Category Archives: Track Plans

Listing of ALL track plans on Appalachian Railroad Modeling. For more tailored results, select a category from the sub-menu of the Track Plans tab above.

SOU L&N Clear Fork Branch track plan HO

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SOU L&N Clear Fork Branch track plan HO
  • Size: 12′ x 16 ′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Southern LogoThe Clear Fork Branch on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky branched from the L&N’s mainline but was owned by the Southern Railway and jointly served by both roads. The Southern reached it via trackage rights from a connection to it’s Jellico line a couple miles north of the branch. The branch was several miles long, but most of the loaders were stacked in the last half of the branch between Clairfield, TN and Fonde, KY.

The Layout

This track plan captures the Clear Fork Branch from Clairfield to Fonde … Read more →

L&N SOU Middlesboro, KY track plan HO

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L&N SOU Middlesboro, KY track phan HO
  • Size: 15′ x 20′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″ (unless otherwise noted)
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

L&N LogoThe L&N first reached the hamlet of Middlesboro, KY (then Middlesborough) around 1890 on it’s quest to tap the coalfields and build a bridge route to the Norfolk & Western in western Virginia. From Middlesboro, the L&N used (and later acquired) the Southern’s (KCG&L) tunnel near the Kentucky/Tennessee state line at Cumberland Gap to reach Tennessee and then Virginia. For a few decades, this route formed the mainline of the L&N’s Cumberland Valley (CV) Division. The … Read more →

NYC Boardman Creek Branch, PA track plan HO

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NYC Boardman Creek Branch, PA track plan HO
  • Size: 11′ x 15′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 27″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 24″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

NYC LogoIts line into West Virginia notwithstanding, the heart of coal country for the New York Central was Clearfield, PA. From Clearfield, lines radiated in several directions, including a winding route south along Clearfield Creek. A handful of branches left Clearfield Creek for the hollers, including the Boardman Creek Branch which followed Potts Run serving a handful of loaders. In its heyday in the 1940s, the line stretched five miles from Potts Run Jct to Carnwath, PA. The line was abandoned by the … Read more →

C&O NYC Leivasy, WV track plan HO

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C&O NYC Leivasy, WV track plan HO
  • Size: 11′ x 12′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

C&O LogoLeivasy, West Virginia lay at the end of the Kanawha & Eastern Sub, part of the paper railroad Nicholas, Fayette & Greenbriar, a cooperative effort between the Chesapeake & Ohio and New York Central (see NF&G track plan for more details). The extension to Leivasy was a latecomer to the railroad, only completed in the late 1960s. In a small space, the railroad branched from a wye to serve three good sized tipples and a small lumber mill.

The Layout

This … Read more →

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. … Read more →

C&O NYC Nicholas Fayette & Greenbriar Railroad, WV track plan N

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C&O NYC NF&G N scale track plan
  • Size: 22′ x 30′
  • Scale: N
  • Minimum Radius: 20″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

NF&G Map Rainelle, WVNYC LogoThe Nicholas, Fayette & Greenbriar railroad, more commonly known as the NF&G, was a paper railroad set up by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1929 to resolve the battle between the C&O and NYC on which road would serve the rich coal deposits being developed along the Gauley and Meadow Rivers. The heart of … 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 … 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 … Read more →

INT Dixiana Branch, VA 3 track plan HO

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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 … Read more →