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Southern Railway's Slate Fork Branch (N)

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    Southern Railway's Slate Fork Branch (N)

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    Welcome to Slate Fork Country!

    It's late winter 1978. The nation is Star Wars crazy and disco drunk, and a California band calling itself "Van Halen" has just released its debut album.

    Things are a little less frenzied and somewhat more traditional in the hollers of Appalachia though. Take the Southern Railway's Slate Fork Branch, a former short line founded in the early 1920s by a Midwest steel consortium. It's been moving coal to the steel mills of Alabama much as it has for the past 50 years. The only significant changes were a pair of new EMD SD-9s that replaced aging second-hand steam locomotives in the mid 1950s, followed by the loss of independence when the Slate Fork Railway came under the Southern's flag in the early 1960s (about the same time, but with considerably less public attention, as Southern's acquisition of the nearby Interstate Railroad).
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    Located like the Interstate in the extreme southwest corner of Virginia, near the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee, the former Slate Fork Railway interchanged cars not only with the Southern, but also with the Louisville & Nashville, providing the L&N and Southern with a steady, if not large, stream of coal and miscellaneous traffic.

    Another interchange partner, the shortline Cumberland & Appalachia, still interchanges outbound loads of finished hardwood and softwoods with the former Slate Fork at C&A Junction.

    (Just as an aside, the hamlet of Slaty Fork, WV, was neither a conscious nor subconscious namesake of the Slate Fork Branch. Neither was Slate Falls on Tony Koester's Allegheny Midland. Although I did borrow a bit from Tony's Coal Fork Extension of his famed Midland Road.)

    ​​
    As part of the merger terms, the L&N wrangled trackage rights from the Interstate Commerce Commission, accessing the Slate Fork Branch via its former interchange site at Slate Fork Junction. The Southern and L&N serve the branch's industries via reciprocal switching agreement. A Southern mine run serves the run-of-mine tipple at Koester VA and exclusively at Slate Fork, while the L&N serves the C&A interchange, Ajax Powder in the Slate Fork, and the truck-dump tipple in Flanary VA.

    Operations​

    A train register box is located at Creek Junction, where trains are required to leave a card indicating time of arrival (or departure), as well as the number of empties and loads in and out of the branch. As a belt-and-suspenders concession to safety, Yard Limits rules go into effect at Creek Junction as well. East of the junction, the L&N and Southern operate under Timetable & Train Orders. Inbound Southern crews arrive at Slate Fork Junction (staging) with a train order already instructing them to meet their third-class counterpart (the very train they're on) at Slate Fork Junction on the outbound trip. The Southern's L&N counterpart runs as an extra to and from Loyall, KY.

    Car management is simple, using switch lists randomly generated on an Excel spreadsheet. All tipples are served daily, while Ajax Powder (which operates a ammonium nitrate bulk facility
    ​) and C&A interchange traffic is more random. I am considering going to a car card and waybill system.

    Cumberland & Appalachia motive power is seldom seen at C&A junction. The junction is located at the extreme southern end of the C&A, with end of track just a few hundred feet south. Moreover, the C&A is the senior railroad, coming up the valley six months ahead of the Slate Fork Railway!

    Before granting an easement, C&A ownership insisted on a lighted smashboard swing gate signal, and the junction is currently replete with lighted fixed-aspect distant signals on SFRy's approaches to the junction, an addition from the 1950s after an inattentive SFRy crew failed to stop before the gate, damaging it and a C&A train! Thus the somewhat elaborate (and extravagant, to the frugal Southern Railway's thinking) use of SA signals as fixed-aspect distant signals. But really, it gives me a plausible reason to have some low-tech signalling on the layout, which also adds operational interest.


    Trackplan
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    Timetable

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    Last edited by Paul S.; 07-22-2023, 07:15 AM.
    Southern Railway Slate Fork Branch: https://realisticmodelrailroading.ne...-fork-branch-n

    #2
    One important facet of a realistic model railroad is smooth-running, slow-speed movement of locomotives. I'm pretty fussy about this.

    Keep-alive capacitor-based devices have been all the rage for DCC these past few years, but most fit HO or larger. Until now.

    I acquired an Iowa Scaled Engineering Run-N-Smooth Power Keeper today, and hope to document its installation and performance over in the Electronics forum: https://realisticmodelrailroading.ne...keeper#post404
    Last edited by Paul S.; 05-07-2021, 04:43 PM.
    Southern Railway Slate Fork Branch: https://realisticmodelrailroading.ne...-fork-branch-n

    Comment


      #3
      I look forward to that documentation Paul . I will be following this

      Steve

      Comment


        #4
        No pressure on me then, Steve!

        I need to buy a Dremel carbide cutting bit next. Looks like some extra space will be needed in the frame.

        Those guys at ISE make some great stuff -- not to mention some of them model the Iowa Interstate.
        Southern Railway Slate Fork Branch: https://realisticmodelrailroading.ne...-fork-branch-n

        Comment


          #5
          You have such a great command of the English language Paul. I really enjoy ready about the history of your RR. It's been a long time since I've seen your layout and a lot has changed. That seems to be your and my life story. LOL Thanks for finally posting the track diagram of the extension down to staging. Speaking of staging.......... how does your power escape when pulling in head first? With one turnout you could make a run around track, unless it was full of empties. I always thought you should have 3 tracks in staging. Looking forward to seeing many more pictures in the near future. Thanks for all your hard work launching this site, It's gonna be fun.
          HO Scale

          Comment


            #6
            Thank you, Michael!

            Staging just accommodates a typical train now, Michael, and turnouts in staging eat capacity. For years now I favored sector plates for staging for just that reason.
            ​​​​​​
            After moving the sector plate over one track, I can move a string of cars into that track, realign the sector plate, and a free the locomotive.

            But the loads are dedicated loads, and the MTYs are dedicated MTYs, so I reset them in between ops sessions anyway -- loads back to the tipples, MTYs back to staging. Then I make up a new Slate Fork Mine Run. Every fifth train or so I'll add a covered hopper for Hercules Powder.

            The tipple at Koester is served by Clinchfield/L&N cars only (part of my fictional narrative), so the mine run stops at Koester, pulls the loads, runs ahead to Clinch Junction, swaps loads for MTYs on the interchange track, shoves the MTYs back to Koester and spots them at the tipple. Then the power couples to the train and heads for Slate Fork.

            Oh, and those SD-9s on the Slate Fork? Part of the M&A agreement stipulated the Southern keep SD-9s 208 and 209 for exclusive use on the Slate Fork (they'd been 571 and 572 on the independent short line, indicating their year of purchase). The crews liked them (and while I enjoy seeing a pair of Geep 38s running long hood forward as God intended, a single unit also saves space; besides, SD-7s and SD-9s are a personal favorite, along with SD45s).
            Southern Railway Slate Fork Branch: https://realisticmodelrailroading.ne...-fork-branch-n

            Comment


            • TimMoran
              TimMoran commented
              Editing a comment
              Paul S. - Is there a chance you'd be willing to share pictures of your sector plate staging? "Asking for a friend"......<grin>

            • Paul S.
              Paul S. commented
              Editing a comment
              I can do that, Tim! I still have them in the cache on the ol' desktop. So I'll post them tomorrow if not sooner.
              Last edited by Paul S.; 05-22-2021, 08:46 PM.

            #7
            I totally agree with you regarding the use of sector plates on non scenic staging tracks. Not only saves space but also many dollars. I think this is something everyone should seriously consider. I didn't realize you had one at the far end.
            HO Scale

            Comment


              #8
              Originally posted by Paul S. View Post

              Those guys at ISE make some great stuff -- not to mention some of them model the Iowa Interstate.
              Those IAIS guys are trouble for sure.

              Your layout's looking great Paul!

              Comment


                #9
                Thanks, Joe! Seeing the terrific modeling and operations that you, James McNab and Scott Thornton do modeling the IAIS has definitely been a source of inspiration.
                Southern Railway Slate Fork Branch: https://realisticmodelrailroading.ne...-fork-branch-n

                Comment


                  #10
                  Originally posted by Paul S. View Post
                  Thanks, Joe! Seeing the terrific modeling and operations that you, James McNab and Scott Thornton do modeling the IAIS has definitely been a source of inspiration.
                  Very kind of you Paul. Thanks very much.

                  Comment


                    #11
                    Paul I saw a few photos of your railroad on another site and really enjoyed it. I like the simplicity and great scenery. Looks like a fun little railroad to operate. Barry

                    Comment


                      #12
                      Originally posted by JoeA View Post

                      Those IAIS guys are trouble for sure.
                      Yes we are. Excellent progress as always, Paul
                      James McNab
                      thehillsline.com

                      Comment


                        #13
                        Thank you, Barry and James.

                        It is fun to operate. And I've built in a couple "time expanders" such as the train register and the swing gate to make the run longer.

                        Admittedly, junctions where railroads crossed at grade were not common in the coal fields, and a swing gate less so, but a little modeler's license never hurts.
                        Last edited by Paul S.; 05-12-2021, 03:13 AM.
                        Southern Railway Slate Fork Branch: https://realisticmodelrailroading.ne...-fork-branch-n

                        Comment


                          #14
                          Good morning Paul!

                          I love the concept of your railroad and the implementation of sector plate staging!

                          Regarding the operations aspect, I wondered if you had ever done the following:

                          After crossing the interchange, run up to Slate Fork, run around your train, and back down to Flanary with the caboose and car(s) for the truck dump. Make your moves at Flanary, return to Slate Fork to complete your work there and finally back to "home".

                          The reason for my question is this: the train passes Flanary on the way to Slate Fork and returns to Flanary to do switching after passing Slate Fork on the other side of the ridge. The switching method I asked about retains "scene integrity", if you will. The trackage to the right of the Flanary truck dump is simply headroom to work the siding.

                          Thank you for sharing your layout here and allowing me to comment!

                          Tim Moran


                          Comment


                            #15
                            Actually, Tim, Flanary is located at the end of the branch (an arrangement I borrowed from the Interstate/Southern's Dorchester Branch). So the mine run's power runs light up to Flanary, pulls loads, runs back to Slate Fork and swaps loads for a couple empties, then back to Flanary to spot the empties.

                            Thanks for the kind words!
                            Southern Railway Slate Fork Branch: https://realisticmodelrailroading.ne...-fork-branch-n

                            Comment

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