Category Archives: INT Track Plans

Track plans for the Interstate Railroad

Southwestern Virginia track plan HO

By | | , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment
Track plan Southwestern Virginia HO scale - Upper
  • Size: 28′ x 30′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″ (avg. 36″)
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

L&N Logo PlainMany 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 Layout

N&W Logo blue PlainThis was one of the track plans designed for Stu Thayer’s basement before he moved. It downplays the coal branches but captures most of the interactions and interchanges between the five railroads dominating … Read more →

L&N CV Sub track plan HO

By | | , , , , ,
Leave a comment
Track plan L&N CV Sub HO scale - Lower
  • Size: 28′ x 30′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Stuart Thayer and Dan Bourque

L&N Logo PlainThe L&N’s CV sub stretched from Corbin, Kentucky to southeastern Virginia where in short order it interchanged with the Southern, Interstate and N&W. The L&N also handed off a good deal of traffic bound for the Clinchfield to the Interstate at Dorchester Jct for the latter to run to its connecting with the CRR until 1973 when the L&N acquired rights to run over the N&W and connect with the Clinchfield at St Paul, VA. This … Read more →

INT East End track plan HO

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment
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

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment
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 →

INT Dream Layout track plan HO

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment
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 →

L&N Cumberland Valley and St Paul track plan HO

By | | , , , , , ,
Leave a comment
Track plan CV and St Paul HO scale - lower
  • Size: 28′ x 30′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 27″
  • Designed by Stuart Thayer

L&N Logo PlainThis was Stu Thayer’s initial track plan for his Cumberland Valley and St. Paul.  The layout is designed as faithfully to the prototype as space allows and represents the L&N’s Cumberland Valley Sub from Loyall, Kentucky to Norton, Virginia, the Interstate (Southern) Railroad from Dorchester Jct. to Miller Yard, VA, the N&W’s Clinch Valley District from Norton to Boody, VA, and the Clinchfield from Boody to Miller Yard, VA. The layout captures all of the major interchange points between … Read more →

INT Dixiana Branch track plan HO

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment
Track plan INT Dixiana Branch HO scale
  • Size: 10′ x 12′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 24″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Interstate Logo PlainThe Interstate’s Dixiana Branch sprouted from their Glamorgan Branch north of Norton, VA and served a handful of loaders including the large Dixiana No 1 tipple.

The Layout

This bedroom-sized layout represents the Interstate’s Dixiana and Glamorgan Branches as they appeared in the 60s and 70s during the transition from the Interstate to the Southern Railway. It begins at Holton, a few miles north of Norton and the site of the wye where the Dixiana … Read more →

INT Appalachia, VA track plan HO

By | | , , , ,
Leave a comment
Track plan INT Appalacia, VA HO scale
  • Size: 20′ x 25′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 27″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Interstate Logo PlainAppalachia, Virginia and the surrounding area was an important part of the Interstate/Southern/L&N triangle. Before the purchase of the Interstate by the Southern, Appalachia was the main interchange and outlet for Southbound Interstate coal via the Southern. The Interstate maintained its headquarters and shops at Andover, just two miles north of Appalachia. Andover was the primary coal-collection point on the railroad. The north end of Andover is the beginning of the Roda branch which serves … Read more →

INT N&W Norton, VA track plan HO

By | | , , , , ,
1 Comment
Track plan INT N&W Norton, VA HO scale
  • Size: 20′ x 22′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

N&W Logo blue PlainNorton, VA was an important interchange point between three railroads: the L&N, the N&W, and the Interstate (Southern). The large yard was maintained by the N&W, but operated by both the N&W and L&N. Between two and four merchandise trains were exchanged daily between the two, while the rest of the traffic was coal. Until 1973, the L&N interchanged its Clinchfield-bound coal to the Interstate RR at Dorchester Jct (just west of Norton), and the Interstate hauled it to the Clinchfield at Miller Yard. Between 1973 … Read more →