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Layout Information and Trackplan

Here is the basic information on the trackplan for the layout as of August 31, 2003.  I reworked the entire chaffee/loop side of the plan to provide for a longer mainline run, and longer chaffee run.  I also managed to incorporate in a small logging operation.  Finally, I changed the Chaffee area to go with #5 turnouts instead of #4 turnouts.  This decision was made, in part, because Central Valley does not currently supply #4 turnout tie strips.

Prototype	Western Maryland Railway
Prototype Locations	Semi-prototypical MD Junction and Chaffee Theme
Main Modeling Interests	Roundhouse and Engine Terminal Design and Operation Chaffee Branch Coal Operations Basic Industrial Switching Freight Operation Occassional Small-time Passenger Operation Scratch Building WM Prototype Structures Scratch Building WM Steam Locomotives General Model Building and Detailing Model Photography
Era	Late Steam through Early Diesel (Transition Era +/-), approximately 1950-1953
Room Size	11' 9" x 10' 6"
Operators	Typically just me, unless my wife wants to run a train from time to time :-)
Scale	HO
Ruling Mainline Radius	24"
Ruling Mainline Grade	2.5%
Ruling Chaffee Branch (Shay) Radius	18"
Ruling Chaffee Branch (Shay) Grade	8.1% (prototype is 9%)
Trackwork	Hand-laid Code 70 (TBD) track and #5 turnouts. Possibly to Proto:87 standards. If possible, this will be Proto:87, otherwise it will be "finescale" HO.  The deciding point will be the tight radius and small/tight frogs on the turnouts.  Proto:87 typically requires a minimum radius of at least 27" to 30" and minimum of #7 frogs, but I will put this to the test through judicious use of easements and smaller rolling stock. Shay trackwork will be code 55 or 70 with #5 turnouts.  For both, I will use Central Valley tie strips with glued rail rather than wooden ties and spiked rail.  The visual effect of the CVT strips and turnouts is stunning.
Sub Roadbed	1/2" Plywood "table" for yard, and free-form/ribbon plywood on risers for the rest of the layout
Roadbed	Homabed on mainline and sidings, Homasote sheet in main yard.
Track Design Software	3rd PlanIt by Eldorado Software

About the Prototype

The Western Maryland Railway was one of the most photogenic and interesting railways on the east coast.  It ran all the way from Baltimore Maryland through central Maryland and out to West Virginia in the west, and southern Pennsylvania in the north.  The WM was primarily thought of as a coal carrier, although it did handle lots of types of traffic through its participation in the Alphabet Route.  Passenger operations were fairly spartan, and consisted of very short passenger trains typically headed by one of the Baldwin K2 4-6-2 locomotives.

Maryland Junction and the nearby Ridgely Yard were located near Cumberland Maryland (separated by Knobley Tunnel), on the West Virginia/Maryland border, nestled right next to the Potomac River.  While MD Junction did not have shops the size of those in Hagerstown, it did have a very sizeable roundhouse, good shops, and one of the more modern and more interesting A-shaped coal towers. 

In the late steam era, the Maryland Junction roundhouse was home to, among others, hulking H9 Consolidations (as well as smaller H8 and H7b Consolidations, enormous J1 4-8-4 Potomacs and one of the largest and most powerful classes of decapods ever built, the I2 heavy decapod.  In addition, diesel power started to become common in the yards in switching service with locomotives like the VO 1000, and on the mainline with F-Units. This mixture of serious road power makes MD Junction a natural place to model if you are into building and / or detailing locomotives.

From Maryland Junction, trains left east towards Hagerstown and Baltimore, south to Chaffee and on to Elkins, and north to Cumberland and other points.

Chaffee and Vindex are well known to WM fans as the home of the Shay locomotives.  The grades up to the coal mines on the Chaffee branch were so steep, and the curves so severe, that only a geared locomotive like a shay could handle the trip up and back.  Even the massive Shay #6 (now run by the Cass Scenic Railroad) could only handle a few loaded hoppers on its downhill run back to the siding off the mainline.

If you are interested in Maryland Junction, track and other plans are available from the Western Maryland Railway Historical Society (WMRHS).  If you are interested in the Chaffee Branch, the WMRHS has a couple excellent issues of the Blue Mountain Express (BMX) dedicated to the branch and the Shay locomotives that ran on it.

Trackplan

Here is the latest version of the trackplan (updated 2003-08-31). It is a simple "Out and Back" plan with a stub yard.  Unlike the previous version of the plan, I decided that I would forgo any window access to the left-side window and instead use that area for the layout.  For more information on the evolution of this plan, please see the previous version (select from the menu at the top left).  In addition, my wife confirmed with me that the closet must remain accessible and usable for storage of boxes and winter clothing.

I took some liberties with locations.  For example, Cumberland station would not normally be located at the end of the yard, instead it would be on the other side of MY Tower and Knobley tunnel.  Also, Elkins and Chaffee would not be located on the other side of Knobley tunnel.  The two locations have been pretty much swapped.

The newly-added logging operation (in green) will provide an opportunity for me to pick up one of the new Bachmann HO Climaxes when they come out.  Or, if I decide not to go that route, I may do it in narrow guage.  Either way, I get a lot more operational and modeling interest.  As the WM kept most of its own locomotives and equipment in spotless condition, a beat-up logging operation will be just the thing to balance it all out.

To see a larger version of the trackplan, click on the image above.

To download the trackplan in 3rd Plan-It format for your own personal use, click here.

To visually compare the current plan with the previous plan, click here.

Elevations and Grades

(Update 2003-09-09 : I have modified some of the elevations so that the highest track is at 64" elevation at the railhead.  That lowered the yard to 46" and lowered some of the chaffee grades.  64" is a perfect level for my line-of-sight.  I will update this page and the plan soon)

3d Views

Here are some 3d views of the layout.  They help visualize the above track plan much better.  You'll need to use your imagination when it comes to scenary and benchwork.

Here you can see the roundhouse and coal tower.  It is modeled after Maryland Junction, but is obviously heavily compressed.  I'm really looking forward to building that coal tower.  I have some great photos from the WMRHS and other sources.  It is a very large, very interesting timber frame structure.  (This is an older screenshot, but is close to the final version)

Here is another view of the coal loader, sanding tower, water towers, turntable and yard.  (This is an older screenshot, but is close to the final version, except for the missing second level with the Vindex engine house)

Here you see tracks coiled around a small mountain and leading up to two coal mines.   In the top center, you can see the first coal mine. Up and to the right, you can see the second coal mine.  Slightly to the left of center, you can see the proposed sawmill.  Keep in mind that I never modeled the mountains (or base terrain for this level), so the tracks appear to be floating in air.  It looks like a lot of spaghetti, but once it is scenicked, I think it will look pretty good, as much of the track to the rear will be in tunnels or crossed by bridges.  Off to the left, you can see the switchback that leads to the Vindex engine house where the shay is kept.

Interesting Prototypical Structures

These are some of the prototypical structures I made a point of putting in the layout, as I want to build them.

• Chaffee Branch Coal Mines
• Western Maryland Cumberland Station (not in its correct location, plans from MR "Millennium" Issue)
• Maryland Junction Coal Tower (lots of photos, will have to infer plans)
• Maryland Junction Water Pump House (will infer plans from photos)
• Maryland Junction Sand Tower (will infer plans from photos)
• Maryland Junction Water Towers (will infer plans from photos)
• Maryland Junction Engineer's Bunk (Overnight) House (no photos yet)
• Maryland Junction Ash Pit and Hoist (will infer plans from photos)
• MY Tower (not in its correct location, will infer plans from photos)
• Maryland Junction Engineer's Register Room and Tool House (no photos yet)
• Chaffee Passenger Shed (will infer plans from photos)
• Vindex Engine House (no photos yet)
• Vindex Company Store (no photos yet)
• Vindex Company Houses (will infer plans from photos of old Chaffee houses)
• Vindex Water Tower (no photos yet)

If you have photos of any of the items above marked as "no photos" or plans of any that are marked "no plans" or "will infer plans", please let me know if you can share/sell.  Thanks!

Mainline Operations (single operator)

Made up trains are sent out to the coal siding where they drop off empties and pick up loads. 

The coal train operates as follows (the switching maneuvers are not particularly prototypical) :

1) The train (hauling empties) heads out towards chaffee.  It heads through the tunnel at MY Tower.

2) The locomotive uncouples from the empties just before the chaffee siding switch.

3) The locomotive continues along the mainline, just past the trailing switch for the siding

4) The locomotive backs into the siding and couples with the loaded hoppers.

5) With loaded hoppers coupled, the locomotive continues to back down the siding until it is able to use the last loaded hopper to couple with the empties on the mainline

6) The empties are pulled forward into the siding and uncoupled from the loads on the western side of the curved mid-point switch.

7) The train heads back to the terminal and yard.

The mainline train also serves Chaffee Station (just a waiting shed), and Cumberland Station.  Obviously a different train would be used :-)

Shay Operations (single operator)

The shay locomotive takes the empties up to the two mines where it exchanges them for loads. Here's how the Shay operations work :

1) The shay (facing downhill) heads down hill to the Chaffee siding to pick up empties

2) The shay couples with several empties (prototype is 11, but it will be 4 max here)

3) The shay drops half of the empties off at the Trout siding (prototype can carry 6 up through the switchback, but it will be 2 here)

4) The shay heads up (backwards) to the switchback.

5) The shay, now pushing the empties from behind, heads up to the mines

6) The shay drops off the empties at one of the mines, and picks up loaded hoppers.  Or, I might simply have loads I can plop into the empties when they are spotted at the mine.  TBD.

7) The shay, now with loaded hoppers, heads downhill backwards with the loaded hoppers on the uphill side and goes into the switchback.

8) The shay drops off the hoppers at the Trout siding below the Vindex switchback. 

9) If the Trout siding is full, the shay runs around to the downhill side, couples with the loaded hoppers and heads down to the Chaffee siding.

10) The shay moves forward into the "empties" (western) side.  Once the hoppers clear the switch, it backs them into the "loaded" side and uncouples them.

11) The shay moves forward and couples with empties as in step #2 above.

Yard Operations (one operator)

The yard has a decent amount of operation in an of itself.  Trains can be assembled and broken down, of course, but there are also several "industries" including the pump house, the overnight house and two other TBD, as well as the coal dumper for the coal tower and the ash hoist.

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