I have decided to start a single thread for the building of our B&O / WM themed layout! B&O was my first ever railroad "love", with Wild Mary being a close second. As my husband loves WM's 1st gen diesels, and I love B&O steam, it seemed natural to model a shared branch somewhere in Southwestern Pennsylvania or Western Maryland. It's not based on any real place; rather, it's an imaginary place designed to capture a few bits and pieces of the 2 involved railroads. Our layout will occupy a 14' x 4' L shaped space in a spare bedroom, on a shelf about 18 inches wide. We plan to use simple wooden benchwork to support plywood + 30mm foam board as a base. The short end of the "L" will serve as the location where WM and B&O tracks enter the main layout. The long part of the L will feature a small country town named appropriately, Seneca, with an approach through a few feet of rural scenery. Here will be found some usual small town fare; fuel dealer, a B&O C plan combination depot with a team track, a feed mill, and a small tool company, as well as perhaps one larger industry; something that can take covered hoppers, so I can run those cool PRR H30s and B&O wagontops! We will use ME flextrack and turnouts handlaid on Central Valley ties. Control will be provided by an NCE powercab system, more than sufficient for a handful of locos. Train lengths will of course be short; 4 or 5 cars at most, plus a caboose, with the B&O branch engine also providing some passenger service with a combine. All told, the layout might require a fleet of perhaps 25-30 freight cars, a combine (and maybe an RPO) and a handful of engines. Power will be supplied by a B&O E27 class 2-8-0, a Western Maryland RS-3 and/or an S4, and the odd visit from the largest power to run on the branch, a B&O Q3 or Q4 mikado (and maybe, someday, one of WM's big 2-8-0s!) As of now, our fleet consists of just the E27, 4 boxcars + 1 gondola, and a brass B&O I-5 Caboose. A boatload of parts are on the way for the E27, and we have purchased some wood to begin the framing for the benchwork. It begins!
I agree! The theme is a perfect fit for WM183 in every way and a B&O/WM combination is an excellent pairing.
Let's see 30mm/25.4? OK, the foam is just shy of 1-3/16" thick. Seriously, sounds like a great idea for a layout and excellent choices for equipment. Should be an interesting project. Have fun and post lots of pics
A small update for today: the pair of F&C Wagontop boxcars are built, save cut levers and brake hoses, which I will add Soon™. The I-5 caboose has been stripped and primed, and will be painted and ready to join the roster soon. Here is a (somewhat poor) photo of the pair of boxcars; up next I think will be a LV wrong way boxcar, and a PRR X26 or 29, perhaps!
Love those wagontops! Really nice. You do know you'll eventually capitulate and buy a B&O Class I-12 wagontop caboose, right? Resistance is futile.
Oh, probably. In N it would be easy; that little FVM model is a jewel. In HO, I will save my pennies and look for brass! I need to get one of those wagontop covered hoppers too!
"Jewel" describes it well -- FVM did an extraordinary job on these. I'm not a B&O modeler per se, but I love the road and it's not a stretch thinking that B&O wagontop hacks could have trailed CNJ freights. The B&O controlled the CNJ and a lot of equipment was run through.
Several years ago, Spring Mills Depot made the wagontop caboose in plastic in HO scale. http://www.springmillsdepot.com/archives.htm You might still be able to find a shop with one in stock - check your PM.
Thanks much! The only Spring Mills ones I had seen were on the auction site for 150 dollars - way way too much for me for a plastic model.
The NWSL Parts have arrived! Phase 1 one the E27 upgrade can begin; adding a headlight and a new motor and gearbox. Phase 2 will concern the tender; adding all wheel pickup, a rear light, and DCC (and sometime, sound!)
At least while we wait for the replacement gearbox, I was able to decorate the I5 caboose and install Kadee couplers! I'm quite happy with it, save the bits of dust I managed to get all over in the final layer of dullcote:
Indeed! I will probably change the trucks, to be honest. I know arch bar trucks were outlawed in revenue service in the 30s, but believe they lasted a bit longer on cabeese. Regardless, they'd have been replaced by the early 50s that this layout will depict. Just need to find a set or order kadees but kadees will require drilling and tapping the bolsters for the larger screws.
Still waiting on the new gearbox; in the meantime, I have weathered and added grab irons to a Walthers gondola. The sun washes it out some:
