MTR Westland Branch, PA track plan N
- Size: 10’x12′
- Scale: N
- Minimum Radius: 15″
- Minimum Aisle Width: 32″
- Designed by Dan Bourque
The Montour’s 4-mile long Westland Branch extended south from the Montour mainline to serve two coal tipples. It was constructed as the “Midland Spur” in 1922, and for most of its 60-year existence, it served the Westland Tipple at the end of the branch and the Morris Tipple near the junction with the mainline. This bedroom-sized N-scale layout represents the branch during the diesel era when it was served by the Montour’s fleet of SW9 switchers.
The Layout
This layout is a very … Read more
The Kentucky & Tennessee in the diesel era was a simple operation. A handful of used Alco S2 switchers moved coal hoppers between the connection with the Southern at Stearns, KY to the lone tipple at Justus, about 3 miles from Stearns. Justus loaded about 30 Southern 100T hoppers per day via a small flood loader directly over the main. The hoppers were picked up and dropped off in the ample interchange yard in Stearns where the K&T interchanged with the Southern’s busy CNO&TP mainline. Despite … 
Loyall, Kentucky was the heart of the L&N’s Cumberland Valley (CV) Division. The CV was a spider of coal branches, many of which were worked by mine runs out of Loyall. The vast majority of these mine runs went South and East (also railroad South) from Loyall, but one, the Loyall-Varilla Mine Run, served a handful of loaders and short branches west (railroad North) of Loyall along the mainline between Loyall and the large yard and division terminus at Corbin, KY.
The C&I’s Nanty Glo Branch (later renamed the Cambria Branch) extended from Regan Jct. near Colver, PA to Revloc, PA (later Beth, PA after an extension in 1963). In addition to serving a handful of coal tipples, the line also offered a second connection with the Pennsy at Nanty Glo, PA in addition to the original connection a few miles west at Rexis, PA. The most interesting feature of the branch was the track arrangement to serve the tipple at Nanty Glo. A spur from the C&I branch to Revloc …