Hi everyone! Thought you guys would enjoy seeing some pictures of my modular N scale layout based on Norfolk Southern's Danville District. The layout is planned to encompass Pomona and greater Greensboro area up to Lynchburg. Train counts on the prototype average 30-35 in a 24hr period, around 45 from Greensboro south with traffic being a healthy mix between Freights, Intermodals, Autoracks, and locals with as needed coal, grain and ethanol trains in the mix. Anyway enough with the talking, here are some late afternoon shots just north of Greensboro past CP Busick. The train is NS 211 and is making a steady clip south behind an ES44AC and SD60M with 20 or so stack cars. The international 40' containers are up front and 53' domestics on the rear. Hope you guys enjoyed today shots, I'll post some more later.
Will there be an interchange in Martinsville to bring the short line transfer from the Bassett furniture factories? Well maybe Bassett Furniture is not manufacturing in Bassett and Martinsville anymore. I spent the summers of my youth from 1968 through 1978 in Martinsville and I remember seeing all the trains rolling around there. Some went out to Stanleytown and Bassett, other trains went to Fieldale for the Fieldcrest knitting mills, and still others went into Martinsville to the Hooker and American furniture factories and last but not least Dupont Chemical. That was then, I am not sure what is there anymore, I have been a long time gone, and my extended family who I spent summers with have also passed on. Perhaps your layout crosses a section of Route 58 from Danville and all the way over the to Bristol VA. I hope you don't forget the Va clay...... I would love to see how it all turns out!
Lots of stuff you remember from your youth is gone now. It has been a few years since I was in the area myself (I'm in Roanoke) Last I saw Stanleytown was all but gone business wise. Dupont was still going if memory serves but all the furniture plants have closed. I heard the knitting mills closed but were bought by another company and reopened. Can't say for sure. if the time period for the layout is in the late 80-early 90's for NS then most of that stuff would be great industries to model. If the layout is modern day then you would just have lots of empty buildings. :-(
Very nice. Lived in Lynchburg six months back in 1980. Gained a greater appreciation of the NS from watching those lines around town.
Lots of NS runs through Lynchburg but I am sure you saw lots of CSX also running up into West Virginia too. I used to drive to Lynchburg quite often around 1986-90 watching trains and visiting a train store that was on route 220 business called Trains Unlimited if memory serves. They had a nice club layout in the back room and I loved to go watch members run stuff on it. Sadly the store was bought out and moved to another part of Lynchburg but they didn't move the layout so it was lost. The store still has an annual Rail Days thing there each year which is pretty cool and you can take tours of local layouts owned by private individuals. Fun fact...back in the 70's, my dad would take us to watch trains and to the Rail Days thing and I would be fascinated by all the N&W and Southern stuff in the yard there. I fell in love with the GP9's, RS11's and the RS3 locos that were frequently used in the area. To this day, I will never forget the string of freshly painted NW GP9's I saw during that time. They were the first ones painted black with the big white NW on the long hood. I believe they had just been dispatched from the paint shops in Roanoke. They were so shiny they had to be painted no more than a couple days earlier. I was thrilled to see the new paint scheme.
Well it is sad to hear. But my memories of the area are now 37+ years ago so I am not surprised. I think that drives me to think about a small N&W and SRR layout of Martinsville, Basset and Fieldale area circa 1972........... My Grandparents lived south of Martinsville just off 220. 220 used to be a pretty cool drive from Martinsville up through Oak Level to Roanoke, wonder if that is still the case?
It's still a nice drive from Martinsville up through Oak Level to Roanoke but 220 was probably still a two lane road back in 1972. Sometime in the mid 70's maybe 74-75 it was widened to four lanes and it is much less curvy than back then. There still isn't much in Oak Level now. Probably nothing built there since you remember it. Hahaha. You should make a visit sometime. The area is still rich with history including the Virginia Museum of Transportation where the J611 and the 1218 are housed. The Norfolk & Western 1218 is the only surviving 2-6-6-4 steam locomotive in the world and I was lucky to ride on her in 1989 from Roanoke, VA to Bluefield, West Virginia and back.
All this talk surrounding Martinsville is making me want to model NS's Winston Salem District instead . Which maybe an option right now considering I am just starting out... Hmm, now you guys really got me thinking.
A whole lot of freight has run up through that district. I went to college just out side Charlotte, NC and I would drive from Roanoke, Va on Route 220 , through Winston Salem on Route 68 and pick up Highway 40 over to Interstate 77. I got to see all kinds of trains on that trip. Lots of industry you can model in that area too.
After thinking it over I'm probably going to be modeling the "Pumpkin Vine" also known as NS's Winston Salem District. Mainly due to the more scenic nature of the route, the lower train frequency (don't have to run as many trains), and the ability to realistically run a few heritage units. I'll probably model from Belews Creek, NC north to VA since the line south of Belews Creek sees very little tonnage. Now I gotta find some of the old NS Bethgon sets from Kato and some more AC power...
Sounds like a good idea you have come up with. Keep posting on your progress as you get started with track plans and such.
I couldn't stand it any longer. All the talk we have had about that side of the country and these old memories creeping back in, I have just decided to work on a greater Martinsville switching layout circa 1978, that last summer I spent there before going off to college. I will use 220 - 58 intersection as the starting point and branch down towards Ridgeway and Eden NC, and the branch up will go up to Oak Level as a terminus of the layout. I have a 20x6 main area with a 16x6 peninsula in the center of the 20 foot span to use to jet out to Bassett and Fieldale. I am going to start looking at satellite maps to see how to lay the through mains and develop the branch line approach. Always had a soft spot for southern Virginia, just never had a way to earn a decent living there or I might be there now........
David, that sounds really cool. I have always liked that part of Virginia and North Carolina. Lots of agriculture in that area to model too. To help you out, here is a pic of the current NS line in the area you plan to model. The current NS trackage is the same for its predecessor the N&W so this may help you get started with your track plan. Post up what you come up with and feel free to email me at pacodutaco@gmail.com if I can be of any help in your searching. I have been modeling the N&W for over 30 years and have quite a few books as resources and of course it doesn't hurt that I live in the area too.
Been following this thread and now that I have seen the map of the area I am somewhat familiar with it having spent a number of weeks in the Fall and the Spring in Chatham and just to the west of there Callands. Had a old military buddy and a former workmate until his retirement due to injury that resided in the Callands area. We got to Danville often when I was down there. A lot of the textile mills were closed during the time I was making my trips down there and the major employer of the area was Goodyear. Quite a bit of tobacco was still being farmed and old tobacco curing barns were everywhere. The rail tracks passed by the west side of Chatham heading south. And what I can remember of the few industries is that they all were agricultural related in Chatham.
If your looking for information on the prototype Winston Salem District, search for the "Norfolk Southern Winston Salem District" Facebook Group, I stumbled upon this forum while looking for information about the WS District during the days of the N&W on Google. I am the owner of that heads up group. I would like to see images of your Pumpkin Vine layout!
