Owner Inspiration & Satisfaction on the L&N Henderson Subdivision

How did you select the L&N and the Nashville, Evansville area to model? Well, it's the only railroad I'm really familiar with. Santa Fe war bond, it's just always looked like a Tyco logo to me. I never saw them in this area, so I really didn't think they existed. And the only railroads I was accustomed to seeing was the L&N. And so, I just assumed that's what all railroads were supposed to look like, was gray and yellow. What is special or interesting about this part of the L&N? The main line traffic. The fact that there's coal trains, there's piggybacks, there's all the locals that there are. I just felt like it was a good operating layout to model. Does your layout interchange with other roads? Yeah, the Illinois Central comes in at Howell yard, interchanges with Howell there. Then they go on over the river, and go into Henderson, Kentucky where they switch some industries, and then come back over and go back to their Harwood yard. So just the IC is the only interchange traffic that you have. Pretty much. Now the L&N did borrow a lot of equipment over the years. So you may see MoPac, or Union Pacific, or a lot of other equipment on the railroad. But it was being leased or borrowed by the L&N. What's the operating scheme of the L&N? Pretty much moving traffic over the Ohio River, I guess. Tying I guess the northern part of the country with the southern part of the country. And there's a lot of traffic along the main line. And it all goes across the Ohio River at Evansville to Henderson, Kentucky. This is a major bridge. Right, that's right. It was one of the first bridges across the river. And because of that, the Chicago traffic, the St. Louis traffic all started heading in this direction to get over the river. And basically that's the reason Howell yard is Howell yard today. Is it's a hub of all the other larger towns around it. The track plan seems to have a sort of a David Barrow kind of influence. The beginning and the end are next to each other. And it's a very linear plan, follows the walls of the room. Why did you decide on that kind of plan, as opposed to something with a broader shelf space? Well, with operating, you want to be within arms' reach of everything. And you wanna gain as much main line as you can still. So you go build up these walls and go around the walls in order to gain main line. How important is the prototype to your modeling? Not necessarily all that important, but yet it makes it, it's easier for me to believe in the railroad if it's copied after a prototype. When I look out and see the real railroad, and I see the L&N equipment, and then I come down here, it just feels like, it makes me feel that I've done that much better of a job capturing the real railroads. And you're modeling modern day? 1970s, '70, '75, something in that ballpark. What kind of inspiration do you get from the prototype? It gives me something to shoot for. The prototypes have their way of operating, and you can study what they're doing, and then try to apply it to your layout. And know from watching the prototypes if you're doing a good job or not. Well, you use that but then you don't get bogged down in the prototypical trivia. A lot of fans get down into that. It really has nothing to do with modeling. Right, no, I just use the prototype as a guideline. Well, you've accomplished so much in a few years. Do you do all the work yourself, or do you have helpers, or? I have helpers. It's kind of a hit and miss thing. If they can make it out, they'll come out and give me a hand. You don't have a regular group of people that come and work on the layout on say, Wednesday night, the guys come over. Right, no. It's basically you. Right, yeah. Why is the Ohio River Bridge the focal point of the layout? Well, it was one of the, the reason the Howell yard exists, it's what started it all, I guess. In a way. But it's not necessarily my focal point, but it is one of the biggest structures on the layout or on the prototype. And it's massive.