Coal operations

[NW Modeling List]

Mike:

I model modern NS along the N&W Clinch Valley District west of St. Paul, VA to Norton and on to Appalachia on the old Interstate RR. The layout is going to get started this winter, if all goes according to plan. It is a nearly full sized basement plan. I have modified the prototype to be more inclusive of what your question is, as was mine previously, how to better engage non-coal operations and interest for the operating crews, but it will follow the line in order from east to west. For years I have been involved in a Friday night round-robin group that is operations oriented. There are some of us who view the ops sessions as seriously as a war-game, while others are very lax in following rules, which are slightly important, especially when you are running timetable & train orders, but that's another discussion.

While my layouts' plan and operations are coal driven, there will be some CSX run-through traffic off of the Clinchfield and the old L&N's Cumberland Valley District, just to add some color. The layout will feature some single car spot coal loading facilities, such as Spring, VA and Hawthorne, VA and others along the Southern's St. Charles branch. There will be operating modern flood loaders such as Paragon's facilities at Big Tom's Creek, VA, and Kelly View, VA, as well as Dixiana, VA and the now-closed loading facility at Ramsey, VA which served both the N&W and Interstate lines. So there will be crews to switch the single car loadouts and unit train runs that will get physical flood loaded during the op sessions. I also have included two ammonium nitrate plants, as well as a lumber facility, the Pepsi plant in Norton along with Carter Caterpillar also in Norton. I am also "improving" the old building supply location in St. Paul, VA to now be a ready-mix concrete facility that will receive sand, stone, cement and fly ash all via rail. The two Norton businesses (Cat and Pepsi) no longer receive rail service, but they all fall under the "it's my layout" rules. The non-coal operations will get switched out separately from the coal shifters / switchers / mine runs. I am using a list of local switcher train ID's that were based on ID's that are used out of Norton and Andover yards, that are in the U40's and U50's, with pushers as J trains. Road trains will follow older NS train ID's in the 700's and 800 number series for the appropriate origins and destinations, as over the past decade as coal traffic has shifted from the region to the Illinois and Monongahela Coal Basins, the train ID's have shifted away as well.

Also, keep in mind that older train operations throughout Appalachia were more than just coal, as vehicular transportation into and out of the region was not what it is today, so you would see LCL cars with meats, foods and residential dry goods, as well as single car commercial dry goods into and out of the region via rail, along with mail and passenger service. These can be realistically added to suit your taste.

Dan Borque has a wonderfully broad website for Appalachian Modeling, https://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/ , that is a great reference point for those interested. It covers most if not all of the Appalachian based railroads from as far south as the Tennessee Central, L&N and Southern to as far north as the Monongahela, P&LE and W&LE, and includes our beloved N&W, Virginian and the Chesapeake & Western lines. Dan's site covers layout plans for small bedroom operations (~12' x 12') all the way up to full sized basements, in various scales. I would encourage anyone whose interested in modelling the region to visit the site, regardless of era or railroad preference.
[http://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/arm2/wp-content/uploads/co5865manwv-1024x683.jpg]<https://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/>

Appalachian Railroad Modeling – The website for prototype ...<https://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/>
Welcome to Appalachian Railroad Modeling! This site is a collection of prototype and modeling information for those interested in scale trains and modeling the coal-hauling railroads of Appalachia.
appalachianrailroadmodeling.com

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Russ Goodwin
Oakwood, GA
________________________________
From: NW-Modeling-List <nw-modeling-list-bounces at nwhs.org> on behalf of NW Modeling List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2018 8:17 AM
To: NW Modeling List
Subject: Re: Coal operations

Hi,
I have a small branch line (proto freelance), about 12*12.  The stuff on the layout is n&w design and used in real locations.  However, the coal mines need to be very abbreviated.  I have one "real" tipple that is from the clinch some where.

It's an around the walls with a center pennensula after a lance Mindheim design.  My space is not 100 percent the same so it's modified.

In general the layout runs by having coal or coal/empties.  I run around swapping the loads for mty.  Then I sort the coal by size.  I was very careful about including the nearby town with a combo station.  I also made sure to have another large industry besides coal for interest.  A wood finishing Mill, gives an excuse for a box car.  Right now I have a pickle salting place, but I have not but the mill yet ... Looking for pics of one.

The mix keeps it fun.  I run to shifters, one passenger, one freight.  Or I combine the two into a mixed for fun.  One shifter goes out.  The am passenger goes, then the shifter goes back.  Then the passenger returns.  Then I do the pm shifter and mixed.  My layout has a nice passing siding at a branch junction.  I use signals, but that is because I love them and enjoy making CTC stuff.  I use flagging instructions like on the tug fork article.

So the whole point is my layout fills up a small outer yard for a large branch line.  We keep the coal moving.

I change the year by changing out the locos and passenger (get rid of if 1959).  So you can see M,E,Z or Y6 depending on the day.

David

On Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 6:59 AM NW Modeling List via NW-Modeling-List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org<mailto:nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>> wrote:
Does anyone have a coal operating layout that does more than haul coal drags?  I try to envision running mine runs with a group of people and I can come up with only one person pulling a train of empties up the branch. I don’t have room for more than one branch. So I’m the one person but I want to have people over to share the fun.
Some do a great job of hauling coal but I think there may be compromises on pure N&W described in books and these lists with the desire to have friends over. Modelling is full of compromises, of course.
How have others modeled coal mining operations? ie picking up loads and dropping empties...etc
Thank you,

Mike Shockley
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