I did not design my layout to be operations oriented. It had the
usual layout trappings: narrow aisles, a severe shortage of stag-
ing, and too much rolling stock. Add to these items a shortage
of on-line industries and I had an operational mess.
The possibility of a job change and relocating raised the idea of
dismantling the layout. When the job change did not occur, the
thoughts of tearing down and rebuilding the layout lingered. I
began thinking of the changes and improvements I could make
with clean start.
I got lost on a railfanning trip and literally stumbled upon Norton,
Virginia. I saw N&W power working the yard and L&N power tied
up near the yard office. I also saw that the Southern Railway was
also present. I ended up spending a great deal of time investigat-
ing the prototype operations, coal industries, and scenery in the
area between Appalachia, Virginia and St. Paul, Virginia. If I had
1: Walter Roberge and Morry Morris at work on initial
frame construction. While some tools required are
different, the socket wrench, many others are the normal
tools that you need to build a wood-framed layout.
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