Welcome to
Norfolk Southern's Pocahontas Division in N-Scale
This site will serve as an introduction to two of my passions, n-scale model railroading and the Norfolk Southern railroad, and its pre-merger roads; the N&W, Southern, NKP, Wabash, Virginian and many smaller companies. Why would a guy from Montreal model this road, and more importantly, why would he model West Virginia? My love of the coal fields and the Appalachian Mountains can be blamed on my parents, many family trips to the sunny south were taken through this area. It was often little side trips to this region that interested me the most. Of course, when I was younger I remember seeing units with Clinchfield, Norfolk and Western, Chesapeake and Ohio and Southern proudly displayed on their sides. I have been a NW and Southern fan for as long as I can remember, it must be those high-nosed diesels! Modeling the Norfolk Southern's coal operations in the rugged Appalachian mountains gives me a chance to combine beautiful scenery, small towns, coal mining operations and eastern mountain railroading.
Planning for the NS Pocahontas Division grew out of several modules I had constructed for exhibition as a member of the Montreal N-Trak club. Although I am no longer involved with the club, my modules came with me, and moved into a house Kathleen and I bought last spring. We are located in a very historic part of Montreal, the entire Pointe St. Charles area once rang to the sounds of steam, ball-peen hammers and wheel lathes at the nearby Canadian National Pointe St. Charles Shop complex. Five of my eight modules formed the basis for the Pocahotas Division and work is now underway connecting the various modules together. There are two corners, two six-foot and one four -foot module being used. The only modifications to the modules I deemed necessary were the removal of the N-Trak Mountain Division tracks. Limited to a ten by eleven foot space that wouldn't allow me to model the entire "Pokey", I had to make some sacrifices and chose to model the mainline section around Iaeger, West Virginia and part of the Dry Fork Branch which extends in a southeasterly direction from there. I have included the town of Iaeger, Auville Yard, several loaders on the Dry Fork Branch, another generic Appalachian town and the mainlines which go north and south from Iaeger. Traffic to and from a hidden staging yard will represent the rest of the Pocahontas Division. I hope that my scenery and structures will capture the flavour of the mining towns and heavily forested hills of West Virginia.. So come along as we visit the towns, hills and 'hollers' of the N-scale Pocahontas Division.
NS SD-60 #6693 rolls coal towards Bluefield
Find Out How Software Problems Sidelined the Entire Division!
Most of these pages have been rebuilt due to computer/software problems, however, I will keep adding and changing things as time passes. Thanks for being patient while I try to get the page functioning properly again.
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All the material within these pages was written by me, Vince Crysler. I borrowed some photos from various sites on the web, please forgive me if I have not thanked the various webmasters for their contributions. If you have trouble loading this site or problems with the links, please let me know. You can reach me at vcrysler@videotron.ca
Page last modified:
08/10/99 10:00 AM
