Bob Johnson’s
West
Virginia Midland
October 22, 2006
It was a beautiful
autumn day (picture 005) as I drove up I270 to visit Bob Johnson's (45)
West Virginia Midland. As the clouds blew across the sky the scenery
was bathed in shadow and bright sunlight. Russet and golden leaves
graced the view.
The West Virginia Midland is a freelance standard
gauge (HO) short line set in central West Virginia in the early summer
of 1954. The Midland's base of operations is the town of Webster
Springs, W.Va. where the main
yard (all 5 tracks) is located. The primary sources of income for the
Midland
are coal, limestone and lumber. The main body of the Midland is "E"
shaped
(12" x 16') with an additional 65 feet of around the wall running. The
scenery is about 90% completed and features trees (lots of trees). The
layout also features a number of discrete scenes that are visually
separated by viewing angles and scenic view blocks such as hills and
(of course) trees. The hobo camp (455) is outstanding. In honor of this
open house and in keeping with the 1954 time-frame, there was a scale
welcome sign for the Dixie Division (33). The mountains are constructed
using dye and bleach to produce very realistic and unpredictable
results. Take a look at Bob's clinic on the
PD web page. The hidden track transfer table drawer is ingenious
(950-965).
The Midland utilizes a Lenz DCC control system and
is set-up to accommodate up to 7 operators and a dispatcher during an
operating session. The layout was originally point to point but when it
was converted to DCC two reverse loops were added to accommodate the
increased train operations permitted by DCC operation.
Bob recounted the "disaster" at a recent operating
session. One of the bearings on a Shea bound-up and introduced so much
drag that it couldn't pull the train up the grade. It was necessary to
split the train and double the hill. Helpers were also used. This threw
off the timetable, making it necessary to write train orders. Sounds
like a lot of operating fun to me. When asked about the prominently
displayed locomotive bell (860), Bob
told us about his detective work identified that it came from B&O
E18
#1906. The tone was true and pleasing.