a railroad you can model

[asciibaron]

I can't say this would be a interesting railroad to model. One train. 30 or so coal cars. Boring. There's no reason for dispatching. No other trains. And the only train is one with coal. Don't get me wrong, coal hauling is cool and all, there's just no variety here.

oddly enough, how does this differ from most people's current layouts?  think about it.  look at the typical beginner 4x8 layout - this at least doesn't pretend to be something it's not.  it's a very doable prototype.  it might seem boring, but boring is the reality of railroading.  have you sat trackside and watched as a train crew just sat there, for hours, sitting.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

this at least doesn't pretend to be something it's not.

But that's exactly what makes those beginner layouts fun, they are pretending to be something they're not.

[AlkemScaleModels]

Coal hauling can be interesting if you way bill each car and treat each hopper individually, which is prototypically correct too. The switching can be just as involved as a commodity RR.  The EBT did not have a great variety in hoppers though and only a few are available in scale.

I've been looking for excuses to run coal on my 1863 ACW RR. Best I could come up with is stockpiling coal for river boats or providing coal for borrowed B&O engines (one did run on the O&A in 1863 and yes they needed coal for it.)

[extra7000south]

I'm a small layout fan and this railroad peaked my attention.
I never had heard of it, but did a little research and found a few links...

http://www.flickr.com/groups/383695@N20/discuss/72157604022538027/
http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=6383
http://www.thedieselshop.us/Cumberland.HTML
http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?railroad=Cumberland%20Mine%20Railroad

I believe that it could be a quite interesting line to model. Being only 17 miles in length would make for a nice small layout.
Being a land-locked railroad, they would probably have to have their own car shop for repairs, a place to service the locomotive and a small yard.

A few touches of your own, such as adding a industrial switcher for the rail car shop, a few MofW cars to maintain the railroad and a place to unload trucks that bring in parts and materials for the line could add to the detail.


That's just my thoughts...
A little immagination could go a long way to make this a nice layout.

[asciibaron]

just before the dumper they have a car shop, an MOW area, and a small switcher.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qn52cy8b5j7m&scene=40130948&lvl=2&sty=b&where1=Kirby%2C%20PA

[extra7000south]

Nice!!!  
That would be a nice scene to model.

[squirrelhunter]

I think mine to power plant roads offer several interesting facets of the hobby.

First, they tend to be short and have small roster. So very little compromise has to be made. Even if you have to kitbash or scratchbuild the cars on a road like this, the task has a certain scope. It also allows you to go all Jack Burgess/Yosemite Valley and model the entire roster in detail.

Second, since they are in rural areas folks who prefer open country to urban scenes can have a field day.

Third, the operations can be totally matched. True prototype fidelity in operations can easily achieved with such a road.

Finally they can be built in a small space and operated by one person. Not everyone lives near a bunch of other n scalers or has a home suitable for hosting a operating session.

I have toyed with building a small rig based on Luminant Energy's mine to plant railroad at Kosse/Twin Oaks    TX. It uses two ex UP SD50's with bright green in the place of armor yellow and two trainsets of what appear to be trinity hoppers. Equipment that is readily available, simple scenery and simple operations would be great for a first layout.

[asciibaron]

IMO, you'd need to be easily amused to build this. I mean, even as a confessed roundy-rounder myself, I'd find this b-o-r-i-n-g.

says the guy building this:

[DKS]

IMO, you'd need to be easily amused to build this. I mean, even as a confessed roundy-rounder myself, I'd find this b-o-r-i-n-g.

says the guy building this:

Look, the original point was about modeling a particular mining railroad. Based on the photo, as well as the maps and such, it seemed boring to me because it was basically a fixed unit train--and I'm not a fan of unit trains to begin with--literally running laps. Now, I've freely admitted that I'm content being a roundy-rounder, but that doesn't mean I'll happily watch a unit train running a circle, even if that's faithful to the prototype.

I must also point out that my Z scale layout is not what I would define as my "dream" layout; it's an exercise in Z scale that suits my current constraints of available space as well as my current interest in pushing the Z scale model-building envelope a little. Even still, I can run whatever interesting-looking trains on it I may wish; I can create far more visual variety (and plausibly, too--I may not be into proto-ops, but I'm not into fantasy-land, either) than I could if I was constrained by the limitations imposed by a coal conveyor. And given an opportunity to build a "dream" layout--or even something just a little bit larger--I'd certainly not pursue either that railroad or a larger version of my Z scale layout.

It may be a great starter layout for somebody, or even a permanent layout for someone looking to faithfully reproduce all attributes of a prototype, and who has no concern for the complete lack of visual or operational variety. If it can hold your interest, great. It's just not my cup of tea. OK?

[Mr. G]

I have to admit, I dig this type of railroad.  I've considered building the BHP Nevada Railroad as a shelf layout in my home office.  Very similar concept, but with more locomotives.  A pack of dingy ex-SP SD9s and a few 70-tonners pick up empty hoppers at a UP interchange, take them down loader, fill 'em, weigh 'em, and bring the load back to the interchange.  Something really appealing about it all.  The line has been on my mind lately with the re-release of SD9s and the impending release of 70-tonners. 

http://history.nevadanorthernrailway.net/loader/conloader.htm
http://history.nevadanorthernrailway.net/bhproster/bhproster.html
http://history.nevadanorthernrailway.net/bhphist/bhphist.htm

[Bob Bufkin]

I can see why someone with limited space would like this.  Sea Port Model Works even makes some barges that could be used. 

That being said, I think this would be interesting to model:

http://www.aar.com/

[squirrelhunter]

Bob I think RMC had one of those one page editorials suggesting that folks with a small space model the AAR test track. It would a good way for someone who is more into rolling stock than scenery showcase their stuff.