Built by Others is an article series showcasing layouts constructed by modelers using plans and projects from the pages of Model Railroader and its associated products. The Virginian project layout first appeared in the pages of Model Railroader in January of 2012. Dustin Whitten’s Norfolk & Western South Branch layout took inspiration from this project and adjusted it to fit his space.
Built by Others: Dustin Whitten’s Norfolk & Western South Branch
By Dustin Whitten – photos by the author unless otherwise indicated
When it came time to design my next model railroad, I quickly turned to the pages of Model Railroader for inspiration. Being a fan of coal railroading, I was immediately drawn to the Virginian project layout!
I chose to model a fictional Norfolk & Western coal branch set in Southwestern Virginia during late summer of 1987. Modeling the early days of what is now Norfolk Southern allows me to host a variety of equipment from the N&W, Southern Railway, and early Norfolk Southern.
With a fresh start and an open basement, I went to work designing my own version of the Virginian. I quickly started working on my list of “givens and druthers” to better understand my space and my goals. I knew I wanted to expand the footprint of the layout and widen the curves.
Next on the list was reworking the original yard design. While I loved the yard as designed, I ended up drawing inspiration from MR’s Beer Line for the whole front side of the layout. Using the track plan for Humbolt Yard for a coal marshaling yard and using one of the yard tracks as the lead for the branch line. The engine track was turned into a coal tipple and what was C house as another coal tipple.
For scenery on the layout, I wanted to stay true to the techniques and materials used on the Virginian. I loved the look and feel and how everything came together on the Virginian. The dense, green foliage really set the tone for the mountains of West Virginia.
My locomotive fleet is comprised of mainly Atlas and Athearn locomotives, with a few ScaleTrains and WalthersProto locomotives thrown into the mix as well. Of these locomotives, about half are sound-equipped. Typically, you can see Electro-Motive Division GP38s, GP40s, and SD40-2s, with some SD45s rolling out for jobs where more heavy-hitting power is needed.
I’m a big fan of Alco locomotives as well, so I have quite a few RS11s and C420s to add some variety to the sea of EMD power.
My rolling stock comes from just about every manufacturer. Like everyone in this great hobby, I too have way too many freight cars! Coal hoppers far outweigh any other type of rolling stock in my collection, and I have an extensive array of 70-ton, 100-ton and even a handful of 55-ton hoppers.
The layout is 5 x 18 feet and is set at 51 inches high. A separate 10-track staging yard measures in at 2 x 14 feet. The maximum grade is 2%, with a minimum curve radius of 24”. I used all Walthers turnouts with Atlas code 83 flextrack. Most of the scenery is by Woodland Scenics, and the ballast is from Arizona Rock and Mineral. The structures on the Norfolk & Western South Branch mainly come from Walthers.
The layout is small in size but huge in operation. I also drew operational inspiration from the Virginian. I’ve found that this layout is enough to keep a small crew of operators busy for a few hours on a lazy weekend afternoon.
For more information you can listen to my session at Around the Layout Podcast where I had the opportunity to share my modeling story.
I would like to thank my wife Elisabeth for her help in building this layout, and all the staff at Model Railroader for the inspiration and all their hard work at promoting this great hobby! – Dustin Whitten
