Belews Creek in place

Belews Creek in place

Looking toward the Helix Exit, Belews Creek

This shot is looking toward the helix exit in Belews Creek. The portal hole through the backdrop will disappear when I line the "tunnel" with trees-- I hope.

House in Belews Creek

This is a KingMill kit, I think it turned out nicely. I still need to add a truck and some details.

Belews Creek Helix Exit

2nd Level progress

Stage One: The second level; Belews Creek

Stage One: The middle level

Stage One: Helix (unfinished)

Stage One: The lower level yard (part 2)

ICC paperwork for Belews Creek Depot

David Bott originally provided the digital photograph of this page, I now have a digital scan.

Belews Creek Depot

Another view of the depot.

Belews Creek Depot

Here is a shot of the model I made of the Belews Creek Depot. The basic information came from the ICC report from circa 1916-1918.

Belews Creek Depot

Here is a shot of the Belews Creek Depot as taken from Dave Botts web site: http://southern-railway.railfan.net/ay/. Dave's site provides a wealth of information. The photo is from the ICC files.

Stage One: The lower level yard

With the help of Carolina Model Railroader's past president, Ron DiDonato, the bench work for the lower level is in place.

Atlantic & Yadkin model railroad

After months of working on plans, ideas and the like, the day has finally come that I can start construction. I enlisted the help of John Linz, one of the founders of the Carolina Model Roaders, Inc. (http://www.carolinamodelrr.org/) to help with the track plan.

The plan is to have a three deck layout, with the bottom deck a yard (representing Greensboro's Pomona Yard) feeding the layout. From the lower level, trains will enter the main level by way of an helix, arriving in Belews Creek. From Belews Creek the train then travels to Walnut Cove, where there is an interchange with the Norfolk & Western (N&W). The level finishes with Pilot Mountain, where the train ducks into another helix to raise to the third level. The third level is Mount Airy, where the railroad terminated.

Trains will originate from Pomona Yard and Mt. Airy during an operating session.

I expect a standard session to have a morning North bound passenger and local freight as well as a South bound set. There will also be a similar set for the evening, resulting in four trains in each direction during a session. I also expect the N&W to have one "exchange train" a session to add interest.

Atlantic & Yadkin dream

I have been thinking about building a model railroad based upon the A&Y now for years. However, I had a layout, and I was happy. Then I got married, we decided to move, we found a house with a basement, and now I have a clean slate to design and build whatever I desire. To that end, I have been trying to get a plan together that would let me depict the A&Y in some form.

I decided to start with some basic points, that I wanted included in my new railroad design:
1. Continous running
2. No tighter radius than 24"
3. The ability to run passenger trains
-- This means modeling prior to 1939, the year the varnish disappeared
4. No duck unders!!!

Now all I need to do is pick the route and start drawing.

Uncle Theo Jakob 1929-2007

My Grandfather's best friend.

Uncle Theo and the railbus

This is taken somewhere between Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, during its test run.

Interior Shot of Railbus