Welcome to my site. I have been modeling the Pittsburgh and West Virginia railroad for the past 20 years. It includes the Union Railroad that serviced the United States Steel Mills in the Monongahela Valley. In 1985 I modeled from Connellsville to the Rook Yard in Pittsburgh. This railroad was featured in Great Model Railroad 1996, and Tracks Ahead on PBS and Green Frog Videos Appalachian Coal Mining Modeling the Prototype.
In 1998 this railroad was dismantled as I moved to the Orlando area. The new railroad models from Avella PA to the West End. The layout measures 21 feet by 20 feet in a two car garage. The new railroad was designed to support two railroads the P&WV and the Union Railroad with active interchanges. I am now doing more of a prototype modeling with individual scenes of the actual industries along the line and including the town of Avella. The railroad is operated with a crew of 10 and a dispatcher. The dispatcher communicates with the operators by the way of telephones and track warrants are issued to control the movement of trains over the railroad. The dispatcher does double duty dispatching the Union Railroad mainline movements and the P&WV train movements. The Union Railroad goes from Duquesne Yard which is in staging to Bull Run where the mainline splits into the Clairton Branch and the Mifflin Branch. Several online industries are switched by the Union RR Mifflin Turn. Two operators are used for the Clairton Coke and Steel plant. One operator is the Ingram Yardmaster. The second operator is the crew out in the plant where he performs 9 different jobs throughout the session. The P&WV has four named through Freights. The Alpha Jets are run on a timed schedule as a bridge route between the Western Maryland and the Nickel Plate Road. AJ-12 , AJ-3, 1-AJ-1 and AJ2 along with Extra trains that are run as needed. The PRR has its own switching duties in Bridgeville and then interchanges with the P&WV. I have an interactive interchange with the Montour and the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie. My railroad is built to operate with realistic scenes and operate like the prototype P&WV did in 1964-68 time period.
Thanks for looking at my site.
Tom Wilson
