Model Railroading > CNO&TP Anniversary Pics

Today is a significant anniversary!  According to the Cincinnati Southern Railway website, the very first freight train completed the entire trip from Cincinnati, Ohio to Chattanooga, Tennessee on this date 144 years ago today.  Here is a link to the timeline (check out February 21, 1880): https://cincinnatisouthernrailway.org/about/full-timeline.php
 
This rail line is well known for the “Rathole” division, the central part of the Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas Pacific railroad that cuts through the Appalachian landscape of central Kentucky and Tennessee.  To help commemorate today’s anniversary of that first freight run, here are a few images of my own HO scale CNO&TP layout . . . . a project that I started 20+ years ago.
 
The first image shows the deep cut at Kings Mountain, KY.  A long tunnel on the original “Rathole” line was bypassed during a major relocation project in the early 1960s, hence the massive cut.  The second pic shows heritage unit NS #8099 (the green Southern RR locomotive) running through my Science Hill, KY community.  Finally, one of my NS trains exit Nemo tunnel, one of four tunnels that still exist on the CNO&TP line to this day.  The real Nemo tunnel is located near Wartburg, TN.  My tunnel face was laser-cut per exact dimensions of the openings (downsized to HO scale, of course!).
 

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Three more CNO&TP pics . . . any train layout that features the Volunteer state will likely include a coal mine, small towns in rural areas, and a tunnel or two.  The coal mine is a generic structure yet represents a facility common of that region.  The second image shows the area around Dayton, TN.  My Nemo tunnel scene is included, again, but with a vertical photograph to show the tunnel entrance, bridge span, and the Emory River under the bridge.
 

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A final set of images . . . the CNO&TP line gets a lot of intermodal traffic these days.  Here is a container loading facility on the north side of my Ohio River.  The last two photographs show the rugged terrain typical of my central Kentucky region, including a close-up view of the cut through Kings Mountain.  That scene was developed using layers of ceiling tile as a mold, then pouring (back-filling) plaster on each side to create the solid rock faces.  Happy Anniversary, CNO&TP!
 

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WOW! You've got the green walls of mountain/forest nailed.

Great modeling.

Very enjoyable, nice work!

I think your rock work is very suggestive of what is found in the area.

If you don't mind me asking, how large is your layout?

Hi "ts1457"!

The layout plan is attached.  My home office and model layout area is roughly 14-feet x 15-feet.  Unfortunately, that isn't enough room for replicating a rail line that is 338 miles long, so I had to get very selective when it came to scenery.  A local modeler once suggested that I put my Cincinnati and Chattanooga yards side-by-side, which permits a circular route for simply running trains when guests drop by.  Otherwise, for duplicating CNO&TP operations, my trains take off from my Gest Street Yard in Ohio and head south through Kentucky (blue lettering) and Tennessee (orange lettering) to DeButts Yard.  The opposite is true as well, for rail traffic headed from the south back to Cincinnati, Ohio

Rich S.
 

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NSyorktown Wrote:
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> The layout plan is attached.  My home office and
> model layout area is roughly 14-feet x 15-feet. 
> Unfortunately, that isn't enough room for
> replicating a rail line that is 338 miles long, so
> I had to get very selective when it came to
> scenery.  A local modeler once suggested that I
> put my Cincinnati and Chattanooga yards
> side-by-side, which permits a circular route for
> simply running trains when guests drop by....

> Rich S.

Thanks, you made great use of your space.

The side-by-side treatment is good, since you really can't show much of the yards with your limited space. 

Is the Ohio River scene complete, yet?

TRAINS had an article on the Rathole, covering both the multi-tunnel original version and the much-improved Southern Railway reconstruction after WWII.  Maybe in the 1960s.
Huge cuts with nearly vertical sides through limestone, viaducts over rivers, and lots of traffic made the story and photos.
I remember they followed one specific shipment, a new Ford automobile going to Atlanta, even naming the buyer who had made it a wedding anniversay celebration.
Thanks for sharing.

Really nice work Rick. Especially Kings Mountain. The one thing that would make it better would be a set of long hood forward SD40-2s in tuxedo paint.
Charlie

Posted from Android

Really nice work Rick. Especially Kings Mountain. The one thing that would make it better would be a set of long hood forward SD40-2s in tuxedo paint.
Charlie

Posted from Android

Hi again, ts1457!
Your question about my Ohio River scene led me to get out my iPhone and capture a good (overhead) image of that part of the layout.  See attached!
I did not have room for a full-length span, per the actual bridge that sits south of Cincinnati's Gest Street Yard and connects with Ludlow, KY.  So, I kit-bashed a structure that looks very similar to that massive structure.  The water is multiple layers of Enviro-Tex with olive drab paint to create the "dirty water" shading.  The waves on top of the river's surface were done with Mod Podge.
Both sides of the Ohio River are heavily industrialized in Ohio and Kentucky, so I added an intermodal yard on the Ohio side and a petrochemical facility on the Kentucky side.  Visually, they seem realistic for the region.
Rich S.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/24 08:08 by NSyorktown.

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NSyorktown Wrote:
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> Hi again, ts1457!
> Your question about my Ohio River scene led me to
> get out my iPhone and capture a good (overhead)
> image of that part of the layout.  See attached!
> I did not have room for a full-length span, per
> the actual bridge that sits south of Cincinnati's
> Gest Street Yard and connects with Ludlow, KY. 

Rich S, thank you.

Another nice scene utilizing your limited space,