Hi, some of you already know me as I used to be a active member before Zealot took over. Now that the forum is back under control of model railroaders I have been meaning to get back here more often. I have been modeling the area of the Murphy branch of the Southern RR ( now the Great Smoky Mountain RR) in N scale since forever as that is where I now live. I thought about modeling where I used to live but they never had any RR's in the middle of the Everglades . Using modelers license I rerouted the Southern from around the Nantahala mountain range to thru it to break the link with the Graham County Railroad. My totally mythical RR shares a junction with both of those railroads at a place called Tellico Gap junction, North Carolina. In real life there is a Tellico Gap in that spot in NC but it is wilderness (see what happens when no RR is there! ). Version one was way to big and there is nobody in these parts that are interested in operations so I downsized to version two (which Pete ( sumpter250) saw), but it was too big also. Version three is 72" by 28" and will have a three foot unscenicked staging yard at each end when I'm done. Those two yards represent Southern's yards in Bryson/Asheville NC to the east and Murphy NC to the west. It also has a staging track (which makes a continuous loop) hidden behind a ridge on the scenicked portion which represents the Grahm County RR in Robbinsville NC. The time period is late 60's and the major industries are pulpwood, fruniture, pallets and feed as that is what it was back then. Here are a few pics of what I have done so far, I will post some more as time and progress permit. Thanks for looking!

That is N-Scale?! Beautiful Would like to have your eyes and hands...

Wow! Looks great Tyson! I can almost feel that southern summer heat. Nice scenery work!
Ralph

Yes it is N scale Reinhard, thanks for the kind words.
Thanks Ralph glad you enjoyed the pics!

That's absolutely top notch..!!! Congratulations on an excellent job...!!!

The only defect I see...Is that you only posted 3 pics.... Let's see so' more..!!

Fantastic modeling! I agree -- I can almost feel that summer sun beating down me!

Chuck

Thanks guys, Gus I'll try to get a few more pics up tomorrow.

Tyson,

Awesome, another fan of the Southern Railway.

Is the Murphy Branch where Southern had to run multiple GP units to pull very short trains because of the grades? If memory serves me, there was a write-up in Model Railroader 20+ years ago about this branch. It was one of the articles that sealed my interest in the Southern Railway.

Going to look through old MR’s right now to find that issue…

Mark

Thanks Mark! Yes the grade at Topton is around 5% but is on a compound (S) curve so the compensated grade is supposed to be around 7%. They have a feed company at Andrews even now and it takes at least two locos to pull 5 hoppers of feed up it and threeto four if it's raining or snowing. MR did one arrticle on building a two level N scale layout in a spare room/bedroom and at least one article on building the Graham County railroad.

Mike,

please post more pics of your fantastic layout.

Absolutely beautiful and realistic modeling, and excellent photography as well. I've always wished that I could do even half as well.

I always remember the saying that the success is in the details, and you have the details.

Joerg thank you and I will!
Don thank you as well, you have to remember though that the beauty of the camera is it doesn't let you see the other things like the naked light fixture hanging from the ceiling or the wall behind the layout that is in bad need of painting or the blinds over the window that need cleaning or the wore out carpet or the parts of the layout that still look like crap or.................................................

OK here are a couple more I hope you like:

Great Pics and modeling Tyson!

... and I'm glad you came back to share them all too!!

Thanks Mikey!