Doug
Kirkpatrick's
Virginia & Western RR
March 13, 2005
Doug's V&W railroad is a
freelanced steam era railroad hauling people
and cargo from the tidewater west over the Appalachian
Mountains
just after WW II. The HO-scale railroad
follows the Norfolk & Western prototype with over 25 operating
steam
engines. The railroad has just recently
purchased several RS3 to add to the power roster. The
layout room is 37’ x 26’ with the layout
occupying 550 square feet of it. All of
the handlaid track is completed with over 40,000 ties and 80 turnouts.
Scenery
is approximately 70% complete including some 5000 trees.
Doug said that he is glad we are now out of
the forest and can focus on the urban areas.
He is forecasting about three more years to complete the
remaining
scenery. The mountain railroad features
many bridges and trestles which are scratch built.
All of the buildings are either scratch built
or craftsman kits and highly detailed.
There are many mirrors incorporated through out the layout. Approximately half of the 51 position signals
have been installed. The layout has been
recently converted to Digital Command Control Digitrax throttles.
Some 68 Division
members attended the open house during the afternoon
enjoying the railroad as well as the special cookies in the form of
position
signals. Everyone was highly impressed
with the amount of details incorporated in each scene and how the
mirrors were
used to extend the layout. We all are
looking forward to seeing the completed urban areas.