An advantage of N scale

With our recent slow down on actually building the Keeney Creek shifter, I have been looking at some N scale modules to see what others have been doing. I thought I would share a recent find and point out the advantages, at least one that I see, in modeling N scale.

Lee Weldon posted an interesting three module plan based on the Western Maryland’s passenger station in Cumberland, MD. The design process that struck me the most was the use of an aerial photograph of downtown Cumberland. Mr Weldon drew the outlines of his three modules on to the photograph. What an interesting design process. His three modules make an excellent corner for a larger model railroad. The modules also make an excellent layout with staging on either side for the person who has a minimal space.

Mr Weldon’s small corner scene is an excellent example of one of the advantages of N scale. It allows one to take a scene and put it into a small space with minimal compression. If you are a modeller with limited space consider using N scale as your modeling medium.

Keeney Creek update

Progress on the Keeney Creek branch is at a standstill. We are currently playing phone tag with C&O Historical Society on the valuation maps for Keeney Creek branch. Why is so important to get these? Well for one, it appears that we have the track and Keeney creek backwards in Lookout. I would like to confirm this before we proceed with the layout so that we have an accurate as possible model of Keeney Creek. In the mean time, we have been slowly gathering equipment. Since Graham would like to have steam locomotives and the C&O used two 2-8-0s to switch Keeney Creek, we have been searching for a suitable candidate for the C&O G-9 class of consolidations. In reading the few articles we can find about Keeney Creek, it sounds like the last shifter to run over the branch was powered by a Geep. Most of the photos we have found of the Keeney Creek shifter are in the steam era. The C&O used two G-9 consolidations and a caboose on the shifter.

Graham has been busy as well with school and his play. He is in the Prodigal Clown, and plays Leonardo, the lion tamer. When the play and Holidays are over, we will start working on Keeney Creek some more.