Virginian & Norfolk Railroad - a joint effort

My Virginian Railway project has evolved into a joint effort with long time friend Geoff Brooks and we have combined his Norfolk & Western Railroad layout with my Virginian Railway layout. We agreed on the naming of the railway as the "Virginian & Norfolk Railway" when the two layouts will be put together for exhibition display purposes. The idea is I run my Virginian Railway equipment and Geoff's N&W equipment together. This was a reality in 1959 when the Norfolk & Western took over operations of the Virginian Railway, and both examples of company rollingstock could be seen working together. So we have developed the railway plans that can be bolted together to run all the commonly seen trains of that era, including the odd diesel power. No electric sections of the Virginian will be modelled - though I would have liked that. Those triple electric loco units were impressive.

The two layouts bolted together to see its impact. At 40 feet long
and only 1'5" wide it will be challenging to get what we want.

We wanted back scene boards built into the layout to allow for the deep mountainous look of the Appalachian mountain scenery of Virginia and also the transport of the modules in a simple trailer or utility. With high back boards we can easily cover the modules with simple tarpaulins to to transport them. Each module has its own legs fitted with gas struts so they are self contained and quick and easy to erect. Metal dowels at each join ensure the modules line up each time they are assembled.

Geoff's half of the layout will include
a port for unloading of coal trains, two
small coal mines, a small engine depot,
a freight siding, a hidden passenger
train siding and a marshalling yard.

My layout will have a larger coal
mine, a lumber company siding, a fish
factory siding, a depot station,
another freight siding and
a small locomotive service point. 

My section of the layout will include some steep grades - an excuse
to use some big power locomotives to haul our trains.

Diagrams of the track plans are forthcoming and I'll post these in the near future......