Greenbrier Junction

Welcome to the US outline layout being constructed by the MMRS. The layout is based in the Appalachian region of the mid/south eastern region of the USA and set in the “transition era” - which, in America, means the early 1950s. Therefore both steam and diesel locomotives can be used. Not only does this give us additional operational interest, it means we can have the fascinating apparatus that goes into a steam loco servicing point!

This is coal country with a variety of railroads serving the region, so as two of the main ’stock providing’ members have rolling stock for both the Western Maryland and Chesapeake & Ohio railroads, a location was chosen where these two roads could meet. Greenbrier Junction is just such a place although we have only used the name rather than copying any actual track plans. What we wanted to do instead was to try to capture the feel of the place and also have something we could enjoy operating trains on, which would pretty much always have something moving. This in turn should keep the exhibition public entertained and, hopefully, enlightened.

December 2010 Baseboards have been built and the legs added, using the method perfected by Bob Harper for Canaan Valley. The boards are not only lightweight but very quick to assemble and knock down, most useful at the end of a show. There are four baseboards each 4’6” long by 2’6” deep, giving a layout 18'x2’6” which stands about 3’6” high, although the backscene makes it appear much taller. The principal construction material is 9mm ply, 6” deep strengthened with 3”x½” timber battens under the baseboards. A notable feature is the backscene which is integral with the framing, giving great strength and stiffness to the boards. The 2”x1” legs fold away beneath the baseboard, along with the leg bracing - everything either hinges or uses case catches, no loose nuts and bolts here. The boards themselves use dowels by C&L for alignment purposes and case catches for positive locking together.
Some very nice locos were in evidence, all dcc sound fitted.
Contol gear will normally be Lenz digital, shared with Canaan Valley, but when both layouts are operating an NCE Powercab system is on loan.

Track planning
We spent quite a bit of time searching through “Model Railroader” and “Model Railroad Planning”, designing various plans before we arrived at the present one. This was because we have certain principles to follow: the layout has to have a purpose, be entertaining to the public and, also, entertain and challenge the operators.

The plan we came up with has a fiddle yard hidden beneath a hill with a single line emerging from a tunnel, almost immediately crossing over a river (perfectly prototypical in this part of the world), passing a small loco servicing yard and then splitting, one line going to what we (in the UK) know as colliery sidings, the other line going on towards a main yard, various sidings and a depot.

The colliery sidings would be where empty coal trains arrive and the mainline loco then removes the caboose and "retires" for a while. A switch engine or mine run loco then takes charge and breaks the train into manageable sections, this then goes forward and into a lead (headshunt) at the far end of the colliery sidings. At this point there is a severe grade. Once sufficiently far forward, a switch is cleared to allow the mine run train to rise further up this switchback line, climbing up past the yard and the loco facilities, over the river on a higher level, through a ridge and into the coal mine area (above the fiddle yard).

Being set in this part of the USA, this is not actually the coal mine itself however, it is just the tipple where coal has been sent from the mine, cleaned, graded and stored ready for shipment. Our mine run loco then breaks the short train into cuts of one or two cars, ready for loading (with real coal). Once this is done, the whole process simply runs in reverse, ending with a loaded train in the fiddle yard.

Back to the rest of the layout, the yard can be used for longer coal trains (or trains with too long/heavy locos), local pick-up freights (locals in US parlance) and trains of one company coming in to exchange cars with the other company.

At this time, we can still run short passenger trains too, so there should always be plenty of activity on the layout.

Once we knew we were going to have a river, we realised that we needed to elevate the track levels (rather than cut into the baseboard) so we added a series of 2”x1” battens on top of the boards in order to have plywood roadbed where there is track. This method will also be useful when building the tipple line, to get the gradient right.

Trackwork
Having decided upon a track plan, we set about placing track on the layout. We have used Peco Code 83 American line track as it is reasonably priced, fairly accurate looking, performs well and is easily available. However, we decided that the switch (point) blades were the weak point and have replaced the original blades and the over centre springing unit to give us a finer looking and more reliable switch. Now we are fine tuning the track plan and setting the locations for the point motors.

August 2011 At the running session on 12th August, the progress since the start of the year is clearly visible.

If interested in joining the team, meeting at Dean Hall on Monday evenings, come along and talk to the Group Leader Les Atkinson, I am sure that he will welcome your input.

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