Thee official name of the West Virginian Railway Company

 
 
 
 

The Layout

The HO scale layout of the Mon Valley Railroad Club is multi-level, with 600 feet of single track mainline. Industry is centered on coal, paper and glass, with QD bridge traffic to industrial centers in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Charleston. Trains are controlled with a Digitrax DCC system, while most turnouts are hand thrown. Four small towns and one central division-point yard at St. George are served along the main. It can easily take 45 minutes to operate a train from one end of the railraod to the other. A major grade on the layout was rebuilt in 2006. Check the progress here.

Operating sessions are becoming a regular event with our group. Most sessions last more than six hours. A timetable governs operation using real time. Variations, alterations and amendments to the timetable are carried out with Dispatcher authorized train orders. A Train Order Operator delivers these to stations for pick up by the appropriate crew.

 
 
The new mainline viaduct.
A long, deck plate girder viaduct was recently added to the mainline. This structure is about six feet in length and was inspired by a similar deck plate girder viaduct on the B&O line to Buckhannon just south of Grafton, W. Va. Steve Raqué spent many hours scratchbuilding portions of this bridge and modifying Micro Engineering girder and bridge parts.
 
 
The quiet mountain town of Dobbin.
Dobbin, W. Va., is a small town where the West Virginian Railway interchanges freight with the Western Maryland. A team track, the Potomac Tannery, and a pulpwood yard are also served by the West Virginian. Most of the structures in the image above were inspired by images of prototype buildings once located at Bayard, Dobbin, and Hinton, W. Va. Michael Hohn has done most of the work here at Dobbin. Photo taken June 2004.
Davis Coal and Coke tipple #34 ready for loading cars.

Davis Coal and Coke tipple #34 is taking shape on the short branch out of Wilson's Mill, W. Va. Jim Kubanick is building this mining complex using several images of coal mines in the northern West Virginia area. The West Virginian Railway main line runs just below the tipple tracks.

Jim is working on a powerhouse and hoist frames for this deep shaft mine. Photo taken June 2004.
The Davis Coal and Coke works is progressing. A couple of hoists and ventilators are coming soon. Here's the progess on the tipple as of late March 2005. Jim has added a dock and materials building to this side. Coming soon are the hoist house, headframe, ventilators, and more.
A string of loaded hoppers ready for pick up.
A string of loaded coal hoppers awaits the next shifter at Wilson's Mill, W. Va. The tipple pictured near the top of this page sits behind and to the left of the photographer. The company homes in the background with the green tarpaper roofs are City Classics kits, while the others are foam core mock-ups using details from a book on the company towns along the East Broad Top Railroad. Photo taken in June 2004.
 
 

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