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Quinnimont, WV--20' x 22' Track Plan

Scale: HO
Minimum Radius: 30"
Minimum Aisle Width: 24"
Designed by Dan Bourque

This layout is designed to fit into roughly half of a standard two-car garage.  It oozes over the centerline a little, but you may still be able to squeeze your wife's Volkswagon into her half ;-)

Let me start by saying I have never been to Quinnimont, and I have never seen track diagrams of Quinnimont.  This plan is based on a few pictures and topo maps of the area.  If you can help me make this a better track plan, please contact me!  Quinnimont was an important spot on the C&O's New River line in West Virginia.  It was where coal from the Piney Creek Branch (in and around Beckley, WV) and the Laurel Creek Branch was held awaiting shipment to the east.  This layout encompasses the mainline through Prince (an important junction and passenger stop) and Quinnimont, the Laurel Creek Branch, and the Junction for the Piney Creek Branch. 

Upper Deck

Lower and Middle Decks

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Operations on this layout would be fairly simple, but would entail a lot of mainline traffic.  Trains would be staged at Raleigh (a yard near Beckley), and would one-by-one cross the New River to bring coal to Quinnimont.  Likewise, the Laurel Creek mine run would be assembled in Quinnimont, run through the helix, work the lower deck, and return to Quinnimont with loads.  The loads would be moved east by attaching them to coal drags coming out of Thurmond (staging) with tonnage to spare or by generating new trains from Quinnimont.  Likewise, empties would be dropped off either in whole trains or a few at a time by passing empty trains.  C&O, and later AMTRAK, trains would be visitors at Prince, and a decent amount of merchandise freight would also pass through on the main. 

By making the staging a continuous loop, a coal drag and empty train could be set in motion in opposite directions while a single operator worked the yard or the Laurel Creek Branch.  Additionally, two or three coal drags could simulate an entire day's worth of traffic coming down the line from the busy yard at Thurmond.