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Welcome to the website dedicated to the Paul Miklos’ model railroad, the N-scale Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Chillicothe Sub.  The primary objective of the site is to provide information to those who may get the chance to be a crew member during an operating session.  Some progress and images will be shared too.  Check the News page for the latest information.

At a Glance

  • Railroad – Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
  • Division – Ohio Division
  • Subdivision – Chillicothe (Between Cincinnati and Chillicothe)
  • Date – January 1958
  • Scale – N-scale
  • Size – 22×42′
  • Mainline Track Length – 600′  (about 200′ of double track and 400′ of single track)
  • Scenery – 0%
  • Control – NCE Wireless DCC
  • No Operators – 12-15
  • Type of Dispatching – TT&TO
  • Fast Clock – 3:1 (Three continuous sessions represent a full day on the railroad, some trains are on the railroad at the start of each session)
  • Car Forwarding – Car-Card and Waybill (CC&WB)

Description

The layout represents the B&O across southern Ohio from Cincinnati to Chillicothe.  The linear “nolix” design of 3 decks provides a long mainline run of 20 scale miles to represent the prototype 61 mile subdivision.  B&O track charts were used to lay out the railroad.  It runs freight and passenger trains, local switching turns, with a large yard in Cincinnati.  The timetable uses the actual times of trains from a prototype timetable.

Scheduled passenger trains and freights set the pace of the railroad.  To meet the demand of traffic multiple sections may be called.  Extras work the line as well to supplement the scheduled trains and for local work.  Additionally, several trains work the industrial districts within the greater Cincinnati yard limits.  The 3:1 fast clock and the long mainline with grand distances between towns gives operators ample time to make descisions.  Crews get a sense of operating in dark territory.

The dispatcher communicates with two station operators via radios to simulate a party line telephone system.  The station operators man 4-5 locations, OS trains, copy orders, and write clearances for trains.  At this time functioning order boards are not provided, instead station operators flip colored cards on the layout.

Freight is forwarded using CC&WB’s.  The waybills are not tightly scripted so the freight movements have an ebb and flow.  Jobs available include dispatcher, two station operators, yard master, two yard crews, hostler, and multiple road crews.