Free Plans of C&O Coaling Station

Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Coaling Station

Serving Coal-hungry Locomotives in Thurmond, West Virginia

Keep those Steam Locomotives Rolling on Your Model Railroad Layout with a Coaling Tower

Chesapeake & Ohio coaling station

 The Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Thurmond Coaling Station sat astride the tracks at the west end of Thurmond yards in Fayette County West Virginia, servicing the railroad's coal-burning steam locomotives.

The reinforced concrete structure, designed by Fairbanks, Morse and Company of Chicago, was constructed starting in 1922.

The 500-ton capacity coaling station serviced all Loup Creek and C&O mainline engines operating through Fayette County. The mainline locomotives were coaled from a track on the north side of the tower while the Loup Creek locomotives were coaled on the south side.

Our free model railroad plans of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Thurmond Coaling Station include elevation, floor, and section plans, as well as photos of the building great for detailing your structure.

Model Railroad Layout Track Designs Fall into Three Basic Categories

Complex Model Railroad Track Plans

Can be Classified as One of Three Basic Layout Designs

Learning pros and cons of the three types of model railroad layout track designs helps you design your own Model Railroad Layout

A basic point-to-point model railroad layout track design

Perhaps the most important step in creating a model railroad layout is designing a track plan. But where do you start? Many of the plans available online look like a spaghetti bowl that's hard to understand. What's coming and what's going? Where will a specific train end up when traveling on a specific track?

The very nature of model railroading's limited space often leads layout designers to curve track routes over themselves to create longer mainline runs that a direct route would allow. This works well in increasing the amount of track a train must traverse, but leaves many track plans hard to decipher. However, when it comes to model railroad layout track plans, nearly all can be classified as one of three main types: Continuous-run, point-to-point, and out-and-back.

Complex track plans may contain elements of all three, but the overall theme can usually still be brought back to one of the original three. Our Basic Model Railroad Types page examines each type, and its pros and cons to help you decide which type - or combination of types - best fits your operational desires for your model railroad layout.

Free Plans of a Baltimore & Ohio Pratt Truss Bridge

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Pratt Truss Bridge

Would Make Intricately-detailed Model

To Improve any Model Railroad Layout

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Bridge No. 451/1

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Bridge No. 451/1 crosses the Cuyahoga River carrying a switch track serving the Jaite Company, a paper mill in Summit County, Ohio.

The Jaite Co. paid for the bridge construction, which otherwise would have been prohibitively expensive for a spur serving just one industry. Right of way for the switch lead was secured in 1907, and construction was completed by 1909.

Bridge No. 451/1 is a through Pratt truss. It is 138 feet 9 inches pin to pin, and has a clear width of 13 feet 9 inches and a 19 foot 10 inch height clearance. Carnegie steel supplied the steel.

Our Free Plans of Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Bridge No. 451/1 would allow a model railroader to create an intricately detailed model that would definitely set their model railroad layout apart from others.