Scenes From the Old Virginian & Ohio, Gauley Subdivision

There we are, look at the abandoned track. And that was the old passenger station and passenger tracks to the left there. And some of the tracks, that was the coach track, those rails been pulled up. And there's the tower at the end of the passenger tracks. We're now going by the, well it's a Marshall chemical in the background and there's some of the engine servicing. One of our old cabooses that has been modernized. There's one of the bay windows and there's the old cupola style that has been modernized. And here comes the local in. This was probably the valley local. And there's, you can see the engine house in the background. Here comes a bay window caboose. There's an F... ALCO FA, a f7. It was being stored. And we got part of the rip track there to the left where the piggyback cars are sitting. Oh my, this is interesting. Oh, oh, this is out of Marshall chemical, the town job pulling a tank car, an empty tank car on a Marshall chemical. I've forgotten about a lot of these scenes here. Wow, they turned out good. Neat. You can see a switch stand, little details that I have not been able to accomplish on the new layout. Crossing over the creek. That's the one switching the Worth Paper Company, pulling cutter cars of paper out of there. In the yard behind it, a little river yards down by the river and the Grand Valley connection at the other end and also worked as storage for the paper. Oh, it comes Amtrak through DAS or Blackstone, I mean. There was the historical societies office there, we just passed. A little tobacco field up on the hillside. Now we're over Dawson Spring. There's the coal tipple up the valley there. And now that, oh, there's the helpers in the pocket. Which used to be an old passing track at Dawson Spring. And we got merchandise rolling through. And it looks great, looks great. It's good to see this again, bringing back a lot of memories here, reviewing this tape. Helpers are moving out. They're going to go down at the other end and be attached to a rear retrain. Help shove it up the hill to Sandy Summit. And that was a two and a half percent, the steepest grade on the railroad. The new railroad, the steepest grade is a 1.67. Now he stopped or it's cut on. Now, we've gone up to Elm Grove. We're at the east end of the passing track. Getting ready to drop downgrade, into the valley there. And he's got a bunch of empty hoppers here. It looks great. And so they do look realistic. Oh, this is KC and B's yard in the foreground. And there's the yard office for the KC and B. The only thing that made money on the KC and B was the pop machine in that office. And there's the old engine servicing area. It was purchased by a wood chip organization, used to service their Mac trucks. So it's still services something and a wood chip facilities loading wood chips here at Elm Grove. As a trio of, in a loaded coal train moving in the background, unit train. It's got some AM equipment in it. Getting ready to descend into the valley. It's still moving. Those are the trains they make money on. We like those coal trains. And that also gives you the feel of Appalachia area with the coal trains. Nice scene. Here we are, we're climbing the grade and this trussell's on my new railroad instead of being on the main, it's now on the branch. And off to our left is where Dawson Springs, where we looped and spiraled around on to a tunnel and crossing back over the main. Climbing towards Sandy Summit. Shot of Forton. Eastbound freight on the main track. See, now the CNO run through, we had a CNO run-through train that dropped cars off at Afton and at Santell yard. That way it gave us a little variety of equipment. Heading on east, back towards the CNO and to Richmond, Virginia. Returning some CNO cars and BNO's. There's the end of the platform at the passenger station. Coming down the grade into Fullerton and crossing in Kelly's Creek at this location, we crossed it twice in fours and one at each end of the town. Little country store and service station there. And part of the old date and sure grip up there in the corner. [Offscreen Speaker] You've always been a big supporter of the National Model Railroad Association and always very active in that. How did that come about? How'd you get started? Well, back in the late fifties, 1950 I'm talking about, the good friend of mine, Don Santell, who I knew at that time was a model railroader. And he started talking to me about the National Model Railroad Association. So in 1960, I joined that and I feel that was kind of the turning point from kind of going along maybe at a a gradual knowledge gaining, to a sudden burst of gaining a lot of knowledge through meeting other modelers, going to conventions and clinics and that and it really excelled my knowledge of of the modeling part of the hobby.