I
just got back from visiting the Allegheny and Shenandoah Railroad and
had a great time! I was more than impressed with how much railroad was
placed in the basement. The use of shelf benchwork integrated with a
central peninsula showed me how I can rethink the use of my townhouse
basement! And the painted backdrop reminded me of the actual mountains
the fictitious pike is trying to portray. All in a great layout I was
glad I made the long trek to see. Thank you Bob for sharing your layout
today with the Potomac Division.
Sincerely,
Chuck Wood NS Washington District MP 18.8 (West Springfield VA)
Designed for Operations
Although I missed Bob’s open house, I’ve visited and operated on his
railroad, and attended his design clinic
so that I felt that I can successfully undertake a review of it. To
avoid any further suspense, let me start out by saying I love it! In
his clinic at the Bellevue, WA, narrow gauge convention, Tony Koester
said that the reason you build a double deck layout is so that your
operators cannot “cheat” by simply looking to see if it’s safe to
proceed to the next passing siding. Writing like a mathematician, I
would say that while double decking may be necessary for this, it’s not
sufficient. Keith Stillman’s wonderful railroad in Glen Allen, VA, is
double decked, but as it’s in a spare bedroom so operators can, in some
cases, “cheat.” (But of course they wouldn’t, would they?) Beyond
double decking, you need a large space and a design that puts the
passing sidings “around the corner” from each other. And Bob’s railroad
achieves that admirably. You have to read your timetable.
Another brilliant feature of the railroad is its double-ended staging
yard, East Strasburg/Elkins. One benefit is that it eases the time and
trouble the layout host goes through to prepare the railroad for a
session. If a host has a life outside of model railroad operations, the
long setup time might encourage him to pursue other alternatives. Bob,
for example, is also an avid yachtsman and recreational vehicle
explorer, so the issue here is real, but the double-ended staging yard
means the trains are already in position; only the waybills need
attention. A
second benefit of the staging design is the elimination of runs that
seem pointless to the operator. On a couple railroads I’ve operated,
some assignments involve moving consists from staging to an nearby
active yard. Such movements are needed to populate the active yard with
cars to be moved. On Bob’s railroad such an assignment, for example, would go from East Strasburg (staging) to Strasburg, about a 10 foot run and terminate.
But trains on Bob’s schedule do that work, but from Strasburg they
proceed on around the railroad back to Elkins, making the run more
interesting and satisfying. Local
freight jobs (my personal favorites) proceed east and west from
Petersburg to Parsons and Baker respectively, and then return. They
move cars out of Petersburg, making room for that yardmaster to spot
incoming cars from the mainline freights. Strasburg yard is a second
busy yardmaster assignment, with reefers being shuttled between the
icing track and the meat packing plant, then then sent on their way;
stock cars shuttled between the unloading and the cleaning tracks at the plant before being also being sent on their way, so there’s a lot to this job, too.
Finally, Bob’s modeling craftsmanship on his railroad reflects the
talent and skill of someone who has earned a Master Model Railroader
certificate.