Overview of the Coal Belt Railroad

Bill Henderson's Coal Belt Railroad is a freelance version of several eastern roads including the Reading, and Delaware, and Hudson. And that means a lot of Camelback locomotives. These locomotives had the cab over the boiler so a larger firebox could be used. Bill is a student of the history of model railroading and often quotes from the masters, like Paul Larson, John Page, and Frank Ellison. In fact, he's so impressed with these pioneers, that he's paid homage to them by naming passenger cars and a town in their honor. The scenery on this HO layout is some of the best you'll find anywhere. Most of the materials are natural. Bill uses very few commercial products. And all the trees are foreground quality and are inexpensive to make. Hi, I'm Allen Keller and this is Bill Henderson. The man behind the Coal Belt. Bill, the scenery on the Coal Belt is so gritty, so gray, so barren. Why is that? Well, first of all it's a coal-burning railroad, Allen. Anthracite country impressed me as being kind of gritty and grim when I used to work there. But strangely beautiful. The Coal Belt Railroad has its home in a small storage building at Bill's home in Florence, Alabama. The 8 foot by 20 foot HO layout represents Eastern Pennsylvania in 1910. The layout is built on one-by-two framework and has a minimum radius of 24 inches. Bill is a musician who likes to listen to opera while running the railroad.