Size: 10′ x 15′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 40″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

The Winifrede Railroad was a small short line that ran from the Kanawha River and a connection with the Chesapeake & Ohio to the coal mining town of Winifrede, WV along Fields Creek. While it connected to the C&O, the Winifrede was primarily a shuttle operation bringing coal from a large tipple near Winifrede down to a barge transloading facility at Winifrede Jct, near Chelyan, WV.  For much of its life, the Winifrede operated a single locomotive and a ragtag fleet of old, beat-up hoppers to run alongside cars borrowed from the C&O. During the late steam era, the locomotive … Read more →

Unity Railways, PA track plan HO

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Track Plan Unity Railways HO scale
  • Size: 12′ x 14′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 27″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 36″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

B&LE LogoThis plan is perfect for those who want a simple layout and like the railroads around Pittsburgh, PA.  Despite its modest size, there are four railroads represented on this layout along with a yard, an interchange and a large coal loader.  This layout represents a compressed version of the four-mile long Unity Railways Company in its entirety. Dating back to 1915, Unity Railways was constructed to haul coal from the operation at Renton, PA to a connection with the Bessemer & Lake Erie at Unity Jct., PA. Along this short route was a … Read more →

SOU St Charles Branch, VA bedroom track plan HO

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Southern St Charles Branch track plan HO scale by Dan Bourque
  • Size: 13′ x 14′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 33″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Southern LogoThe St Charles branch can be found in extreme southwestern Virginia. A neighbor of the Interstate Railroad, the lines of this branch extended from the Southern’s yard at Appalachia, Virginia, down the Powell River, and then fingered out along several creeks up toward the Kentucky border. Like many other Southern Railway coal lines, it was jointly operated with the L&N who had trackage rights on the St Charles branch from its connection at Pocket, VA. Traffic and tipples ebbed and flowed over the years, but CSX and NS unit trains continue … Read more →

CRR Nora Spur, VA track plan HO

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Track plan CRR Nora Spur HO scale
  • Size: 12′ x 18′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Mainline Radius: 27″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 28″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

CRR LogoThe Nora Spur was one of the Clinchfield’s coal-loading branches in Virginia which left the mainline between Dante, VA and Elkhorn City, KY. The six-mile long branch hosted no fewer than six loaders between the mainline and the Blue Diamond tipple at the end of the line and featured grades in excess of 3%.

The Layout

This layout is designed to capture the feel of the branch and its operations in the early ’80s after the addition of the loader at … Read more →