Chessie System-Athens Subdivision....

[CandO7430]

Finally, for now, is my brand new DT&I SD38 busy switching out Keynes Mill. I picked up this little beauty at the train show last weekend. I was on my way out the door when I happened by a vendor's table that I apparently hadn't seen before. The bright orange engine caught my eye and I was drawn to it like a moth to a bug zapper. I don't model DT&I but I didn't care, this thing was coming home with me.

Well folks, that's all I have for now. In the next series we will head over to the Monday Creek Branch where the scenery has been in high gear. Also we'll look at the Lancaster/Armitage(Athens) staging area and I'll let you in on some big plans that are brewing in my head. I hope you all have enjoyed the tour so far and I very much look forward to sharing my progress with all of you. Thanks again for the kind words and until next time.......

[AF350]

8-)

Great layout

[Trucklover]

Nice Layout!! Thats a nice sized yard you got and the engine servicing area is looking great!!

[Steve]

Great job!
That looks like a fun layout to run some trains on! Keep us posted as you progress and, more importantly....have FUN!!!!

[Ralph]

There was some DT&I action in a DVD about the Penn Central I received for Christmas. I found their locos very eye catching too!

Ralph

[LynnB]

I see you have quite a bit done on the layout, its always nice to be able to run trains and still be able to work on scenery at the same time.

[Russ Bellinis]

Nice layout so far. I see all of the nice layouts here on the Gauge, and it makes me get impatient to get my house finished so I can get started on my layout!

[jefelectric]

Well done layout. Looks like you will be busy for a while on this one. Is the DT&I still operating?

[CandO7430]

Thanks again guys. I'm working on the next set of photos to post as soon as I'm done typing and will post them soon.

Well done layout. Looks like you will be busy for a while on this one. Is the DT&I still operating?

Sadly no, the DT&I was bought by the Grand Trunk Western in 1980, but maintained it's identity (although in GTW colors) until 1983 when it was officially absorbed into the GTW system. The portion of the DT&I from Washington CH, Ohio to Flat Rock Yard, MI is owned and operated by the Indiana and Ohio railroad. The rest has returned to nature.

[CandO7430]

Hello again everyone. I'm back with some more pics to finish out the tour of my layout. From here on out will be pics of updates of particular projects that I'm working on, and trust me I've got no shortage of projects. Our last official tour picture was of the new farm I've been working on so we'll pick up there. This view is of the rock cut just before Snow Fork Junction. As you can see there has been a foam bead rock slide that I haven't cleared out yet as I still have some more carving to do. Originally I was going to just paint the foamboard, but now I think I'll first cover it with plastercloth to better hide the layers.

[CandO7430]

Up next is Snow Fork Junction. This is where the Monday Creek Branch joins the main. In the foreground is the beginnings of a road. I think the only thing missing is Roscoe P. Coltrane and the Duke boys ramping the cut. Anyway, I'll be ordering the bridge soon from Rix. To the right is Sunday Creek Mine #25 and on the left is Monday Creek Mine #6. In the distance is the tunnel under Heather Ridge, named for my wife and the abundance of heather flowers that grows along the ridge.

[CandO7430]

Continuing around the layout is the other side of the tunnel from Snow Fork Junction as well as a better view of Heather Ridge. Still a lot of work to do here. I'm not sure what I will do with this section yet. I'll at least finish the hills but beyond that I'm not sure.

[CandO7430]

Here is the Lancaster/Armitage(Athens) staging yard. In the real world the PC crossed the C&O in both locations so it made sense to have these two points as the ends of the modelled portion. In the foreground is the actual crossing with the PC. This area may be going through some major changes in the future as I plan out an expansion to utilize some more available space so I'll be holding off on scenery on this section. Through the steps you can see Logan Yard.

[CandO7430]

Here is the same staging yard looking the other direction. Yes, I know I'm missing something here. I had to use the turnout to create the trackage for the Sunday Creek Mine. I may replace it or just connect the ends and tear out the short track on the right. When I started this layout I wanted to have some staging in place so that I didn't have the same train showing up all the time. Even though my layout is continuous loop, I operate it as a point to point and I needed a place to swap out whole trains. From an operating standpoint it works ok, except that I really need a turnout near the PC srossing to allow for trains to enter staging from the other end as well. As I said, this area will probably be changed around quite a bit so I'll deal with it.

[CandO7430]

Here is the drawbridge that I made to allow me to run trains continuously. Nothing too fancy about this, just purely functional. I'm going to move this bridge to another location once the expansion takes place. In the distance are the Reading GP30's you saw in the first pic.