The V&O Story - large images

[CincySouthernRwy]

I wanted to share a little bit about my biggest Trainz project which I am 99% ready to release. I started work on the Virginian & Ohio after someone posted early stage pics on a web site, then went dormant around the end of 2002. Following version 3 of Allen McClelland's Afton Division layout as published in the January 1998 issue of Model Railroader, this layout has been severely updated about ten times, including new track and three complete re-texturings.

I hope to eventually add on the Gauley Division and have started a few baseboards designed to connect with this layout. I also plan on releasing a lot of new and updated rolling stock. The only thing I haven't started on yet is a PA-1, an SD50, and a proper observation car. Other than that, I have new Geeps, RS11's, C424's, GP38-2's, DS4-4-1000's, SW1500's, E8's, autoracks, gons, boxcars, cabooses, etc.

Some of the photos aren't cropped properly. I just don't notice the little Surveyor and Driver menus very much anymore. Editing them all would take another month.

Since I like story format when publishing photos, here goes:

"V&O Extra 3056 West"

I took a railfanning trip along the Virginian & Ohio on a quiet Sunday back in high school. My friend Wade Foxx (who later became an engineer for CSX) and I followed V&O Extra 3056 West for most of the time, picking up the train on the outskirts of Afton, VA and following to Jimtown. It was pure luck that we caught the train as it was nearly the only thing moving on the whole dang division that afternoon.

Here is where we found the crew of Extra 3056 West completing their brake test, the pounding throb of air compressors recharging the train line and the quiet rythmic hum of EMD 645's demanding attention. The interlocking signal showed green over red. Within minutes, the engineer tugged twice on the horn and throttled up. The chase is on!

Here is our train, having just passed the tower that guards the Smith Subdivision interchange in Afton, VA. In fact, the yard is visible in the upper left. The bridge for the Smith Sub is in the background.

Extra 3056 West is about to hit the grade crossing in Blackstone. H.L. Werth Paper Company is on the left. You can make out the Smith Sub sandwiched between the scrap yard (on the site of the former Blackstone depot) and the cold storage warehouse that is just east of Sadler's Distillery.

This shot is the other side of the grade crossing. The speed limit is now up from 15 to 25 mph, and the engineer throttled up right after I clicked the shutter.

The first two units pass what would look like a rural area if not for the homes of a well-to-do neighborhood in the background. Reminds me of the former B&O tracks through Glendale north of Cincinnati, Ohio - NIMBY people in million dollar mansions complaining about the "noisy trains" that make their lives possible.

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

Leaving Blackstone, the train passes Gross Foundry, Inc., a customer that brings over a thousand carloads to V&O rails each year.

Traffic through Clintwood delayed us, so we weren’t able to set up for many good shots. From the car I got this shot between a couple of buildings.

At the end of town near a local watering hole, “The Anchor Inn”, Wade got this shot of code failure at the crossing. The lights seemed to be lit all the time and the gates are stuck in the up position. Right after this pic, someone drove their '66 Mustang hardtop through the scene and stopped at the crossing... why couldn't I have gotten that shot?

Suddenly, we realized we had a chance at a good shot by the station. We never expected that Clintwood station would still be standing. The local Chamber of Commerce has moved in, plus a gift shop and public restrooms for the bike trail that runs past there. Unable to cross the tracks, we settled for this picture:

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

We arrived at Dawson Springs in plenty of time to watch Extra 3056 W blast past the helpers, a trio of GE U25C’s. With only 70 cars and light traffic on a Sunday, the GE’s were shut down and crewless. Our coal drag was accelerating to try and make the hill on its own. This is Wade’s shot, including the station.

My version of this scene focused on the helpers juxtaposed with the train and the weeds and forest by the tracks. In case you were wondering, the sunlight break in the mountain in the background marks where the branch to Virgino Mine ran. After closing in the early 70's, it re-opened for a few years in the late 1980's and 1990's.

After about 30-40 minutes of waiting, we heard a low distant hum get louder as Extra 3056 W exited the tunnel and flew overhead on the steel trestle that carries the line on its looping path over Sandy Ridge. This was my favorite pic of the whole trip.

Wade got a bit of a closer shot:

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

Our train approaches the signal at the east end of Elm Grove passing track. Elm Grove is a small hamlet that is home to the Kelly’s Creek & Bradley, a shortline wholly owned by the V&O. KC&B feeds coal, forest products, and glass to its parent using cast-off power from its parent.

Yellow over green - Approach Medium. I’m not sure why the train got this signal unless they were taking the crossover at Elm Grove or the KC&B was accessing the V&O main near the crossover.

Wade took this shot of the extra passing the KC&B’s Elm Grove yard while I went for a different angle…

The KC&B yard is mostly empty with a pair of strings of V&O H-62R hoppers waiting their trip to the mine. Climbing one (don't try this at home, kiddos, it's ridiculously dangerous), I turned and used the adjacent cars to frame the blue SD40’s gliding past.

Leaving Elm Grove, we encounter Fullerton across this bridge. Fullerton is a small town with a major employer, Dayton Sure Grip. The spur is visible to the right. Getting this shot wasn’t easy, and it puts us at risk for missing any shot of the train passing through town. Hurry! If we get a clear left turn back onto the road heading into town...

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

Jumping into the car and driving like mad, we got to Fullerton just in time to miss the local sheriff sitting by the one traffic light in town AND to catch the SD40’s coasting past the beautifully restored depot.

West of Fullerton, our train crosses a river on a stone arch bridge. Dayton Sure Grip is in the background.

Nice PR shot. Better put this one on the company (or historical society) calendar.

Another nice PR shot. This is about halfway between Fullerton and Gage Pass, right above the tunnel portal. Lots of mosquitos, snakes, heat, and humidity. One reward.

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

On the other side of that tunnel is this bridge. The V&O pops out of a tunnel and crosses over top of the Kelly’s Creek & Bradley, and over a creek that the KC&B follows “up in the holler” to reach a coal mine, truck dumps, a glass plant, and a log loadout.

Another view of the bridge. Wade and I had traveled to opposite sides of the valley to record this train crossing over. With the loop-dee-loops at Dawson Springs, we weren’t quite sure which way our train would be coming and so hedged our bets. Turns out, we were right with our first guess.

After a muffled hum that gradually grows, the units pop out of the tunnel, roaring to make the grade with 90 loads and no pusher. The station at Gage Pass stood where the gravel is at lower left. The remains of the team/station track is barely visible in the background, the ties left in the ground being the only remaining evidence.

Great photo of the hoppers passing the falls. You can't actually hear the train from here.

 

[AJ_Fox]

Nice spread there. Looks like a lot of work into it.

Cheers

AJ

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

This neat bridge is in the middle of Highland Wye. The east leg of the wye is visible in the background. This is where helpers would cut off and turn to return down the mountain to Dawson Springs (if they did not cut off at Fullerton) or Jimtown.

Rounding the curve means you are topping the grade. In a few minutes, the engineer will throttle back and put the train into dynamic, curtailing the momentum of the cars pushing the engines down the mountain.

Neat little stream crossing just this side of the crest of the grade.

Through another tunnel and and over this bridge that crosses over the Virginia Midland. In a dozen miles or so, the VM will interchange with the V&O at Indian Hill. That is how much the elevation of these two lines changes with the 1.25% descending grade!

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

The other side of that bridge. Notice the V&O’s permissive signal. The nice thing about chasing a train with a friend is that you can set up on opposite sides of a river to get shots. You may have to forgo the next photo opportunity, however, to do so.

Passing the station at Indian Hill. V&O preferred the NYC-style triangle light signals, as did the Reading.

Passing Marshall Chemical in Indian Hill, Extra 550 East, an empty hopper train led by a pair of U25C’s, sat just short of the Indian Hill station.

With the train delaying at the Indian Hill Jct. interlocking, we stopped for a bite to eat. This is the pic I got through the restaurant window.

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

With prior permission, we caught up with the train and climbed the steps of JT Tower in time to catch the train passing through the interlocking.

Our train arrives at Kingswood Junction, a bit west of Jimtown Yard. Here is the division marker between the Afton and Gauley Divisions of the V&O. The V&O also interchanges with the Allegheny Midland here.

Here is Wade’s shot of the train clearing the underpass. You can really see the heat coming off the top of the units.

Extra 3056 West stopped in Kingswood Jct. Yard.

 

[Forest_Runner]

Outstanding stuff Adam. One of the truly legendary and inspirational model railroads.

Your thread made me dig out my old and battered copy of McClelland's 1984 publication - The V&O Story. Sure the publication is an "older" version, but the basis is unmistakable.

I'm pretty keen about your virtual V&O project. Well done.

Cheers.

 

[Euphod]

Great project, great story, nice pics!

You really should think twice about letting them young-un's drive the trains though, it will lead to no good I tells ya'!

 

[illinoiscentral]

Hello Adam,
It is good to see Allen's wonderful layout being recreated! The V&O will always live! I've been a faithful Model Railroader reader since 1999 and I was always impressed by his attention to detail, and I'm sure you'll do just the same.

Woody

 

[cascaderailroad]

Super Screenhots...More More More

OHHH MANNN...wonderful screenshots...it's great to see topography that is so realistic...and not jagged pointy Swiss Alps in Virginia scenes. I bet that route is a total Gas to run...Looks Fantastic !And the Red/Green TV Show is my favorite !
I liked your screenshot so much...it is now my desktop background: http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z271/CNSR4500/Trainz/Virginian and Ohio/Extra3056WElmGrove4.jpg

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

Thanks guys! I have improvised quite a bit on some things... Jimtown car shops as pictured in the Jan 98 MR are much expanded. The stone arch bridge near Fullerton wasn't ever a stone arch in Allen's basement IIRC. But I like this better. It feels like a more real railroad than a model railroad, but it's not so lifelike big that you can't run it without alienating the wife and kids. It's as if Allen built it in N scale. Now I built it in "V scale".

I blurred the air above the engines in the more recent shots to simulate heat. My wife really likes that detail.

All that's left to really do is complete weeding the trackage. And continue looking for any errors. I haven't found any in a long time.

Funny thing about the 1984 Carstens book "The V&O Story"... most of the 1960's and 1970's photos Allen took make the V&O diesels look Conrail blue when they are probably much darker in reality, thus my original V&O uploads (F7's, FA's, Geeps, RS3's, switchers) are much too light. I have only corrected the SW's and Geeps so far. Most engines use a 1024x1024 image file so the lettering is better than you see in some of these screenies. Some of these shots are from months ago...

According to photos, it appears that Allen had two cabooses numbered 392.

 

[betsy662]

That V&O book was the original series of articles that were done in RMC through 1978, have you showed this virtual V&O to Allen McClelland? I'm sure he would get a kick out of it.........:wave: :wave: :wave:

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

OHHH MANNN...wonderful screenshots...it's great to see topography that is so realistic...and not jagged pointy Swiss Alps in Virginia scenes. I bet that route is a total Gas to run...Looks Fantastic !And the Red/Green TV Show is my favorite !
I liked your screenshot so much...it is now my desktop background: http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z271/CNSR4500/Trainz/Virginian and Ohio/Extra3056WElmGrove4.jpg

Yes, the jagged pointy thing gets me, too. I prefer weathered rounded shapes. I pay a lot of attention to topography, being that I studied a lot of geology (I used to dig up dinosaurs).

Making my screenshot a desktop is a huge compliment. Thank you.

 

[CincySouthernRwy]

That V&O book was the original series of articles that were done in RMC through 1978, have you showed this virtual V&O to Allen McClelland? I'm sure he would get a kick out of it.........:wave: :wave: :wave:

No, I haven't. I met him once back in about 1997 or 1998. I got to briefly run past him my Cincinnati Southern Railway concept (which I incidentally live next to now!). He seemed genuinely impressed. In any case, I wouldn't know how to get ahold of him. I'm sure someone else will show him.

I actually have one of the issues of RMC with one of the original articles. It was Part 2: History, philospohy, and concept. I love the 4 photos he published on the first two pages, especially of the C&O Geeps on a mine run to Wharton No.2 influence my love of Appalachian railroading, in particular my creation of Linn Westcott's C&O trackplan from "101 Trackplans", which I uploaded to the DLS.

 

[illinoiscentral]

Adam,
You are so lucky to have met Allen! I envy you! If you ever see him again let him know he has a lot of fans! Good work.

 

[PNRailway]

Kalmbach just did an artical about Allen and the "New" V&O in their "Model Railroad Planning 2009" yearly. In the artical it mentions that the entire railroad has been torn down and Allen and his wife have sold the home and moved to a retirement community where he will no longer have an operating model railroad. The passing of the V&O is a sad day for the Modelrailroading Hobby, be it physical or digital. :'(

Paul