N&W's Pocahontas Division in N Scale
I finally have had a chance to put up some pictures and the current track plan for my layout of the N&W's Pocahontas Division, circa 1958. The track plan has been somewhat updated since the article that appeared in Model Railroad Planning 2002.
Track Plan Downloads
Lower Level
Middle Level
Upper Level
Givens & Druthers
Givens
T-shaped basement approximately 32' x 27', stairs in one corner, uiltities in the other.
22' x 20' area with 7' ceiling, once allowance is made for aisle to utilities, overhead ductwork, etc.
Have necessary skills for all the work, including electronics and software.
No career need to move from this house.
Have a long time to build.
Druthers
Long coal drags, manifest trains, streamlined varnish.
Big steam and second-generation diesel.
Double track mainline, both tracks CTC signaled in both directions.
Long mainline.
Heavy traffic.
Very simplified crew controls: no fascia controls, no throttle tethers, no locomotive assignments.
Operation over scenery.
Reliability over scenery.
Details
Locale: The N&W mainline from just west of Williamson, WV to the west end of Flat Top Yard, a few miles short of Bluefield, WV, a prototype distance of 97 miles
Era: Summer, 1958
Scale: 1:160 (N scale)
Layout room size: 20' x 22', plus staging, dispatcher, trainmaster locations external to main layout room
Format: Three layer multi-deck
Benchwork: Open grid
Subroadbed: 1/2" plywood
Roadbed: AMI Instant Roadbed
Track: Peco Code 80, Peco InsulFrog switches
Minimum visible radius: 22"
Minimum hidden radius: 15.5", except 14" on helix downgrade
Switch motors: Circuitron Tortoise, except Switchmaster for helix due to lap vertical separation
Wheel/coupler standard: Micro-Trains #1000 talgo
Car weight standard: per NMRA
Mainline run: 13 scale miles of double-track mainline
Williamson Yard format: 2 eight-track marshalling yards 13-14' long, two A/D tracks 24' long
Williamson Yard capacity: 500 working, 800 glutted
Staging yard format: 6 six-track staging yards 18' long
Staging yard capacity: 2000+ cars
Switch control method: Mainline powered switches from CTC panel, branch line manual switches with Peco over-center springs
Train control method: DC block with computer block assignment, radio-controlled throttles
Signal control method: Computer CTC signal control in both directions on both main tracks
Car forwarding method: Old Line Graphics car cards
Mainline motive power: Y6b 2-8-8-2, J 4-8-4, GP-9, RS-11
Picture Pages
Pictures of the completed benchwork, March, 2003
Pictures of lower deck trackwork, November, 2003
Copyright 1992 - 2003 by Weyand Associates, Inc.
Last updated: November 13, 2003
These pages maintained by: Richard F. Weyand
Please send all comments/problems to: rich@weyandassociates.com