The CR&E's target era: 1989-1993

In recent times I have been working toward narrowing the CR&E's era into a late-80's/early-90's theme.  Way back in 1995 when I was planning the first CR&E layout, the one referred to as "Version One" on this website, I was specifically aiming for a late-80s era. 

As N scale product selection grew and Digitrax came on the scene with "plug and play" decoders, my era drifted forward.  The first locomotives available in N scale that could easily be converted to DCC were the Kato Dash-9's.  The CR&E invested in a bunch of them in NS paint, quickly moving the railroad's era up to at least 1996 when NS began taking delivery of them.  I was determined after the Conrail breakup that I would not move the era that far forward, so the CR&E's date would not pass June 1, 1999.

Finally I realized that the Southern and N&W power I had always wanted to mix in was no longer appropriate.  I didn't want to sell it off, and in fact I wanted more of it.  Railfanning and railroading had become more sterile and generic by the late 1990's, with GE widecabs on just about every train.  Several Class One roads had merged, leaving less variety.  It wasn't what I wanted for the railroad.

My Dash-9's got sold off, as did some other newer power, and are currently putting on miles on Kevin Beck's Norfolk Southern Piedmont Division.  I even get to see them roll by when I'm not in the dispatcher's office, and they're not far from their original home.  More Southern and N&W power came out, including high-hood power from Atlas, so my era was drifting back toward my original benchmark.

The years of 1989 through 1993 were my college years.  I was given my first real camera by my parents as a high school graduation present and I started burning up the roads railfanning right away.  Friends and I would make countless trips to places like Bluefield, Saluda, Old Fort, and the Clinchfield.  Those were what I would call my best days of railfanning.

For the first half of that time period, Southern and N&W power could still be seen on occasion.  I recall a family trip to Roanoke, VA, in the summer of 1990 during which I photographed several Southern and N&W units in road service.  By late 1991, I believe they were all gone. 

In 1992, Norfolk Southern began releasing what would be the staple of their coal hauling fleet, rebuilt hoppers that reemerged from Roanoke's East End Shops as "Top Gons."   Those gray cars have been synonymous with Norfolk Southern coal hauling for many years.  When BLMA released them this year, I was in for at least one train of them.  They'll be the newest coal hauling equipment in the fleet, I imagine, as I couldn't avoid purchasing them.   Running Top Gons with Southern and N&W power is a bit of an anacronism, but only by a year or so.  I'm happy mixing the two, and I've found that operators on model railroads often do not pay that much attention to the little time lapses like that.

Version Two Operations planning - refining the plan

I previously published my initial thoughts regarding operations on Phase One of CR&E Version Two.  Now that operations are underway, I am beginning to refine my plans.

I see interesting operations as a mixture of through trains, local assignments, and support jobs on the railroad.  As on Version One, I want to employ a yardmaster/yard crew, a dispatcher, a trainmaster (usually myself to oversee operations), and a number of road crews who will share both through and local assignments.

Through trains

I've made changes to the operating plan to reflect the late 80's/early 90's era that I am targeting.  Utilizing a document I have on file showing NS train symbols in 1990, I have reassigned some symbols to focus on 1992, give or take a year or so.  The new train symbols and their corresponding old symbols are as follows:

NS 131 (was 187) - Norfolk, VA, to Detroit, MI, via Charleston, Columbus, and Bellevue.
NS 132 (was 188) - Detroit, MI, to Norfolk, VA, via Bellevue, Columbus, and Charleston. 

NS 136 (was 136) - Conrail Indianpolis, IN, to Linwood, NC, via Columbus, OH and Charleston.
NS 137 (was 137) - Linwood, NC to Conrail Indianapolis, IN via Charleston and Columbus, OH.

NS 371 (was 351) - Winston-Salem, NC, to Lewisburg, WV, via CSXT Salem to Shenandoah Jct, VA.
NS 372 (was 352) - Lewisburg, WV, to Winston-Salem, NC, via CSXT Shenandoah Jct to Salem, VA.

NS 456 (was 456) - Charleston, WV, to Roanoke, VA.
NS 457 (was 457) - Roanoke, VA, to Charleston, WV.

Most of the merchandise trains will work at Lewisburg, although I am not sure if 131/132 will always work there.  Those trains will handle the highest priority traffic on the railroad, moving autoparts, autoracks, and some intermodal traffic between Detroit and Norfolk. 

I have eliminated the dedicated intermodal trains from the lineup, as I no longer see the CR&E as a fast route for moving high priority traffic.  The operation of 131/132 via the CR&E is justified by the amount of autoparts traffic moving out of the Charleston, WV (South Charleston Stamping & Manufacturing) and Roanoke, VA (AO Smith) areas.   I have always liked the operation of merchandise trains with a few "pigs" on the rear, so trains 131/132 will feature this type of blocking.

The regular operation of Amtrak 50 and Amtrak 51, the "Cardinal," is being eliminated as well.  We will run the trains on occasion as detour moves due to track work, rock slides, or derailments on the C&O mainline.

A number of NS and CSXT loaded and empty unit coal trains will pass through this portion of the CR&E.  An occasional grain train will operate as well.  Heavy eastbound coal and grain trains will get pushers between Glace, WV, and Paint Bank, VA, a feature from Version One that I definitely wanted to carry over.  Symbols for the NS coal trains will vary depending on loading location and destination.

Local operations

A lot of the same locals will operate on CR&E Version Two.  I will also be incorporating some new local operations to better serve the expanded territory, and some previously existing locals will have their operations modified to better suit the new railroad.  Some of these jobs will likely change when Phase Two is brought online in the future.

I am planning the following list of local operations:

• C41 - Roanoke (staging) to New Castle and return.  Works New Castle and McFalls industries.  Interchanges cars with C53/C54.
  
• C53 - New Castle to Lewisburg westbound road local.  Picks up local cars at Paint Bank and Glace en route.
• C54 - Lewisburg to New Castle eastbound road local.  Sets off local cars at Glace and Paint Bank en route.
  
• C60 - Fayetteville, WV (staging) to Lewisburg eastbound road local.  Basically a transfer run into Lewisburg.
• C61 - Lewisburg to Fayetteville, WV (staging) westbound road local.  Basically a transfer run from Lewisburg.
• C62 - Glace Switcher.  Originates at Glace from cars set off by C54, works industries at Glace and Caldwell, terminates at Glace by setting up outbound cars for pickup by C53.
• C65 - South Fork (staging) to Paint Bank inbound local.  Originates on South Fork Branch staging track, yards train at Paint Bank, works local industries at Paint Bank and Forester, and ties down.
  
• C66 - Paint Bank to South Fork (staging) outbound local.  Builds train at Paint Bank, terminates on South Fork Branch.
  
• C80 - Lewisburg to Paint Bank and return.  "Hill Run" taking eastbound commercial (non-unit) coal from Meadow Bluff Yard to storage tracks at Paint Bank.  This coal will be picked up at Paint Bank by eastbound trains filling out to full tonnage.  Also handles coal and empties to/from AEP at New Castle, VA.
  
• C82 - Lewisburg to Paint Bank and return.  "Hill Run" taking commercial (non-unit) coal from Meadow Bluff Yard to storage tracks at Paint Bank.  This coal will be picked up at Paint Bank by eastbound trains filling out to full tonnage.  Also handles coal and empties to/from AEP at New Castle, VA.
• C83 through C89 - Kessler & Northern District mine runs.
  
• C91 - First Glace Pusher.  Pushes bulk commodity trains from Glace to Paint Bank.
• C92 - Second Glace Pusher.  Pushes bulk commodity trains from Glace to Paint Bank.
• C93 - Third Glace Pusher.  Pushes bulk commodity trains from Glace to Paint Bank.
• CL05/CL25 - Lewisburg Switcher.  (Either symbol used depending on shift.)  Works Lewisburg industries.
• CL01/CL21/CL41 - Lewisburg East End Yard Job.  (First/second/third shift.)  Switches Lewisburg Yard.
• Brushy Mountain Railroad #101 -  Originates on Brushy Mountain Railroad, works industries at Archer Fork and Caldwell on Brushy Mountain Railroad (shortline) and interchanges with NS at Lewisburg.
• CSXT H804 - Second Rupert Shifter operating between Rainelle (staging track) and Meadow Bluff, working the CSX/NF&G Raders Run loadout and interchanging with the NS/CR&E at Meadow Bluff.