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Monongah Division of the
Baltimore & Ohio
Dean Ripple, December 14, 2008 |
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Dean's model of the Monongah Division of the Baltimore & Ohio
aims to capture the backwoods feel of the West Virginia coal country,
with a few operational modifications to suit his taste in
operations. Unlike the more modern coal roads, such as the
Norfolk & Western, the B&O inherited trackwork with
limiited capacity for even moderately heavy steam. Well into
the transition era, the B&O ran Consolidations in this
region--a nice prototype for a medium-sized layout. The town of Buckhannon, with yard and engine facility, is at the operational center of the layout. Several small coal mines and local industries in the surrounding towns keep the train crews busy. Grafton and Charleston exist as staging tracks and a fiddle yard. Begun in 1991 as a small 4' x 6' layout that slid under a double bed, the layout has since grown to full size and has successfully moved from double bed to apartment to townhouse to it present basement home. Dean has taken liberties relative to the prototype to suit his interests, such as installing a turntable in Buckhannon. Trackwork has been fully operational for a number of years and was recently upgraded to DCC. Present operations are in the transition era, but he hopes to one day have a full set of steam power. Dean enjoyed tuning up the mechanisms of old brass steam models for good switching operation and retrofitting with DCC. Scenery is over 50 % complete, including many hundreds of trees! We run regular operating sessions, with an emphasis on switching and local freights. Smooth trackwork and reliable operation are high priorities. |
Adrain WV 044c |
Coming into Adrian 040c |
Eagle No3 Mine 033c |
Inside Elkins Tannery 029Bc |
Layout Overview 050bc |
Overview of Buckhannon 035Bc |
Switching in Adrian 047c |
Switching in Adrian 048c |
Switching in Elkins 031Bc |
View from Pickens 024c |
View from Pickens 024c1 |
Wye at Elkins 025c |