L&N Cumberland Valley and St Paul track plan HO
- Size: 28′ x 30′
- Scale: HO
- Minimum Radius: 30″
- Minimum Aisle Width: 27″
- Designed by Stuart Thayer
This 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 these … Read more
Elmore was the center of Virginian Railway operations in the coal fields. Mullens, just north (railroad west) of Elmore, was home to a major engine facility and the western terminus of electrification on the Virginian. Traffic through Elmore was predominantly coal, but there was meager non-coal traffic in the form of traffic to and from the NYC and C&O at Deepwater, WV. Because of the tipples included, this trackplan best fits the timeframe between 1940 and 1970. Prior to 1962, the mainline was electrified and the Virginian … 
The St. Charles Branch was a tree-shaped branch of the Southern northwest of Appalachia, VA. The Southern owned the branch, but the L&N (and the CSX today) had trackage rights over the entire branch. It appears that a Southern mine run was operated out of St. Charles (two mine runs in the 70s) and served all of the mines up the branch lines. The coal would then be moved south through Pocket and over to the yard at Appalachia (later Andover), VA. … 
The N&W’s Pocahontas Division was full of small branch lines serving numerous coal tipples. The Pond Creek Branch was one of the smaller of these branches and makes a great subject for a bedroom-sized layout.
If you’re modeling the L&N’s Cumberland Valley Division, this book is a definite “must have.” For the rest of you, this book provides a great portrait of Appalachian railroading through the decades as seen from a next-door neighbor’s perspective. Ron Flanary goes town-by-town along the CV with hundreds of unique photos of some hard-to-reach places. The text is informative, but … 
The diesel era helper operations on the South-end up to Altapass were really interesting. I think the pushers at least for coal trains often tied on before Erwin–maybe Johnson City or even Kingsport. I can remember seeing pushers cut into coal trains north of Erwin, but this was before the JC cutoff was built. I don’t know that they ever cut off at Poplar or were put on at Spruce Pine. I suppose that there could have been an occasional boost from the Spruce Pine switcher but doubt that it was a planned operation.
