SP Tehachapi Sub, CA track plan HO

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SP Tehachapi Sub, CA HO scale track plan - Upper Deck
  • Size: 24′ x 40′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 35″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 36″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

This track plan represents one of the most iconic pieces of railroad in the United States, the Southern Pacific’s Tehachapi Sub, home of the famous Tehachapi Loop. While certainly not an Appalachian track plan, it’s still a good study in prototype track plan design (and any mountain railroad is still pretty cool). This plan captures the key features of the line between Bakersfield and Mojave, CA circa 1990s when both the SP and ATSF (via trackage rights) ran 30-40 trains daily over this route.

The Layout

While 24′ x 40′ may seem like a lot of space for a layout, it was … Read more →

B&O East End Parkersburg Sub, WV track plan HO

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B&O East End Parkersburg Sub HO scale track plan
  • Size: 14′ x 17′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 28″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

B&O LogoThe 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 →

A Special Train for a Special Day

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CSX ET44AH 3621 Barboursville, WV

by Jonathan Spurlock

CSX’s former C&O line to Logan, WV and the coalfields in the region left the main line at Barboursville, WV. The Logan subdivision then traveled near some of Barboursville’s residential district before heading mostly south to Logan and beyond. The line was usually kept in a well-maintained condition but I can seldom remember seeing a train. Even in my grade school years, we had a younger-than-Little-League baseball league that played games literally a stone’s throw from the tracks. Even at 9 years of age, I could throw a rock better than a baseball, but that’s another story.

Many years later, one of the saddest days of anyone’s life happened. Dad completed his earthly journey and … Read more →

P&S South End, PA track plan HO

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P&S South End, PA HO scale track plan
  • Size: 10′ x 30′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 27″ mainline (24″ on some spurs and the B&O)
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 27″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Pittsburg & Shawmut LogoThe south end of the Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad occupied the west bank of the Allegheny River valley for its last 24 miles from Reesedale to Freeport, Pennsylvania. Along the narrow right-of-way were tipples, numerous industries, interchanges with the B&O and PRR, and the P&S headquarters at Kittaning. Unlike the northern section of the railroad which was marked by tunnels and tall trestles, most of the southern end was water-level with … Read more →

P&S North End, PA track plan N

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P&S North End, PA N-scale track plan
  • Size: 14′ x 24′
  • Scale: N
  • Minimum Radius: 15″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 27″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Pittsburg & Shawmut LogoThe Pittsburg & Shawmut was a picturesque coal hauler that featured tunnels, high trestles and lots of small loaders nestled in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. The heart of the P&S in later years was Brookville, PA, a small town that housed maintenance facilities, a small yard and an interchange with the Pennsylvania RR (and later the Penn Central and Conrail). A handful of trains, powered mostly by colorful SW9s, worked out of Brookville making this a great area … Read more →

WM Stony River Branch, WV track plan HO

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WM Stony River Branch, WV HO scale track plan
  • Size: 11′ x 14′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 24″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

WM LogoThe challenge:  design a prototype-based HO scale layout with mainline operations, branch line operations, helper operations, a yard, an engine facility, four loaders and a power plant. . . and fit it into an 11′ x 12′ bedroom with a closet. Sound impossible? Not if you want to model the Western Maryland’s Stony Fork Branch! The Stony Fork Branch was a twisting, 17-mile branch that connected the Mount Storm Power Plant with the WM mainline at Bayard, West Virginia in 1963. … Read more →

KCNW Kelly’s Creek & Northwestern, WV track plan N

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Kelley's Creek and Northwestern, WV N scale track plan
  • Size: 11′ x 12′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 15″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 27″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

The Kelly’s Creek & Northwestern was a coal-hauling short line that ran several miles into the mountains from the Kanawha River and a connection with the New York Central at Cedar Grove, West Virginia. Like the nearby Winifrede Railroad on the C&O side of the river, the KC&NW served primarily to shuttle cars from the coal tipples to a barge loader on the Kanawha River.

The Layout

This track plan represents the KC&NW circa 1970 when a trio of small but more modern loaders was supplying the coal. The single-deck layout is compressed but still features the key scenes of the railroad … Read more →

UP, SP, D&RGW North Fork Sub, CO track plan HO

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UP SP DRGW North Fork Sub, CO HO scale track plan - lower deck
  • Size: 27′ x 38′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 30″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

This track plan is decidedly “non-Appalachian,” but I’ve decided to include it because it offers an interesting glimpse into coal-hauling operations of western US railroads, in this case the Denver & Rio Grande Western and later the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific. The D&RGW mainline between Denver, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah ran through Grand Junction, Colorado on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The D&RGW built a line south from Grand Junction into the fertile lands of the Gunnison River Valley and extended that line up the North Fork of the Gunnison River to serve the rich bituminous coal … Read more →

BRIM Brimstone Railroad, TN track plan HO

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BRIM Brimstone, TN HO Scale Track Plan by Dan Bourque
  • Size: 13′ x 18′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 27″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

The Brimstone Railroad was a quaint little coal hauler in northeastern Tennessee that connected with the Southern Railway’s CNO&TP line at New River, TN. What made the Brimstone unique was its motive power, a pair of three-truck shays that ran the 12-mile line into the 1960s, long after the Southern had dieselized. The Brimstone majored in coal and minored in lumber up until the early ’60s when Ritter Lumber shut down its operation in New River. In 1966, the Southern purchased the Brimstone and ran sporadic mine runs for the next few decades. The tracks were finally pulled up in 2015.

The … Read more →

Moving Train Order Signals on the C&O at Man, WV

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by Jonathan Spurlock

C&O LogoMy dad was an operator on the C&O at Man, WV, and I can still relive the first time I ever saw him hand up orders to the crew of a moving train. I will always think of him as one of the bravest men I ever knew. You can read more about this in my first article, Passing Train Orders on the C&O at Man, WV.  One of the last things he did before handing up the orders was to change the train order (T.O.) signal for the appropriate track, something I’ll explain … Read more →