Norfolk and Western Elkhorn Grade

This layout represents a real section of railroad in Virginia and West Virginia as it existed in the 1930s. HISTORY: The Elkhorn grade was a section of the Pocahontas District on the Norfolk and Western that was a continuous bottleneck prior to 1918. Up until that time, the railroad had to battle the hill with 2-6-6-2 articulated steam locomotives. Right in the middle of the whole mess was the 4000' long Elkhorn tunnel. The tunnel had a 2. 5% grade. Working uphill through this nearly mile-long tunnel, the steam locomotives were limited to 5 Miles Per Hour on freight trains and were a nightmare for the crews. To solve this problem, the Norfolk and Western electrified a section of track between Bluefield Virginia and Vivian West Virginia. Two of the N&W's massive boxcab electric locomotives could handle a train that required 3 Z1 class 2-6-6-2s up the grade. Even though engines had to be swapped at Bluefield and Vivian, the time saved by running at speed through the tunnel made the electrification worth it. The electrics continued working until 1950, when the N&W built an $11 Million dollar bypass to the Elkhorn grade. THE LAYOUT: The layout is a small oval-shaped table with Bluefield and Vivian yards connecting to a common Staging Yard. This layout is built for point-to-point operations. The object of the exercise is to shuttle cuts of cars from Bluefiled to Vivian and back again. The layout was built to the size and proportions of something you might find in someone's basement. It's very selectively compressed and may have a few landmarks out of order, but overall captures the feel of what it is trying to represent. OPERATIING INSTRUCTIONS: Start by grabbing one of the pairs of siderod electrics at either Bluefield or Vivian. Grab a set of cars from the electrfied yard and take them through the Elkhorn tunnel to the other yard. Exchange your cut of cars for another cut, which you take back through the tunnel to the other yard. Repeat this process as long as you like.