Tag Archives: layout

NC&StL Pikeville Branch, TN track plan HO

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NCSTL Pikeville Branch TN HO scale track plan
  • Size: 12′ x 12′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″ 
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

This track plan was a personal challenge to see whether a double-deck plan for a long branch line could be modeled in HO scale in a tight space of less than 12 x 12 feet. The subject is an area I hadn’t known much about before. I discovered it on an L&N coal mine map from 1966, and thanks to the great site historicaerials.com, I was able to explore topo maps and aerial photos from the late 1950s about a year after the branch transitioned from the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis (NC&StL) Railroad to the Louisville & Nashville. What I … Read more →

LN Davidson Spur, KY track plan HO

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L&N Davidson Spur HO scale track plan
  • Size: 12′ x 12′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 28″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 21″ (mostly >36″)
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

L&N Logo(Note: this track plan and description have been updated twice to include additional details provided since the first posting–thanks to coal-field guru Robby Vaughn for clearing things up!)

The Louisville & Nashville had more coal branches than you could shake a stick at, and they came in many sizes. One of the smaller branches was the Davidson Spur which left the Eastern Kentucky (EK) mainline at Lothair, KY. After crossing the North Fork of the Kentucky River, the branch … Read more →

BN Marias Pass, MT track plan HO

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BN Marias Pass - Lower HO scale track plan by Dan Bourque
  • Size: 18′ x 26′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 28″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 26″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

This track plan is FAR from the Appalachians, but it captures an iconic piece of mountain railroading, the Burlington Northern’s route over the continental divide via the former Great Northern’s Marias Pass line across the Rockies near Glacier National Park, Montana. This route, the northernmost rail crossing of the continental divide in the US, is known for its snow sheds and incredible glacier-carved backdrops making it the perfect route for Amtrak’s “Empire Builder.”

The Layout

This track plan is designed to fit into a moderate-size basement complete with utility spaces and support poles. This is 50+ miles of railroad on the … Read more →

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

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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 →

SOU Brevard Branch, NC track plan HO

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SOU Brevard Branch, NC HO scale track plan by Dan Bourque
  • Size: 6′ x 22′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 22″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: N/A″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Southern LogoThe Southern’s Brevard Branch stretched from Hendersonville, NC to Lake Toxaway, NC in the foothills of the Appalachians. The largest customer on the line was the paper mill in Ecusta, and in the 1980s the line was cut back to Ecusta, just short of the line’s namesake, Brevard. This branch was far from the coal fields, but a power plant at the mill received coal, so hoppers were a common sight along with tank cars and boxcars. The mill at Ecusta made fine paper for Bibles and … Read more →

URR Clairton Branch, PA track plan N

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  • Size: 18′ x 19′
  • Scale: N
  • Minimum Radius: 15″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Union Railroad LogoThis plan is good for those who like big industries and modeling a small area in a big space with little compression. The Union Railroad has served US Steel’s Pittsburgh, PA steel mills for more than a century. While the URR’s own coal tipples played out long ago, the Union still hauls a lot of coal from it’s coal-hauling neighbors and serves the largest coke plant in the nation at Clairton. N scale was chosen for this layout to allow the huge industrial … Read more →