'Have you thought about....'

One of the frequent questions from the group at the ACWRRHS meeting when I mentioned City Point as the subject of the layout was 'Have you thought about...'  You may fill in your choice.  I thought that I would mention a few without the names attached unless you want credit.  The choices will be mentioned and look for a revised design matrix in the next week.  Also, the sources page now gives full documentation of the two places Bernie Kempinski originally mentioned the design matrix.

The O and A in No VA was mentioned early in the convention.  The issue with this option is that the loss of general running once the war is really under way.  The restriction on traffic except in convoy mode and the constant flux in the operational length seems to preclude TT and TO operations which are a significant goal of mine. If one focused on the area of Alexandria as a terminal road and just ran the terminal area it could have some interest as a very large civil war switching layout.

The B and O came up quickly in relation to Harper's Ferry.  The heavy duty road of the time and a chief supply line that warrants attention from anyone seeking to model the ACW period.  The real question is the fact that much of the line was double track.  I have operated on layouts with double track and found them not quite what I envisioned as my layout.

The Virginia Central near Charlottesville, VA.  This is home turf for me and has the added bonus of including the Orange and Alexandria which still ran from Orange to Gordonsville and south of Charlottesville to Lynchburg while using the VC from Gordonsville to Charlottesville.   Traffic levels here are a major concern.  The larger issue is the lack of documentation.  The logical trackplan would be from Orange to Gordonsville to Charlottesville to Staunton.  The traffic would be flow mostly to Richmond though depending on the date chosen there would be some traffic to Orange.

The Western and Atlantic.  A favorite among Civil War fans and railfans  It is well documented and several of the locomotives are available.  The gauge is the correct 5 feet between the rails.  There are cars in brass but SMR is sold out of the cars with no known source of wooden cars.  This could be a reasonable prototype except for the size of the terminals on either end.  In HO layouts like Thom Radice the models are large and in O Scale could be massive even with compression. 

I will try to revise my spreadsheet  to include some of the alternatives.  More to come.

American Civil War Railroad Historical Society Annual Meeting

This past weekend was a great one spent at the American Civil War Railroad Historical Society Annual Meeting in Alexandria, VA.  The meeting started on Friday with a great overview by Bernie Kempinski. Each of the following lectures were great and worth the time.  During Saturday and Sunday local historian Ron Beavers lead the group on a tour of key sites going from Alexandria to Manassas.  Ron's knowledge of the line is exhaustive.  Other key organizers were Jon Vrana and Jenee Lindner were valuable resources.  Bernie Kempinski graciously opened his home to our group on Saturday night for Pizza, salad and great brownies.  Of course, the layout wasn't bad either.  Bernie's trackwork was impeccable and gave many ideas to think on for my own layout.  Dave from SMR trains gave a great talk on Lee's Rail artillery.  There were many side conversations and suggestions which I will take up in another post.  If I have overlooked someone please accept my apologies.