Norfolk Southern Layout?

[quakers1]

I have a high interest in Norfolk Southern Railroading. I have been looking into doing the Pochahontas District in N scale. I have saw several pics of the Bluefield Yard and it seems to be quite large. But I have no clue on how big the yard in Williamson is. If anyone knows any useful info on the Pochahontas District, I'd love to hear it.

-quakers1

 

[smittydieseldoc]

Find a copy of N Scale Railroading,mar/apr 06.Scott Teague's layout of the very thing you want to model is featured.

 

[quakers1]

I don't like to copy other peoples layouts. I might do the Deleware & Hudson Susquhenna Sub or some Milwaukee Road layout. If I go with Milwaukee Road as my prototype, I will model it's operations between Madison and Rockford or Madison and Milwaukee. There is alot of Milwaukee Road and D&H railroad equipment on the market. There is a chance I might do the BNSF Hereford Sub in HO scale.

-quakers1

 

[smittydieseldoc]

That was the only article I could think of where you might get an idea of how big Williamson yard is.

 

[quakers1]

It seems like doing the UP Cima Sub would be cool. The best part is modeling Cima Hill!

 

[UP2CSX]

I would do the Cima Sub in a heartbeat if I had the space (and energy). It's got great scenery and some really tough grades for a mainline railroad. I've always loved the Kelso area and Kelso station is one of the first things I'd scratchbuild.

 

[quakers1]

The Cima Sub take alot of space? Maybe N Scale will save alot more space. How steep is the grade at Cima Hill?

-quakers1

 

[UP2CSX]

The Cima Sub take alot of space? Maybe N Scale will save alot more space. How steep is the grade at Cima Hill?

-quakers1

Pretty darned steep. This is a profile map from Calada to Kelso. It's a little over 52 air miles. Just the segment from Cima to Kelso is about 22 miles and the elevation gain is a little over 2,000 feet and parts of the grade are 4%.

You can see the eastbound grade is essentially straight up from Crucero, at 900 feet, to Kelso, at a little more than 4,000 feet. You will need a lot selective compression no matter what what scale you use.

This is a picture of a UP freight train nearing the top of Cima Hill. You can see you'll need a lot of landscape except tracks to make a believable scene.

 

[jbaakko]

You can get away with shallow decks, but a fairly well built layout, of Chima will take up a TON of space. You'll just need some amazing backdrops.

You could model small portions though...

 

[quakers1]

If I need to have alot of the landscape to make the area look believable, I might need to do it in N Scale if I am up to the challenge. I have interest in the CSX in the midwest. The CSX Saginaw Sub in Michigan seems like it would not be a space-eater. The BNSF Chillicothe Sub is a popular, flat land railroad. But I don't know what two cities the Chillicothe Sub runs between. The CSX Saginaw Sub would require lots of aoutoracks!

-quakers1

 

[UP2CSX]

quakers,
If I may be so bold, you can't model every section of the US. First, settle on an area you like - west, midwest, east, or southeast. Once you've decided on an area, then start looking at railroads, sections, and branches you might want to maodel. Figure out which one is going to make the most believable model in the space you have available and then start working on a track plan. so far, you've mentioned railroads in almost every part of the country. You are starting to get off at a station called "Analysis Paralysis". You'll spend the rest of your life trying to come up with the perfect railroad to model and one will always look better than the last one you looked at. If you want to build a house, you've got to decide where it goes first or it will be nothing but a pipe dream. Just my two cents from going through the same thing you're going through.