Yes, that river scene is my favorite. I took a trip up there and shot a bunch of photos before building it. I also did a couple of articles in MR about 2015 on building the bridge scene and installing the gantlet track. Recently I did a video on how I control traffic flow across that bridge.

You bet

It really is there on the railroad.

Yes I know that I have relatives that live in Shipman.

Yes, it was designed with operation in mind as the primary focus. I knew up front that with a double deck and typical width of only about 16” there wouldn’t be a lot of room for mountains and other massive scenery but that was the compromise I made for longer runs and more industries. I always loved the way Allen McClelland made his way up to the 2 1/2% grade from Dawson Springs to Sandy Summit on the old V&O and Tony Koester used a similar approach on his old layout but to do that I would have had to give up a lot of other operations. Now with COVID I wonder if I will ever be able to get enough folks into my basement empire to even do a real op session.

Any relation to LLoyd Arthur? He worked for the C&O in Richmond then was transferred to Huntington WVa in the 1960s. He was my uncle though my mother’s sister.

I checked with my Dad - not that either of are aware of - but my Great Aunt did some pretty thorough genealogy and traced the Arthur's back to the 1650's in VA. He'll dig that out and give it a look. Maybe a distant cousin? I'll keep you posted.

Not a lot in that section as I remember. There was a facility down south of Culpepper and there branch out to Warrenton just below Manassas but when I used to pace the N&W on excursion runs there wasn’t much, a pretty rural area. There’s some industries in Culpepper, Orange, and Gordonsville, and the interchange with the CSX so I’m sure you can find both local and run through traffic to model. Google Maps is a great resource for scoping out the territory and planning a trip.

Thanks for the reply. You are right, mostly run-through traffic: double stacks, some mixed freight, Amtrak and a local between Charlottesville and Manassas; plus the Buckingham Branch. Enough to keep me entertained, and way too much for my small N scale layout. Richard (former CSX).@@TheDCCGuy

It’s still a work in progress, Where are you located?

@@TheDCCGuy I used to live in Weaverville. I live in east TN now. I came over alot when you first was getting somewhat started. I op on Wally browns Asheville division occasionally.

@@TheDCCGuy seems like alot of folks in the model rr community basically ghosted me with no explanation as to why. Seems a little unfair to me as I would have respected whatever reason someone would have of not inviting me back but at least to give me an opportunity to fix whatever the issue was. Rather I've been pushed outside of the community and only have a handful of folks who even have anything to do with me. I've actually got a large layout plan in the works now but with hardly no one to help. Just seems like thee opposite of the message I'd assume we'd want to send to folks in this hobby. I love this hobby too much to just up and let it go because someone had an issue with me. You may or may not reply and I respect that but just know I never really found it much fair. I've had to do alot of growing up over the last several years and I'm still being shown the same respect I was years ago when I lived in NC. Either way. I wish you luck with your layout. It looks great and I'm sure will attract many operators when finished.

Most turnouts are MicroEngineering #6 with some Walthers #5 in yards. Track is mainly code 83 with some code 70 for industries and pulpyards.

Yes, the interchange track there will be a major source of traffic. I made several trips there over the years to do presentations for Bill Cox at his annual train show. Then in 2013 I went up for a photo trip to shoot location shots from Charlottesville to Lynchburg. So I have a lot of images to refer to when doing scenery. Have you ever seen Bill’s layout? He used to own Trains Unlimited and lives out near Amherst.

@@TheDCCGuy Yes, I know Bill pretty well from being a customer. Visited his layout early on, but haven't seen it or him in years. Sure is a small world, and it's always interesting to know there is some connection to the person whose video one is watching. Same for magazine articles.

I met Bill about 25 years ago when he was a member of the club at the old shop before Bill bought it. He really hasn’t done much with his layout in recent years. Last I heard he had a lot of his son’s stuff just stored in there.

@@TheDCCGuy I'd love to have that much space. As it is, I have an almost-finished logging layout in my front bedroom, and began work on a modern-day layout in my 1/3 of a basement in August. It's a huge challenge down there, what with furnace piping, water lines, washer/dryer, etc. To add to the fun, the concrete floor was an afterthought and is nowhere near level! The core of it is operating, though, in 12' x 14', and I'll expand it later

I do have a K2a which was a mountain class but with the same streamlining as the Js. They were sometimes called Baby Js.

Actually the GWR layout will be a separate entity, about a 2x8’ module with fiddle yards at each end. I am planning to install traverser instead of using casettes. It will be operated as a run through instead of branch line terminus more or less like Buckfastleigh before the Ashburton connection was removed.

That consist was done about 20 years ago using a set from a company in Roanoke VA that mo longer exists so I doubt you will find them. I don’t know who else may make anything similar any,ore.