PHOTOS BY PETER YOUNGBLOOD AND DAVID BUTTS Visiting the L&K Railroad An HO scale layout in the industrial east/George Bloodworth M
odel Railroading has been a passion for me most of my life. I have grown with the hobby,
starting with a 4′×8′ layout that I built after I finished college and culmi- nating with the layout featured here, which is my third layout. This is also my most ambitious layout, as it fills over a quarter of my basement. The railroad is essentially freelance, which gives me the freedom to model those aspects that I really enjoy. It is all tied together into a miniature transporta- tion system. For further enjoyment, I hold regular operating sessions with the Chattahoochee Express, a round robin model railroad club based in the greater Atlanta, Georgia area. My layout occupies a 28′×22′ space in my basement. The layout style is a dog bone, continuous run, which flows around the walls of the basement. The layout has two levels on one side reached by ascending grades and de- scending grades to make the most of my space. To create a sense of distance,
44
I have tunnels and hidden track. I did not integrate staging into the layout initially because I had on-line capacity with my two classification yards. I am thinking about adding staging tracks to enhance operations. The track arrangement is primarily single track with passing sidings. Basically, the era modeled is the decade from 1950 to the 1960’s. This allows both steam and diesel locomo- tives to be run. The locale developed captures the flavor of regions in Mary- land, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania with their mountains, grades and rivers. Also showcased with selective compression are the cities of Balti- more and Pittsburgh. Though I am from Detroit, Michigan, this region of the United States appeals to me since I lived in Pennsylvania prior to a job relocation to Georgia. A mix of proto- type and freelance equipment is used on the railroad,
locomotives and
rolling stock from the B&O, C&O, PRR, and custom lettered and painted
equipment for the L&K Railroad. You might be wondering why my model railroad is named the L&K. I named the railroad after my two daughters, Lisa and Kim, who along with my wife, Pat, have been very sup- portive of my interests in the hobby. Not only has the railroad brought me a lot of joy it also brightens up the day for my grand children when they come over to visit. My oldest granddaughter even got involved at an open house by running one of the trains. I think she just likes to blow the whistle.
Construction and scenery I have been working on the L&K Rail- road for about eight years, mostly by myself and then in recent years with the help of my round robin club. My first task was to finish the basement with the railroad in mind and install lighting so that I had a good environment for run- ning trains. Lighting is one of the keys and cannot be underestimated, I use a combination of recessed fluorescent
FEBRUARY 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100