B&O Track Plans
You may make printouts/copies of these plans for your personal use. If you would like to link to these plans or use them for any other purpose, please contact the site. All plans are HO scale unless stated otherwise. Enjoy!
- Size: 14′ x 17′
- Scale: HO
- Minimum Radius: 28″
- Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
- Designed by Dan Bourque
The B&O’s Parkersburg Sub of the Monongah Division, known as “the Branch,” was a critical part of the B&O’s mainline from Maryland to St. Louis. Despite traveling through coal country, this line was more important as a thoroughfare for fast freights and passenger trains. Still, the yard at Clarksburg, WV was a key base for not only industry but mine runs which ran in every direction on branches and lines north, south and east including many smaller tipples along the mainline between Clarksburg and Grafton, WV making this a … Read more →
- Size: 12′ x 14′
- Scale: N
- Minimum Radius: 12″ (15″ for B&O)
- Minimum Aisle Width: 24″
- Designed by Dan Bourque
The West Virginia Northern was a short line that ran 11 miles from Tunnelwood, WV to Kingwood, WV. Begun in the 1800s, the WVN was always a small operation, using small locomotives to haul small trains to and from a series of small loaders. For most of its existence, the source of empty hoppers and the outlet for WVN coal was the B&O via a connection at Tunnelton. With so much “small” operation packed in … Read more →
- Size: 10′ x 12′
- Scale: HO
- Minimum Radius: 24″
- Minimum Aisle Width: N/A
- Designed by Dan Bourque
The 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 →
- Size: 26′ x 31′
- Scale: N
- Minimum Radius: 21″
- Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
- Designed by Dan Bourque
The 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 →
- Size: 11′ x 20′
- Scale: HO
- Minimum Radius: 27″
- Minimum Aisle Width: 24″
- Designed by Dan Bourque
This layout is great for those who like both the Baltimore & Ohio and the Western Maryland pre-Chessie and like a slow pace and lots of switching. The Western Maryland’s coal operations in West Virginia were mostly centered around Elkins, but there was an interesting exception a bit further west. The WM served three small coal branches out of the tiny town of Chiefton, WV. The interesting thing is that the WM main runs nowhere near Chiefton. Instead, the … Read more →
- Size: 12′ x 18′
- Scale: HO
- Minimum Radius: 27″
- Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
- Designed by Dan Bourque
The Paw Paw Branch, a 13 mile coal branch, was situated near the West Virginia/Pennsylvania border. It was jointly operated by the B&O and Monongahela railroads and their successors. The branch left the Monongahela river at Rivesville, WV where the B&O’s Paw Paw Branch joined with the end of the Monongahela’s trackage along the river at Catawba Jct. The B&O entered the area via its large yard at Fairmont, WV, just a few miles south of Rivesville. The Monongahela’s trackage extended along the river to the main … Read more →
