On
Saturday, June 2nd, John King invited the Division to visit his HO
scale B&O Railroad, Shenandoah Division. Visitors also received
an additional treat during their visit as John was simultaneously
conducting an operating session with several of his operations crew so
visitors got to see switching operations as well as his layout.
John’s
Shenandoah Subdivision is a point to point railroad
representing the B&O line from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia to
Strasburg, Virginia. The layout is set in October,
1949, and John said that while the B&O ran diesels on the
passenger trains and some mainline freights, they only ran steam on the
Shenandoah Branch at that time. Thus, John uses only one
diesel switcher in his Brunswick yard, and only steam on the rest of
his layout. Since John’s last open house, he has expanded his open
staging yard, which represents the large yard at Brunswick, MD where
the real trains on the branch originated. However, the staging yard
makes no attempt to model the real Brunswick Yard which was 7 miles
long!
The
layout is a point-to-point track plan, and the stations along the way
includeMillville,
Charlestown, Winchester, Stephens City and Strasburg
Junction. The trackage at Millville, Charlestown, Winchester
and Strasburg Junction closely mimics the prototype as it was in
1949. The mainline is about 200 feet from staging to
Strasburg Junction.
John
started building his layout (Winchester) in 2001-2002, and the
benchwork and trackage for the rest of his layout was built
in 2009-2010. However, John admits that some parts, like the area
around Strasburg, has been rebuilt several times since then. He also
told me that down the road he wants to model some representation of the
Southern RR to Harrisonburg, modeling either MT. Jackson or Woodstock.
The
first thing you notice about John’s layout is the meticulous
track work. Track in the staging yard is code 83. Once you
get on the modeled part of the branch it is a combination of Code 70
and Code 55 between Millville and Winchester and all code 55 west of
Winchester. The only exception is one short stretch of Code
83 just west of Charlestown. Turnouts on the modeled part are all hand
laid, but most of the track is Micro Engineering flex track
(John said the Micro Engineering track is much better than he can put
down himself). As you walk down the aisles following the mainline, you
arrive at various sidings. John has prototype photos set out on the
layout that show the sidings, the structures at that siding, and
mockups in place of many of these structures.
Operation
is by Timetable and Train Order using real time, not fast
clocks. Power to his layout is provided by CVP Products EasyDCC with
wireless throttles.
If
there is one unique thing you notice when you visit John’s layout is
the turnout controls. On the front edge of the layout fascia board are
mounting boards for Caboose Industries Turnout handthrows. A rod is
connected to the hand throw and run through the front of the fascia
board and under the layout to the turnout. John has devised a simple
but unique mechanism to translate the horizontal motion of the rod to a
vertical rod that will pivot and move the turnout points. Figure 1
shows the Caboose Industries hand throw mounted on the front of the
fascia board. Figure 2 shows the underside of the layout an how the
horizontal rod is connected to the turnout points. The
remaining
figure show John’s layout during the operations session.